Fresh tomatoes are the best.

One of my favorite ways to take advantage of all the fresh produce around this time of year is to throw a pizza party.  Invite a few friends over, take a trip to the farmer’s market and pick out some really fresh toppings, and then experiment with four or five different pizzas!  The thing about having a pizza party like this is that a lot of the work is front-loaded (making the dough, cutting toppings, grating cheese, etc) so when the party is in full-swing, you can actually relax with everybody else!

The Equipment. Let’s just get this out of the way.  To make really stellar pizza at home, it does help to have some basic equipment.  I happened to use my stand mixer to make this batch of dough, but you 100% do not have to have a stand mixer to make pizza dough.  I used to make it by hand all the time.

The two things that really do help with the pizza process though is a pizza stone and pizza peel!  It’s pretty difficult to get a really good crust on your pizza without a stone and it’s nearly impossible to get your pizzas in and out of the oven without a peel.  If you’re dying to make pizza and in the market for a few new pieces of equipment, here’s a deal that pretty hard to pass up:

Pizza Peel and/or Pizza Stone Sale

Through the rest of July, you can get 20% off the pizza peel and/or pizza stone
I have listed in my OpenSky Store.

Just use the code: July20pct

Back to the pizza…

Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough (From American Pie)
Makes 4 10-ounce dough balls.

- 5 Cups (22.5 ounces) unbleached bread flour
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 2 Teaspoons salt
- 1 Teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 3/4 Cups plus 1 Tablespoon room-temp water

Helpful Equipment:
- Kitchen Scale (Also in my OpenSky Store and you can use the 20% off code for that as well)

Making the dough. This is my go-to pizza dough recipe these days.  I find that it makes a really nice crust that isn’t too thick or thin.  It’s has a great crunch to it but is still a tiny bit chewy in the middle.  It’s pretty all-purpose which I like for a thing like this where I’m making a bunch of different pizzas.

You can do this!

If you’re using a mixer, mix all the dry ingredients together in the mixing bowl and then add the wet ingredients.  Mix on low speed with a dough hook until everything comes together (about 4 minutes), then let the dough rest for 5 minutes in the bowl.  This will help it relax and make it easier to mix.  Then mix it on medium-low for another 2 minutes until it forms a smooth ball that clears the sides of the bowl but sticks slightly to the bottom.

If it’s too dry, mix in water by the Tablespoon.  if it’s too sticky, then do the same with flour.  The dough should pass the windowpane test (Rip off a piece of dough and pull it apart.  Can you see light through it before it rips?  Then you’re on the right track.)

If you’re using hands, stir everything together in a bowl until it forms a ball.  Mix the dough with your hands by continuously dipping your hand in water and work the dough as you turn the ball (think of your hand like a dough hook).  As all the flour gets incorporated, the dough will become hard to work with.  Let it rest for 5 minutes at that point to relax (you and the dough).  Then continue mixing again for 2 or 3 minutes until it passes the windowpane test.

Measuring the dough. Regardless of what technique you use, measure your dough out into 10 ounce balls right away and put them in large plastic bags with some olive oil.

Overnight is best.

Let these sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then stick them in the fridge overnight.  If you don’t have time for that, you can let them rise at room temperature for an hour, then take them out of the bags, punch them down to get out some of the gas, return them to the bags, and refrigerate them for 2 hours.

I highly recommend just doing the dough the day before (or a few days before).  You’ll end up with better crust and less work to do the day of the pizza making.

This was my dough after a night in the fridge.

Results of the slow rise.

Day of Preparation. Whether or not you decide to give your pizza the overnight treatment, you need to bring the pizza back to room temperature before using it.  Otherwise it’ll be too hard to work with.  At least two hours before you want to make pizza, take out each dough ball, punch it down, form a ball and put it on a baking sheet.

Drizzle on a bit of oil oil onto each ball and cover all of them with a damp towel. (I did 1.5 times a batch of dough which is why I have 6.)

So to be clear, if you want to make the dough the same day you’re making the pizza, you need to make it about 6 hours before dinner time.  Trust me.  It’s easier to do it the day before by a long shot.

Very important.

The Pizzas. Finally, some pizza making.  I picked up a few great things at the farmer’s market for this meal including some heirloom tomatoes, purple peppers, nice yellow squash, fresh arugula, and hot Italian sausage.

I picked up some sopressata and a few other things (like a lot of mozzarella cheese) from the store as well.

Can't go wrong here really.

