I’ve only read the beginning introduction so far, it has a small but informative reference on the equipment, ingredients, and basic preparation and cooking techniques for making pizzas. Then it goes right into the pizza recipes. They’re divided into several categories: Pan pizza, thin crust, flatbreads of the Americas, dessert pizzas, and international pizzas around the world.

Like any recipe book, it’s a great reference if you’re looking for something new to try. I’m not sure if I’m ready for some of the ethnic dishes, but I’ll have to take a look at making flatbreads and how making the crust differs from a traditional crust. It has different recipes and techniques for making thick crust, calzones, or flatbread crust. There are also a few bread recipes in here too, and plenty of ones I can’t even pronounce! Can’t wait to try one out.

Some of the things I’ve learned already is that it’s OK to use canned tomatoes rather than rely on the freshness of the ones found at a store, and dried herbs do just as well as fresh if you cook them long enough to bring out the flavor. Except for basil which should be added fresh, a sprig added at the beginning and taken out at the end.

I’ll have to keep reading and use some of these tips for my next sauce!

But I found a few pizza costumes that are quite funny!

Which is your favorite one? Do you have any pizza clothing??

Recipe

This one calls for ground beef, Taco Bell seasoning, lettuce, tomato, ready to use pizza crust, and Mexican style shredded four-cheese blend with a touch of Philadelphia, which I assume means sour cream. But why doesn’t it clarify?? It has an average of 4 and a half stars with 155 reviews so it sounds like most people like it. You can drizzle salsa on top to add a little more moisture.

I was browsing some articles on Serious Eats and someone posted a link to 25 Healthy Pizza slideshow on Cooking Light.com. The navigation is quite nice – you can click the next or previous buttons to see a short description of each one, then click a link for the recipe of one you like. When you click for the recipe it goes to MyRecipes.com.

I’m not sure what makes them healthy. They do provide nutritional information on MyRecipes.com. One is Bacon, Tomato, and Arugula Pizza and the bacon adds quite a bit of fat. There are a few seafood ones: Garlicky Clam Grilled Pizza and Smoked Salmon Thin-Crust Pizza. I’ve never tried one with seafood except an occasional anchovy that mistakenly was added to my pizza. Next time I’m feeling adventurous I might have to try one. The Pepperoni Deep-Dish Pizza appeals to me; I like Chicago-style pizzas. But it has more fat than the bacon one! Does pepperoni have more fat than bacon? The Veggie Grilled Pizza is not as low-fat as I would have guessed, but it’s a great way to add more veggies to your diet! What do you think about these recipes?

Continuing my posts on tools used to make pizza, another type of pan used is a perforated pizza pan. I picked one up on Amazon and gave it a try. Supposedly it allows more heat to reach the pizza than a typical solid pan, but not as much as a pizza stone which allows for great heat conduction and moisture loss due to its porous nature. Many small holes or fewer larger holes in the pan will allow more moisture to escape. This means that the bottom of the crust will become crispy. Depending on whether you like crispy crust, this may or may not appeal to you. I can be wary about thin crispy crusts; I don’t like ones that are so thin they have no taste or are too tough or chewy. I can imagine that it’s easy to overcook the crust if you have too many holes in the pan.

Pizza Screens

Another type of pan is a pizza screen (left). While the perforated pan has larger holes, the pizza screen will have tons of smaller holes without much space between them. I believe the larger holes allow more moisture to leave, resulting in a crisper crust than the screen (even though the screen has more holes). I haven’t used a screen yet to find out. I believe you can also use special screens directly on a grill to cook your pizza. We have one but haven’t tried it out yet either.

Anti-stick Agent

I used shortening on the perforated pan to make sure the pizza did not stick. Just used a paper towel to spread it around. I was afraid using olive oil would be messy and wasteful as it flows out of the holes! Of course a spray can with olive oil would be the next logical idea. Shortening was also messy — you’ll definitely need to clean up afterwards! I like the taste of oil-cooked pizzas from restaurants, but I haven’t mastered the technique yet. I tried it in my deep-dish or regular pan, and it adds a little too much moisture rather than adding to the flavor.

Results

I cooked with my perforated pan a few months ago and here is a picture. The crust wasn’t too bad, and you can see I don’t usually go for thin crust pizzas Click the picture to see more on my Flickr account.

I tried out my new deep dish pizza pan last week. I use shortening on the pan to prevent sticking. An alternative to that is olive oil, but I haven’t been very successful using it. Check out Amazon.com for a deep dish or other type of pizza pans. Pictured here is the one I used.

