Should it be Spinach Alfredo Garlic Chicken, or Garlic Spinach Alfredo Chicken, or… oh, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is whether I can make friends and win arguments with the taste of this experimental pizza! Tonight I brought out the newest addition for a few close friends to gauge the reaction.

I built the pizza on Bill’s Traditional dough that was aged to 24 hours. While the dough bench rested, I prepped the alfredo sauce in a large sauce pot and the garlic chicken in a frying pan of olive oil. After things had been cooked down a bit, I added the chopped spinach to the sauce and stirred it in. The resulting mixture was spread onto the pizza blank as the base.

Next, I laid out sliced tomatoes and dropped chicken chunks down covered by a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. The pizza was baked for 10 minutes at about 475 degrees.

Everyone loved the taste of the pizza. The only negative comment was my own. I think there is just too much sauce on the base which causes the pizza to have a heavy taste and makes people need forks to eat it. Though, the upside is that two slices fills the stomach of the average sized adult. In all I think this pie needs only minor tweaking in order to make it to the recipe list. More to come…

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

I vowed at the end of my last Pittsburgh Square Pizza Tour that I would attempt to discover the formula for these types of tray pizzas. After doing some research, I took my first shot. The result was very encouraging, but more work is needed.

The key to this pizza seems to be lots of yeast, a warm dough temperature and two nice long rise periods. Here’s the recipe:

2 Packets of IDY dissolved into
1 cup hot water
allow yeast to activate and double in volume

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups high gluten flour

The dough mixed in my bread machine for 10 minutes until smooth and I allowed it to have it’s first rise in the machine for 20 minutes. Fill the bottom of a cookie sheet with olive oil, enough to eventually deep fry the crust. Wipe some on the sides of the tray as well. Next, remove the dough and loosely form it into the shape the cookie sheet. I found it helpful to stretch it on the counter then place it into the tray. It should almost touch the edges. Lightly spray the top of the dough with oil to avoid letting it dry out.

Next, I allowed it to rise a second time for about 15 minutes in a warm dark place. I typically turn my oven on the lowest setting while the dough mixes then turn it off when I place the dough in for a rise period. It should be around 100 degrees and moist.

Once the dough rises to fill the tray, it can be topped. I used Neapolitan sauce and placed pepperoni on half on the sheet pie. The pie baked for 15 minutes at 450 degrees and turned golden brown. The bottom gets nice and crisp while the rest of the slice has a nice soft bite.

This pizza was not bad at all for the first attempt. I should have let it rise for much longer the second time, and also should have baked it longer. These changes should make a huge difference in the overall flavor. I was very encouraged by the texture and taste of the pizza. It’s not very comparable to the ones I had in Pittsburgh, but it’s definitely on the right track! Stay tuned as I work this one out.

UPDATE: Extending the rise time and a longer bake made this pizza turn out much better. Read more about tray pizza round two.

I realized it had been way too long since we visited calzone land so tonight we decided to do some fabulous folding of ham, ricotta and mozzarella cheese. I used a batch of Bill’s traditional and it worked out well. A coating of whipped egg on the outer crust gives it that glazed brown look that I love and seems to help keep the seam together as well.

Nothing says love like a classic calzone and some Neapolitan sauce…

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

As we continue our run of Bill’s Traditional dough, I was experimenting with amounts of cheese a bit. Tonight I nearly doubled the amount of cheese I normally place on top of a pie to see how it would change things. Though it tasted very good, I noticed a lot more flavor from, well, the cheese. In fact, this becomes so much of an overwhelming taste that the whole pizza begins to rest on one thing - the quality of the cheese. In other words, I think this would have been a delicious venture had I sprung on some fine mozzarella cheese or a blend of provy and mozz. Since we are dealing with bagged shredded cheese from the dairy isle of our local food mart, the extra cheese smothered the other flavors with a kind of bland aftertaste. If I try this again, it will be with high quality cheese.

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

In the something-besides-pepperoni category is this great example of a well rounded meal on a pizza that is my latest experiment - the Spinach Alfredo Garlic Chicken pizza. The base is a garlic alfredo sauce containing fresh leaf spinach. On top we have roasted garlic chicken, sliced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Here’s how it was done:

Spinach Alfredo base:
1-1/2 light cream
2 Tbl butter
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1 tsp Oregano
2-3 oz Fresh Leaf Spinach, chopped

The cream is heated to boiling then turned down to a simmer while the other ingredients are mixed in. Remove the mixture from the heat when it begins to thicken.

Meanwhile, I lightly coated 2 boneless chicken breasts with flour and fried it lightly in Olive Oil and about 2 cloves of minced garlic. The spinach alfredo sauce was spread onto a 16 inch blank of 24 hour Bill’s Traditional dough. Next, the chicken, tomatoes and cheese were added.

The pizza baked for about 12 minutes at 480 degrees. When it cooled, I served it to some hungry folks. Each slice sagged with toppings and tasted ridiculously good. In fact, I could only eat one and a half slices before feeling full (this is not normal for me at all). This pizza was a huge hit with my guests and my wife. I can’t wait to try it again. I need to figure out a way to keep the crust from sagging, but this is an otherwise immediate touchdown!

Here are some pics…