For the sauce on all my pizzas I used this basic marinara sauce (also from American Pie)

Basic No-cook Marinara Sauce (I changed around some stuff from the original.  Feel free to customize based on what you have in your pantry.)
Makes 6 Cups, enough for probably 18 pizzas.  You can freeze the leftovers!

- 1 28 ounce can tomato purée
- 1 1/2 Cups water
- 1 Tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 Tablespoon dried basil
- 1 Teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 Teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 Teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1/4 Cup olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons garlic powder
- 1/4 Cup red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste

Just mix all that together in a big bowl and you’re ready to go!  It’s actually a really delicious sauce.

Cooking the Pizzas. I used the exact same technique to make each of the below pizzas.  Roll out the dough until it’s the desired size (I shot for about 12 inches across).  Place the dough on a pizza peel that’s been dusted with corn meal or semolina flour.  Add a few Tablespoons of sauce.  Add your toppings.  Slide it onto a 500 degree (pre-heated) pizza stone.  Each pizza should take 10-12 minutes to be done.

Pizza Margherita.  The first pizza I made was a take on a classic Italian pizza with fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, and basil.  It’s also the pizza in the first photo for this post.

Don't over top the pizzas...

Meat Lovers. I had some meat lovers in attendance so I did one with just the Italian sausage (I pre-cooked it) and the sopressata.

For the meat lovers...

The Purple Pepper Pizza.  This one had these nice little purple pepper slices on it along with fresh yellow squash, cheese, and sopressata.  The purple peppers lost a bit of their color in the oven, but it was still tasty.

The Purple Pepper Pizza!

The Leftovers.  I made a pizza at the end of the night with just the leftovers so it had some meat, some peppers and squash, a few tomatoes, and I topped it some fresh arugula when it came out of the oven which gave it a peppery flavor.

Last one...

I’ve posted a lot of pizza posts on Macheesmo, but hopefully they make it accessible.  The thing that made all these pizzas very tasty was the nice fresh veggies.  Their flavors really came through nicely.  I was really impressed by how much I liked the squash actually.

Pizza is really one of my favorite things to make and with just a bit of time you can blow 95% of restaurant pizzas out of the water.

Here’s a few other pizzas I’ve made over the years:

- Mashed Potato Pizza
- Shrimp Pizza with Red Pepper Pesto
- 3 Tasty Pizzas
- Deep Dish Pizza

Of course, I’m not the first person to think of this kitschy combo of pizza and spanakopita.  What I wasn’t expecting was that the other person who’s well known for it was Rachel Ray.  I just had a freakin’ Rachel Ray moment:  Take two things that have similar names and stick them together.  It might not be tasty, but it’ll be super-cute.

Luckily, my spanakopizza was also extremely tasty.  Like… maybe my favorite thing ever.

Delish.

Let it ring throughout the Internet world, if Rachel Ray wants to have an official spanakopizza challenge, she can bring it.  Her version is way more pizza than spanakopita.  If fact, it looks like a pizza with spinach and stuff on it.  It doesn’t even have feta on it!  How can you steal the spanakopita name without phyllo dough or feta?!

So I’m claiming the name because my version is, I think, superior.

Spanakopizza
Serves 4 for dinner or more as appetizers

- 1 package frozen phyllo dough
- 1 Cup olive oil, for brushing
- 1 pound fresh spinach or 1 10 ounce box of frozen spinach
- 1 pound feta cheese, crumbled
- 1/3 Cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1/2 pound low-moisture mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1/4 large red onion, sliced
- 1 roasted red pepper, diced (I used one from a jar)
- 1 Cup fresh spinach (optional)
- 1/2 Teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

The Spinach Topping.  I didn’t make a filling that’s quite as complicated as a real spanakopita filling.  I wanted something really clean in flavor and also easier to make.  You could definitely use frozen spinach for this if you wanted.  If you want to use fresh though, just steam it for about 1 minute until it’s wilted and then remove it.

After it cools (or thaws if you’re using the frozen), be sure to wrap the spinach in a towel or a few paper towels and wring out as much liquid as possible. You’ll be shocked how much water comes out.  That would definitely mess up a pizza so make sure to do that.  Then give your spinach a rough chop and mix it with your crumbled feta and chopped dill.

Get it?

Prepping the crust. Instead of using pizza dough, I decided to try to layer phyllo dough on a baking sheet to make a crust for the pizza.  Hopefully, it’d be really flaky and resemble both pizza and spanakopita.  The one change I made between this and the spanakopita I made was to use olive oil instead of clarified butter.  I just figured olive oil was a bit more pizza-ish.