Deep Dish Results

My deep dish pizzas turn out pretty well. The key is using just the right amount of dough and spreading it out equally so you don’t have too much dough around the outside edge (cornicone). The first one I made had too much dough and got kind of tough. The second one I tried stuffing with some shredded provolone in the cornicone. But I don’t yet have the technique needed for stuffing the crust. I didn’t add enough cheese, but I don’t think there was enough dough to wrap around any more cheese. In fact my cornicone is uneven because I didn’t have quite enough dough.

1st Deep dish pizza

Stuffed crust

Chicago Style

Do you like Chicago or Uno Deep dish pizzas? I do, although it can be hard to wait so long for it to cook properly, and only one or two slices are filling. I last had one at the Uno’s in Dublin, Ohio. I saw how they made them in Chicago on a pizza show on the cooking channel. They place a layer of uncooked sausage on the bottom which must be why it takes more that 45 minutes to cook.

Stuffed Crust

I love the stuffed crust from Pizza Hut, so I will keep trying on my own pizzas. There’s gotta be an easy way to recreate it! I remember having a sauce stuffed and cheese stuffed crust from somewhere. The sauce sounds harder to recreate but I should try that sometime too!

Do you like deep dish and stuffed crusts?

Several months ago I got some high gluten flour from GFS Marketplace. It isn’t the same brand as the one pictured, but I’m not sure if brand matters? I finally got a chance to try it out a week ago. Since I got a 25 pound bag, I have plenty to experiment with, but I haven’t deviated from my original recipe yet. I’m just trying to get a consistent crust.

Cooking Methods

With basic bread flour I’ve tried pizzas on a pizza stone with cornmeal, a deep dish pan with shortening or extra virgin olive oil, and a perforated pan. I can’t seem to get the ones in an oiled pan to be as crispy as I’ve liked, almost like it’s not cooked in the same amount of time. Perhaps the temperature needs to be higher. The texture of the ones cooked in cornmeal seem like the most professional.

High Gluten

The high gluten flour wasn’t much harder to knead than I was used to (I was warned it would be tougher since the gluten strands develop more). It also wasn’t much harder to roll out. I’ve learned to be more patient and let it rest and get up to room temperature after its retardation time in the fridge. I’m now trying to spin the dough to help spread it out, but for some reason it gets oblong shaped and I’m not sure how to correct that except with hand pressing and a rolling pin. I have a nice 2 sided rolling pin that seems to work really well. I’ll blog about that one and my other utensils in a future post.

I recently bought Pizza on the Grill by Elizabeth Karmel and Bob Blumer.

The content is divided into two sections. The Basic Training section explains the technique of cooking a pizza on both gas and charcoal grills. The second section provides tons of recipes for pizzas, from classic pepperoni to exotic ones like Maine Event Lobster and Corn Pizza. Most of these will be too exotic for my tastes, but I was mainly just interested in how to cook pizza on the grill.

First you roll out the dough to a 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick circle or square. Add some oil and lay it directly on the grill and cook using direct heat. Take it out, flip it over onto a peel or baking sheet and add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Then cook using indirect heat. Read the book for the details and lots of tips. If you feel adventurous or just want a new recipe, this book has tons to browse through.

Have you successfully cooked pizza on a grill? My husband is more familiar with our grill, so I may have him give these techniques a try!

Close up – Papa John’s Pizza

John’s Favorite – Pepp & Sausage

I really like the taste of all elements of the pizza, including the crust (pan or original style is just the thickness I like), cheese and sauce. I think I ordered John’s Favorite with pepperoni, sausage, and a 6-cheese blend: Mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan, romano, asiago, and fontina. Of course I can’t taste all the different types of cheese, but it was still good. Some may think the pizza is too greasy, but I think that’s part of what makes it taste good! The toppings are great, but I’m not too picky with particular types of sausage or pepperoni. They give you some garlic butter for dipping, which is also great but I’m sure it’s not good for you. They also give you a small jalapeno pepper with each pizza, which I give to my husband since I don’t like hot peppers.

The prices are great — they have coupons and deals all the time. My large pizza cost $11. They are also good as leftovers – just wrap a few pieces together in aluminum foil and refrigerate as soon as you’re done with the pizza. Microwave (without the foil!) and it will still be pretty good, although the crust may get a little chewy. Some like to eat pizza leftovers cold, but I don’t. Do you? What do you think of Papa John’s?