©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

We took our pizza gear on vacation with us again this year. In fact, I think making pizza on vacation is one of my favorite activities. Everyone who was there from the previous year began asking about pizza right away. Since my night to cook was Thursday, I decided to give them a preview by making Chicago style for lunch on Tuesday.

I found some good looking sausage at the local Food Lion but the selection of tomato products was disappointing to say the least. I ended up with a can of Furmano’s peeled tomatoes for the base of my sauce.

The flavor of the sauce was not right when I combined my normal amounts of seasonings due mostly to the tomatoes. I did a lot of tweaking to get a flavor that I though was acceptable. This concerned me since sauce is extra important for Chicago pies.

I put together the first pizza and topped it with mozzarella, provolone, pepperoni and sausage. I had to bake one pie at a time because I only have one deep pan. After it came out, I put it on another serving plate and started the second pie.

Within minutes after baking (each pie took over 20 minutes at 450 degrees) there was not a slice to found! There were 12 adults and several children who all seemed to enjoy it very much. In fact, I barely had a chance to take a picture for the site. I was excited and looking forward to Thursday even more.

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

Lately I’ve been making double batches of boli dough and making three dough balls from it - two 22 oz balls and a smaller 13 oz ball from the left over dough. Today for lunch we planned to make a small pie for the family from the 13 oz ball. However, we got two unexpected visitors and invited them to stay for pizza. This created an interesting situation.

I decided to stretch the little dough ball into a full 16 inch pie! She was extra thin, but there were no tears or holes so I topped it with the last of a bag of cheese and a leftover handful of pepperoni and mushrooms. Our guests were delighted and I fed 6 people. Here are some pics…

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

I’ve not been quite happy with the brands of pepperoni that are available at any of our local grocery outlets. In search of an alternative, I headed to one of the stores nearby that is known for it’s meat. In the Karn’s deli, I found their home brew pepperoni and decided to give it a shot. Then, I grabbed some of their sweet Italian sausage.

At home I cooked up the sausage and stretched the 22 oz. ball of Boli Dough onto a 16 inch screen. I topped it with Neapolitan sauce, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms and sausage. After baking it slightly longer than normal, it had a beautiful brown crust and looked ready to eat.

The pie tasted very good. All of the toppings were noticeably more flavorful. The sausage is my favorite to date. The pepperoni was tasty - probably better than I’ve had, but I’m still searching for that special brand that will set my pizza apart. Any suggestions are welcome!

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

Tonight I thought I would revisit an old recipe - my original thick crust pan pizza dough. In the past, I had used this dough, baked in a cookie sheet, to make pizza in short notice. As that situation arose, I decided to give it a shot once more. This time, I decided to bake the pizza in the 17 inch round deep pan I use for Chicago pies.

The dough was mixed as before and came out with the familiar wet feel that the others had. I was able to get the pizza dough into the pan and shape it to roughly the size of the pan. For a bit of a change, I decided to make this pizza into a barbecue chicken pizza using bbq sauce, chicken, red onions and cheese.

The pie was baked for 10 minutes and came out brown and even. The crust cooked to a nice thickness and with decent texture. I must say, however, that this dough just isn’t in the same league as the other styles have been. It seemed to lack flavor and crispness.

I will continue to search for modifications that will make this pizza dough more tasty. In the meantime, here are some pics…

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

One small ball of boli dough was left in the refrigerator which was begging to be stretched. We decided it was best to make a cinnamon peach dessert pizza with it since it was too small to be a meal. I began topping the pizza when I realized that we were out of butter. This meant that making streusel was impossible. Searching the cupboards, I came across some graham crackers and decided that they might do for the crunchy topping of the pie.

The crackers did not look very appetizing before the pizza went into the oven. They looked worse when it came out. The flavor of the pizza was nothing like the normal recipe and I won’t be doing the graham cracker thing again to be sure. I should have went next door for butter.