For the crust, I used 8 sheets of phyllo, brushing each sheet with olive oil and layering one on top of the other on a clean surface.  Try to keep them lined up but don’t worry if you get a small rip or bubble.  The multiple sheets will cover any minor problems.

A few bubbles are fine.

Also, I kind of wanted to mimic an edge of crust around the edge of a pizza, so I took some single sheets of phyllo dough, brushed them on one side with olive oil and then rolled them up!

Maybe not classic technique...

Next, get a large rectangular, rimmed baking sheet and brush it completely with olive oil.  Then carefully transfer your 8-sheet crust to the bottom of the baking sheet.  If you have any edges overhanging, don’t chop them off!  Just kind of roll them inside the dish to make the crust a bit thicker.  If you’re using the rolled edge thing above, line the edge of the pan with those rolled phyllo sheets.

Brush the entire thing (including the edges) with olive oil and then poke some holes in the dough with a fork to let steam escape.

Feelin' confident at this point.

Other Ingredients. At some point, you’ll need to prep your other ingredients like slicing your onion, chopping the roasted pepper and grating the cheese!

Finishing the spanakopita. After you brush your crust with olive oil, crumble all of your spinach mixture in the bottom.  Try to spread it out evenly, but you probably won’t have enough to cover the entire surface.  That’s fine!  Think of it more like a topping rather than a filling.

It's a topping, not a layer.

Next, add your mozzarella.  I only used 1/2 pound of mozzarella for my entire pizza.  You could definitely do more if you want, but I thought it was a good light amount of cheese.

Then sprinkle on your onions, roasted peppers, and fresh spinach.  The fresh spinach will crisp up a bit on the surface and give a good contrast to the other spinach in the feta mixture.  Sprinkle on some red pepper flakes if you want a bit of heat also.

Important part.  Make sure to cut your pizza BEFORE you cook it.  The phyllo dough is very flaky and it’s a lot easier to cut it prior to cooking it.

The pizza part.

Bake this for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese melted.  The phyllo dough will take some time to brown nicely though.

Then let it cool and serve it up!

This worked out.

You can see that each piece is nice and thin and it really is like both a slice of pizza and a piece of spanakopita!

Thin slice.

I was most worried about the crust, but honestly I think I’m going to start using phyllo dough on more occasions for pizza.  Look at this nice, crispy golden brown crust!

Super crispy!

Betsy and I ate this with some salad for dinner, but you could chop it into smaller pieces and serve it as an awesome party appetizer.  I liked it because it was lighter than your normal spanakopita.  It didn’t feel filling at all.  But it still had that spanakopita flavor.

Honestly, this was one of my favorite things I’ve cooked in a few weeks at least.  It was fun to make and very delicious.

I’m making three different pizzas in this post and three different sauces.  But all of them are on the same crust so that makes them pretty easy to throw together once the crust is ready to go.

Here’s a few slices of each.

Let’s talk dough first and then we’ll get to each pie individually.  I went with a dough that has been my go-to for the last few months.  It’s a bit sticky and tougher to handle than some, but once it’s cooked, it produces a very crispy and delicious crust.  It’s supposed to replicate the New Haven style that I know and love.

Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough (From American Pie – a fantastic book if you are into pizza – My Review)
Makes four 10 ounce dough balls

- 22.5 ounces (about 5 cups) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
- 1 Tablespoon sugar or honey (I used sugar)
- 3 1/2 Teaspoons kosher salt (or 2 Teaspoons table salt)
- 1 Teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 3/4 Cups + 1 Tablespoon room temperature water (70 degrees F.)

Helpful Equipment:
- Stand Mixer (or you can definitely do it by hand as well)
- Pizza Stone and peel

Making the Dough. I think the most important thing about pizza dough is giving it plenty of time to rest before you make the pies.  In fact, if at all possible, make the dough the day before you plan on making the pies.  I think this is better in most cases because it splits up the work.

You do not have to have a stand mixer to make this dough.  I’ve made it easily half a dozen times by hand and it’s just as good and honestly kind of a fun workout!  With a mixer, just mix all your ingredients in a large bowl mix on medium with the dough hook until the dough comes together in a ball.

Then let the dough rest for 5 minutes to relax a bit.  Then mix it for another 3 minutes on medium.  The dough should clear the sides of the bowl, but just barely stick to the bottom of the pan.

