Cowabunga!

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Aw, yeah, I know how to make a damn fine pizza.



I am finding that good pizza takes a lot of practice. I keep trying different recipes--but the most successful one I've found for thin crust, like the one up there, is snagged from the back of one of those bullshit cozy mystery books I periodically shelve.* I did hit a bit of a snag when the recipe suggested that I use my portable brick pizza oven for best results. Uh, yeah. Look, I'm surprised I have a pizza stone.** But even with the recipes, it takes a lot of work.***

On the plus side, if my appetite for pizza continues, all this kneading is going to give me some serious Popeye forearms. Who'd have thought pizza could make you a badass? The Ninja Turtles were right all along.


*But didn't actually read, because cozy mysteries are Not My Thing.

**Also I have this, thanks to my brother. That's all I really need.

***Getting the darn thing from the paddle onto the stone, for example. Which is why I had the fight with the oven.

Comments

[booksnchocolate.livejournal.com]

OMG that looks amazing! :D (Spoken as one who has just returned from Italy, the nirvana of all pizzerias) Props to you for making the crust yourself (I'm generally too lazy).

[westrider.livejournal.com]

My brother found a recipe for pizza dô in Cooks Magazine that worked pretty well, and was pretty much entirely done in the food processor. All he had to do by hand was roll it out.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

That looks good! So one of those recipes-inna-back works? I like a good cozy mystery for waiting room reading, but I find myself somewhat bewildered by these gimmick cozies.....it's not enough to have a witty amatuer sleuth and a decent whodunnit puzzle, now there has to be a craft project involved?

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

I have a bread machine, which makes pizza dough a trivial process. The sauce is easy to whip up in large quantities and chill between uses, though I tend to just buy a jar of something decent. After that, it's just a matter of using whatever ingredients are handy in the fridge at the time. Pizza-making is not really complicated.
Order of operations matters, though. I prefer to put the cheese on top of everything else, but sometimes you want certain ingredients to be a little broiled. And if you use a lot of fresh veggies, the pizza will tend to get a little watery.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I have done some breadmaker doughs and they turn out all right, but somehow the ones I make by hand always turn out the best because I can get a feel for any adjustments I might need to make (I always have to adjust recipes a bit to compensate for high altitude and dryness). Plus, kneading is fun.

Usually I just add some roasted granulated garlic, olive oil, and Italian seasoning to a can of Hunt's or Contadina tomato sauce. That seems to work pretty well. I dislike full-on pizza sauces from the store because they usually have too much sugar. (Also true of storebought doughs/crusts.)

My favorite toppings are straight cheese (mozzarella + parmesan with whatever else I feel like), pepperoni, and Hawaiian. I try not to cover the pizza with toppings because it's less likely to bake through.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

It worked for me! And I really can see the appeal of the recipes/crafts. I guess they assume they're aiming at people with these hobbies, and most folks with hobbies like to share tips, so it's added value.

My favorite gimmick cozy was entitled Death by Sudoku. It said it was the first in a series, but I never checked to see if any more came out ...

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I've tried breadmaker dough. Not too bad, but I like the ones I do by hand better--I can adjust it that way, and anyway I LIKE kneading!

I'd be interested in the recipe for days when I'm feeling lazy and want pizza, though!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks!

[mel-redcap.livejournal.com]

*looks suspiciously at your pizza*

Aha! I see that you are one of those strange and warped people who like OLIVES. Bleaugh. No, no, awesome pizza has no olives and requires mushrooms. :P :) (My husband, however, would love your pizza, being also strange and warped. ;D)

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one. Pepperoni and Mushroom is pretty much my go-to pizza topping.

Olives are OK, but not something I'd seek out.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

This one was actually done in the Cuisineart, which was kind of interesting. I'll see if we've still got the recipe around next time I go over there. It was about the quickest and easiest I've ever seen, which sometimes really appeals.

In general, I'm with you on kneading and making bread by hand. I don't really consider using a breadmaker to actually be Baking. And like you said below since you've got to adjust for altitude, by hand is far and away the best for that.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Not me--my DAD is the one who asked for olives. I don't understand, but I oblige.

My own pizza was straight cheese. Classic.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

I am just warped enough that I would love olives and mushrooms together. Mmmm.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

Of course, even an automatic dough requires some kneading to get it into shape. You still get the fun of tossing it into the air, if you so wish. But I know what you mean. My dough always comes out slightly different; sometime's it's too elastic and won't stretch out easily, or overrises in the oven and I get a pizza with huge bubbles in it. I'm learning to prevent those issues, though, by adjusting the flour/water ratio when it comes out of the machine.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

Pizza dô? The Way of Pizza?

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Ha, no. Habit from a Bakery I worked at for years. They always spelled "dough" that way, and, as with many other idiosyncratic spellings, it stuck with me.

I do like the idea of a secret order of monks dedicated to the art of pizza, tho.

[mel-redcap.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, fair enough. And awesome icon! XD *snicker*

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

The art of pizza would be Pizza no Jutsu, which works too.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, either way is good. It's still a very general concept at this point ;)

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Wow, somebody else who likes Hawaiian pizza!

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

I'm a combo man, myself. Toss it all on there!

Those are the wrong kind of olives though. :P

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right? Who wants green olives on a pizza? (Answer: my parents.)

Mom is a combo fiend. She likes to pile ALL THE FOOD on top of her sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, everything. And she narrates while she does it. "I am putting on onions, garlic, green peppers, eggplant, jalapenos, goat cheese, spinach, tomatoes, olives, basil, feta cheese ..." "THAT'S NICE, MOM." "... what else do we have in the fridge?" "THERE IS NO MORE ROOM ON THE PIZZA."

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Unite!

Never did understand why it got such a bad rap. I think it's a pretty tasty combo, myself!

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

I was never interested until I got into a roleplaying group for a while, and they'd order pizza for the all-nighters, including sometimes a Hawaiian (the guy whose house it was at grew up in Honolulu). It's really tasty! Like a dessert pizza.

One chain around here does a variation on a Hawaiian that they call a "Paia Pie", which also adds mandarin oranges. I was dubious but it works.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

I must admit I'm a sucker for piling on every topping, every option, every everything. Not just on pizza. My first conlang attempt had ALL THE MOODS (at least all the ones listed in my encyclopedia at home...never mind that I didn't know how they would work).

Green olives seem wrong for a combo though. I can see using them on a "greek" combo with feta and eggplant and such (not my favorite though), but not your basic pepperoni etc. type combo.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Heh. I do that with constructed cultures. They will have ALL THE GENDER ROLES!

And yeah, I do it with the conlangs, too. There are so many entertainingly different constructions to choose from!

The funny thing is, right now I'm working on a language that has a few things in common with English--and it winds up seeming totally counter-intuitive to me to put it in a conlang. Pre-nominal modifiers (including modifying nouns)? Relative clauses marked by relative pronouns? Tense/lax vowel distinctions? A copula? IN THE SAME LANGUAGE? That's ridiculous. No language does ... oh. Right.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Hehe, you should join the conlang mailing list and use that last bit as your signature. ;)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I've tried a couple of times to join, but dangit y'all talk too much. It's tough to keep up.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

You can always set up your subscription to filter out "OT" and "TECH" ("What sort of software is available for making my own fonts?" type stuff) posts. Granted, that still leaves a lot of traffic, but you don't have to read every conversation.