Pizza is high on the list of my favorite foods -- as they say, bad pizza is still good food. While I do enjoy going out to various pizzerias to sample their fare, I also enjoy making it. So I got excited when i read that food chemists are studying properties of whole-grain wheat to find cooking methods that will produce healthier food products. They used pizza as a sample.
In the mean time, I'll stick with the dough recipes I generally use for making pizza. The most common recipe I use is called Jay's Signature Pizza Crust, posted on AllRecipes by SunFlower. This recipe works perfectly for New York style pizza crust and for rolls (chicken, sausage, eggplant, etc.). It's a fast, simple recipe.
Recently, Jessica discovered Crazy Crust Pizza Dough on AllRecipes, posted by MBSolomon. This dough is more difficult to make and work with, but is ready for actual cooking faster than Jay's. The resulting crust rises substantially in the middle and offers a taste and texture quite similar to Pizza Hut's dough, though not identical (the right sauce helps).
Here's a few ideas for how to top your homemade pizza:
- Toppings should be easily bitten through or chopped small enough for one bite.
- To use fresh tomatoes: slice them to half inch thick slices, salt them heavily, then wrap them in dry paper towels for half an hour to absorb their excess liquid.
- Use a mix of cheeses: provolone, mozzarella, parmesan are the classic combo. Also try gouda, pepper jack, and gruyère for a change.
- Try different meats: shredded chicken, beef, or pork work well. Try various sliced sausages such as chorizo, sopressata, or even simple kielbasa. I've seen many people use prosciutto, but I avoid it as it gets dry losing it's delicate fat and becoming difficult to bite through.
- Create salad pizza: sliced romaine, tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, and shredded parmesan, with a nice dose of oil and red vinegar goes really well on fresh baked dough. (Don't cook the salad!)
- Make seafood pizza: sauté some canned salmon, diced onion, and sliced garlic with fresh olive. Blanche shrimp (remove tails) and sliced calamari. Combine on top of fresh baked dough with plenty of diced tomatoes, fruity extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Cook hot and use a pizza stone! You can get a stone and peel kit
or just a stone
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