If you’re doing it by hand, mix all your ingredients together in a large bowl with a spoon until they come together.  Then start working the dough by sticking your hand in a bowl of room temperature water and work the dough vigorously as you rotate the bowl with the other hand.  After 4 to 5 minutes of this, all the flour should be well incorporated and you should have a coarse dough ball.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes and then continue to work the dough for 3 minutes or until the dough is slightly sticky, soft, and supple.  Remember that wet dough won’t stick to your wet hand, so dipping it in water is important while you work it in the bowl.

With either method, if the dough is too sticky, mix it a tablespoon of flour.  If it’s too dry, mix in a Tablespoon of water.

Shaping the dough. Once your dough is made, immediately shape it into four 10 ounce balls and store them in a few plastic bags drizzled with some oil.  I like to use gallon bags and put in two balls of dough per bag.  Let these rest at room temperature for 15 minutes and then stick them in the fridge overnight.

Get it?

The Sauces. I made three different sauces, but they were all very simple.  You can make all of them can be made in about 20 minutes total.

Basic Marinara Sauce
Makes about 4 Cups

- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 Tablespoons fresh basil, minced
- 1 Teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 Lemon, juice only
- Salt and pepper to taste

You can cook this sauce if you want to make it a bit thicker, but honestly, I just stick all the ingredients in a blender and blend them up.  I like the fresh, light flavors.  If you cook them too much they get thick and like a pasta sauce.

Chipotle Marinara Sauce
Makes 2 Cups

- 2 Cups of the above marinara sauce
- 3-6 Chipotle peppers from chipotle in Adobo sauce
- 1 Tablespoon (or more) of the Adobo sauce
- 1/2 Teaspoon crushed red pepper

The thing to remember about this sauce is that it should be really spicy on its own.  It will mellow out on the pizza with the cheese and everything.  I used about 4 Chipotles in my batch, but I’d kick it up a notch if I made it again, which I will because it rocks.  Again, just blend or process everything together.

White Sauce (Adapted from American Pie)
Makes about 1 Cup, enough for a few pizzas actually

- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 Cup heavy cream
- 1 Teaspoon thyme (fresh would be best but I used dried)
- Salt and pepper to taste

In a sauce pan or frying pan, heat up your oil and add your onions and garlic.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until they are softened (probably 5 minutes).  Add the cream and lower the heat to low.  Stir for another 3-5 minutes until the mixture is thick and reduces a bit.  Take it off the heat and then add your thyme and taste for salt and pepper.  Let this cool completely before using.

You can make all of these sauces days before using them.  They would store in the fridge without a problem.  The marinara sauce and white sauce are great on pasta also if you have leftovers.

The two red sauces are not identical. Trust me.

Ok.  We got our sauces and crust ready.  Let’s do the pizzas.  All of these pizzas are cooked at 500 degrees on a pizza stone for about 12 minutes.  A pizza peel would be helpful also, but I’ve used the back of a baking dish to slide in the pizza in a pinch.

If you need help shaping the pizza, check out this post where I go into much more detail on the shaping, etc.

I must admit, this pizza is not an original.  I totally stole it from a restaurant here in DC, but man is it good and I think I have it down pretty close.

Fire/Smoke Pizza (Adapted from Matchbox Pizza)

- Chipotle marinara sauce
- 2 ounces shredded low moisture mozzarella
- 6 ounces shredded smoked gouda
- 1/4 red onion, sliced
- 1/2 roasted red pepper, sliced (I just bought the jarred variety.)

This is a surprising pizza for people because when it’s done, it looks like a normal cheese pizza, but when you take a bite it’s spicy and smokey and delicious.  It’s seriously an amazing pizza.

Holy Chipotle Batman

Next on the list is a white pizza which is creamy and more filling.

This pizza tastes kind of like a mushroom Alfredo, but in a very good way.

Mushroom White Pizza

- White sauce
- 8 ounces shredded low moisture mozzarella
- 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced and sauteed for a few minutes until soft
- 3 ounces hot Italian Sopressata (optional)

I decided to add the Sopressata to this pie at the last minute and I think it was a good call.  It gets kind of crispy and gives a great texture and a bit of spice to the finished pizza.  The mushrooms and white sauce go great together.

Awesome.

Finally on the list is a meat lover’s type pizza although the meat is hidden under a light bed of arugula.

I used some high end meats for this pizza which give much more flavor than normal pepperoni, but you can use that also.

Macheesmo’s Meat Lovers

- Marinara sauce
- 8 ounces low moisture mozzarella, shredded
- 3 ounces hot sopressata
- 3 ounces proscuitto
- Arugula

Add the arugula to this pizza after it comes out of the oven.  It gives some peppery freshness to the pizza that works great with the spicy meats.  It doesn’t look like there is a lot of meat on it, but it’s packed with flavor.

