Pizza!

[RunnerKim]

With the talk on various threads about pizza, I couldn't resist asking people what their favorite homemade pizzas are. I'm always looking to try new pizzas.

This week I'm making a fajita pizza. Spread the crust with some black beans, chopped tomato, onion, chicken cooked in a fajita spices, sharp cheddar and Monterey jack with jalopeno's. Probably would normally use salsa instead of tomatos but we ran out of my mild salsa and my husband uses hot, which I'm too much of a wimp to handle!

Kim

[Angela]

Funny you should bring this topic up now, Kim, I was planning on making a pizza with a homemade crust (it'll be the first homemade crust I've ever made) this weekend. So I'll be interested in seeing the replies. A really good pizza I have made before is a recipe from the cookoff at the CL Atlanta Festival in 1999. The recipes were featured later in the September 1999 issue. It's the Teriyaki Chicken Pizza, very good taste and easy because it uses a Boboli crust.

[Susann]

Kim-I love the fajita pizza idea.

My favorite pizza is super simple-a barbeque chicken pizza. Shred some cooked chicken, carmelize some onions. Add some barbecue sauce and gouda (or whatever) cheese and there you go!

[Beth]

I posted a Sourdough Pizza Crust recipe under the Bread Recipes thread, in case anyone's game. Our favorite pizza place in CA made a sourdough crust and got us started. Also, you can make your own almost non-fat Italian sausage with ground turkey and seasoning (I use Penzey's).

[MrsReber]

I'm sure you're probably all sick of my pizza messages, I just love to create diffent kinds. I am more traditional, though, and only use tomato sauce or tomatoes. I'll slice a tomato real thin and put a layer on top of the crust before I put the cheese on. I prefer the home made crust and I'll put herbs in it while it's kneading in the bread machine. Sometimes I'll add some romano cheese, too. I bake the crust for about 5 minutes before putting anything on it. It comes out more crispy that way. I like plenty of fresh basil, which I snip with my kitchen shears. We prefer veggies- onions and peppers- and my husband can take all the credit for asking me to put artichokes on top. I use the marinated ones and let them drain, then chop them up and sprinkle them on top. Very good! For cheese, I will always use more than one kind. Last time, I used mozzerella and then the leftover sharp provolone from the Italian meatloaf recipe. I also had some ricotta left over from the penne zucchini recipe. I just take a teaspoon and drop the cheese on to the pizza in a few places. Then I top it off with grated Locatelli and I spray it with some extra virgin olive oil. Mmmm, I brought the last slice with me for lunch today. It was very good.

I think the best part of making a pizza is being able to really pesonalize it and try new things. I always learn something or come up with a new idea each time I make one. It's my way of creating a work of art since lack any ability in the art world!

[lorilei]

Two of our favorite pizza combos (usually piled high on a homeade herbed soy crust)

ALFREDO PIZZA: Alfredo sauce as a base, spinach, seasoned cooked chicken breast, carmelized onions, fresh basil and mozzarella.

SPINACH PIZZA: Tomato sauce, spinach, chopped garlic, artichokes, fresh basil, thinly sliced tomatoes and a mixture of mozzarella and feta cheese.

We've also made mexican pizza using refried beans, salsa, chilies, peppers, onions and tomatoes with a few tortilla chips crushed with cheddar cheese over the top.

[Kathy]

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

[willgmendh]

My favorite is BBQ chicken and carmelized onions. Marinate boneless chicken breast in BBQ sauce. Saute the chicken. Carmelize some onions. Put some BBQ sauce (not the marinade!!) in with some crushed tomatoes for the base, and use mozarella cheese.

Also tried a philly cheese steak pizza - ketchup as base, american cheese, sauted minute steaks corasely chopped, and carmenlized onions. OK but not great. Want to try again.

I do pizza on the grill in the summer. I heat my pizza stone on the grill, and use an oven thermometer to determine/control the grill temp. Works great!

[This message has been edited by willgmendh (edited 08-04-2000).]

