With a batch of Bill’s Traditional on hand, I decided to make a pizza that I’d seen recently in a local pizza shop. The pizza base was ranch dressing and it was topped with tomatoes, bacon, chicken, mozzarella, and a ranch dressing drizzle. I used a small ball of 24 hour dough to test this recipe. I also used some very fancy ranch dressing (Marie’s parmesian ranch) that seemed to be oil based, rather than whatever it is that ranch dressing is normally made from. The result was what looked like a bacon ranch chicken pizza, but tasted like a greasy mess. I’ll have to start all over on this one and use another brand of ranch dressing next time. Yikes.

Good thing I also made a pepperoni pie for the kids - no one went hungry.

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

It’s official - my white pizza recipe has passed the deliciousness test and can be moved to the recipe list from the experimental list. We tweaked it a bit tonight, added some ricotta cheese clumps and BAM! The pictures make my mouth water just thinking about it.

Here are the instructions for the (modified) white garlic sauce base:

2 cup whole milk
2 T cornstarch
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
2 T Parmesan cheese, finely grated

The ingredients were mixed in a medium sauce pan and brought to a boil. Once they had boiled for 2 minutes, I allowed them to simmer on medium heat until the sauce began to thicken.

I coated the blank with a light coat of olive oil then spread the white sauce onto it, thickly. Next, I topped it with thinly sliced tomatoes, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, several clumps of fresh ricotta cheese and a sprinkle of oregano. Bake for 9 minutes at 450 degrees.

If you’re looking for even more garlic, consider lightly brushing the crust rim with olive oil and sprinkling on some garlic salt.

 

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

 

This summer, while on a camping trip with some families from my church, I tasted a great combination of toppings. My friend Troy had advised me to place sliced peaches, cinnamon, and marshmallows together inside of a mountain pie [sandwich-like treat where filling is placed on two slices of bread then toasted in the camp fire]. The taste was amazing and I have been wanting to adapt it to a pizza ever since. My chance came this weekend when I had a ball of Bill’s Traditional pizza dough left over from my double-batch the night before.

The pizza dough was stretched onto my 16 inch pizza screen then topped with the following ingredients:

1 small tub of cream cheese (7 oz)
2 cups marshmallow creme
1 can sliced peaches, drained
cinnamon
streusel topping (4 tbl butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar)

The cream cheese and marshmallow creme were combined in a medium mixing bowl and softened by adding a bit of milk. The mixture was smooth enough to spread onto the pizza blank. Next, I placed the sliced peaches around the pie in rings. The cinnamon was sprinkled all over the peaches (I did not measure the amount used). Finally, the pie was topped with streusel topping which is simply made by hand-combining butter, flour and sugar.

The pizza was baked at 485 degrees for about 9 minutes.

This pizza tasted terrific! The texture and flavor seemed to really blend well. I was very excited to get the taste of cinnamon and peaches like the mountain pies from last summer onto a pizza. In fact, the flavor of the base mixture reminded me a lot of the mascarpone cheese that I use for my Almond and Roasted Apple dessert pizza. This is good news since cream cheese is at least half the cost of mascarpone cheese. Everyone who had a slice of this pizza was delighted and it was gone in minutes.

I may attempt to improve on this pizza slightly by adding nuts or something with a bit more crunch to offset the wet toppings. Other than that, this pie is a real winner because it is inexpensive, fast and delicious.

I couldn’t just make strombolis with the boli dough I made last night - I had to try a Calzone as well! Here are the ingredients:

Dough:
1 1/4 c - Water (Luke warm)
1 tsp - Sugar
2 tsp - Salt
2 T - Olive Oil
3 c - Hi-Gluten Flour
1 tsp - Active Dry Yeast

Filling:
1/2 c - Bill’s Neapolitan Sauce
6 oz - Ricotta cheese
1/4 c - Grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp - black pepper
4 slices - deli ham
4 slices - Provolone cheese
1/2 c - Mozzarella cheese

Crust Glaze:
1 egg, beaten

I rolled the dough into a circle as I would for pizza, but I only spread sauce on half of the blank. I then mixed the ricotta, Parmesan, and pepper in a bowl and spread it on top of the sauce about 3/4 inches thick. This was topped with two slices of provolone and a handful of mozzarella. Finally, 4 slices of deli ham where sliced into strips and layered over the cheese. The dough was then folded over and pinched along the edge. I used the back of a fork to crimp the rim after pinching and cut 4 small vent holes in the top crust. A beaten egg was brushed over the calzone and it was placed on a stone set on the middle oven rack at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes.

This calzone was incredible! We couldn’t even wait for it to cool down before serving it. I think next time I will try a bit more sauce, but we used a bowl of sauce to dip anyway which was fine. I must say that even though it was my first calzone, I can’t think of a way to make it any better! I will be adding this to my menu for sure!

Tonight was my first attempt at making a Stromboli. I wanted the dough to be thin so that the boli would roll and cook well so I came up with a mix just for strombolis. Here are the ingredients:

Dough:
1 1/4 c - Water (Luke warm)
1 tsp - Sugar
2 tsp - Salt
2 T - Olive Oil
3 c - Hi-Gluten Flour
1 tsp - Active Dry Yeast

Filling:
16 slices pepperoni
4 slices deli ham
4 slices Provolone cheese
1/2 c - Mozzarella cheese
pinch basil
pinch oregano

Crust Glaze:
1 egg, beaten
poppy seeds

First, I mixed the dough for 30 minutes in the bread maker. Then I cut it into two balls and placed them into greased bowls. They were covered and stored in the refrigerator for 18 hours. Once it was time to bake them, I removed the dough and allowed it to come to room temperature. On a lightly floured counter, I stretched the dough as thin as possible. A rolling pin was then used to get a consistent thickness (about 1/8 inch thick) and a nice oval shape.

The filling was placed on the center of the dough leaving a 1 inch edge all around. I rolled the entire boli like a jelly roll so that it formed a long oblong loaf. The edges were pinched and tucked under. I then cut several small slits on the top of the loaf to allow steam to escape during baking. I cut the center one too wide and this allowed some toppings to spill while baking. Be careful not to cut the loaf too much.

Next, I beat an egg in a small bowl and brushed the outside of the loaf with it. This allows the crust to turn a golden brown color and gives it a bit of a crunch. I also sprinkled poppy seeds on top.

The stromboli was baked on a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven for about 15 minutes at 420 degrees. I pretty much just watch it until the crust turned brown.

The result was absolutely amazing!! We gobbled the thing in minutes by dipping it into a warm bowl of Neapolitan Sauce. I will definitely be making many of these in the near future!