[Anne]

Definitely pizza for dinner tonight. some versions I like are

Greek - cooked homemade crust sprinkled with tomatoe, kalamata olives, green onion, feta cheese and sprinkled with dressing for Greek salad (olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and garlic)- optional - chopped cucumbers

Thai - cooked homemade crust covered with a spicey, thick peanut sauce and topped with green onion, red bell pepper, and lots of cilantro - optional - cooked shrimp

Mexican - homemade crust (half cornmeal, half white flour) spread with mashed cooked pinto beans and topped with chopped tomatoes, onions, basil, cilantro and queso blanco or other mexican cheese - optional - jalepenos, lime or lemon, garlic

[mah]

a relative of mine used to own a pizza place. he use to come up with some unique recipes to keep up with the competition. one that i really enjoyed was his scandanavian pizza.

start with a homemade pizza crust,
layer it with yellow mustard,
next layer would be of cheese(whichever you prefer-i use an italian blend),
then a layer of of sauerkraut.
i then sprinkle some fennel and/or caraway seeds and some no-salt seasoning blend.

enjoy!

p.s. i have also added sausage and pepperoni to this.


[This message has been edited by mah (edited 08-04-2000).]

[CLustik]

Pizza!!!! I usually use whatever I have in the fridge, but a few things I've learned are .... I use the bread maker for easy pizza dough and I heat the pizza stone and sprinkly with cornmeal before I put the crust on it. It keeps the crust crisper, putting it right on a hot stone.

I like to spread a bit of olive oil on the crust and in a bowl, I mix up a chopped,seeded tomato (seeding it helps it to not be so juicy and make the crust soft), fresh oregano and basil, black olives, onion, and green pepper and usually fresh spinach leaves. Add some parmesan and mix that up. Put on the pizza crust and cover with some mozzerella. If we are in the mode for meat, I use the 50% less fat sausage and it tastes great.

Chris

[Angela]

Well, I did it, I made my first homemade pizza crust and pizza, and it was very yummy! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif I "did" the cooking class on dough from the March 2000 issue and it came out perfect (even looked like the picture)! I used the Tomato-and-Basil Pizza recipe from the same article. I used fresh Mozzarella instead of the Gruyere called for. I stuck the left-over half in the freezer, I hope it tastes as good later as it did just now.

Now that I've kneaded and punched dough I want to do it again, dough has a great texture/feel. Next on my list to try is the Two-Cheese Oregano Bread.

[This message has been edited by Angela (edited 08-05-2000).]

[SheWhoWalks]

Beth, how do I find, or get, your sourdough pizza dough recipe? I checked your posts but didn't see it. Did I miss it? Used the search but only turned up your mention of it here. I read where you emailed it to someone. If it is in an archive somewhere help me to find it! Or could use the email route - your preference.
Thanks...

As usual, all it takes is for me to ask someone to help me find something and there it is! I found your recipe.
Kim, thanks for posting this topic. I've gotten some good information and recipes.

[This message has been edited by SheWhoWalks (edited 08-06-2000).]

[emily]

beth - i'm curious. what's your favorite ca pizza place? the best of the bay just came out naming Zachary's in the east bay as the best pizza for the 14th year in a row. i tried it today (my SO is addicted to pizza) and thought it was ok.

after reading this thread i'm tempted to use my dough hook on my kitchen aid mixer to make some homemade dough... mmm.

[Beth]

Originally posted by emily:
[B]beth - i'm curious. what's your favorite ca pizza place? the best of the bay just came out naming Zachary's in the east bay as the best pizza for the 14th year in a row. i tried it today (my SO is addicted to pizza) and thought it was ok. B]

We lived up north, and one of our favorites, the standard fare, was Villa Roma in a Novato strip center. I don't remember if it was a neighbor or the sourdough crust sign that first caught our attention, but we really like it. Old Chicago Pizza up in Petaluma make a great deep dish pizza.

[Beth]

Originally posted by SheWhoWalks:
Beth, how do I find, or get, your sourdough pizza dough recipe? I checked your posts but didn't see it....
As usual, all it takes is for me to ask someone to help me find something and there it is! I found your recipe.

[This message has been edited by SheWhoWalks (edited 08-06-2000).]

Sorry. That's what happens when you post something of a ridiculous length...things get lost. I'm just pleased to find out there are other people out there playing with sourdough.