The meat is hiding you see.

If you’ve passed second grade math, you’ll note that I have one ball of dough left over.  You could obviously just make one of these again (people’s choice!) or another pizza.

The Fire/Smoke pizza was the favorite on this night I think, but it’s a pretty close call.

If you’re a home pizza maker, you gotta try these.

This recipe was seriously a game changer for me.  This deep dish pizza was the first thing I’ve made out of my new Cook’s Illustrated subscription and they hit this one out of the freakin’ galaxy.  The toppings are perfect, the crust is flaky, and the whole deal is just scrumptious.

The dough on this pizza is amazing.

When you think about it, even if you are making this from scratch, it’s really only a few steps! Make the crust.  Make the sauce.  Grate some cheese.  Bake the pizza!

How hard could that be?  As you can imagine, the devil is in the details as they say.

The one thing I would not recommend skipping for this recipe is the crust.  It really makes it happen.  If you had to save time, you could buy jarred sauce I guess.

Deep Dish Pizza with Ricotta and Olives (Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Recipe)
Makes two deep dish pizzas

Dough:
- 3 1/4 Cups (16.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 Cup (2.75 ounces) semolina flour (original recipe uses yellow cornmeal)
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
- 2 Teaspoons sugar
- 2 1/4 Teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 1/4 Cups water (10 ounces), at room temperature
- 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, (3 melted, 4 softened)
- 1 Teaspoon olive oil for bread
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil for baking pans

Sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, grated in grater
- 1/2 Teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 Teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (my addition)
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 Teaspoon sugar
- 2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- Ground pepper to taste

Toppings: (Remember this is enough for 2 pizzas)
- 1 pound whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 Cup kalamata olives, coarsely chopped (I really like olives. Original recipe is half this much.)
- 1/2 Cup ricotta cheese (same as olives)
- 1/2 Cup chopped arugula (optional. I left this out.)

Helpful Equipment:
- Cake Pan (If you have a real deep dish pan you can use it, but this recipe is written for just a 9 inch normal cake pan.)

Kind of looks like a lot of ingredients, but the dough ingredients are pretty basic and I had most of the sauce ingredients on hand also.

The basics.

Making the dough. Deep dish pizza dough has a reputation of being very bready.  And not in a good way.  This recipe takes a page out of the laminated doughs department (think pastry and croissant!) to produce a good dough that can hold all the toppings, but also is very flaky.

To make the dough, add all your dry ingredients to a bowl and mix well, then slowly add your water and melted butter until the dough ball comes together.  Knead this for 8-10 minutes until the dough is glossy and smooth.

Now allow me a minute to gush.  I We got our first wedding gift this last weekend from Betsy’s mom, a KitchenAid stand mixer!  I put it to work immediately for this recipe!

My precious!

Beat it for 5-6 minutes with the dough hook on medium and the dough was perfect!

Next let your ball of dough rise in an lightly oiled bowl (that’s what the 1 Teaspoon of oil is for in the recipe) for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Laminating the dough.  This is an amazing technique.  I was a bit skeptical that it would work, but it worked perfectly.

Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to roughly a 16  by 12 rectangle.  Then spread on your softened butter leaving about 1/2 inch around the edges of the dough.  Roll up the dough like a cigar!

Then cut the dough roll in half.  For each half fold into thirds (think of a business letter – lower left photo).  Then pinch the seams around the dough to form a ball.  If you wanted you could freeze your dough at this point for future use or return them to your lightly oiled bowl to rise again.

I froze one and used one.  For the dough you are using, let it rise a second time in your fridge for 60 minutes.  This will get the butter cold which will make the final crust even flakier!

Get it?

Making the Marinara.  This is a pretty standard marinara.  The one trick they used is to grate the onion using a box grater.  This was much harder (and produced many more tears) than just mincing the onion normally.  I see their point though.  It did make the onion almost melt into the sauce and gave it a great consistency.

To start, melt your butter in a pan over medium-high heat.  Then add your onions along with your dried spices and pinch of salt.  Let that cook for a few minutes until the onions are slightly browned.  Then add your garlic, tomatoes (including juice), and sugar.  Bring that to simmer and let it reduce for 25 minutes or so on low heat.

Once it is reduced, stir in your chopped basil and olive oil and ground pepper.  Set aside to cool!

Very good sauce!

Making the Pizza! Get all your toppings ready and preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  No need for a pizza stone for this recipe!  Then pull your dough ball out of the fridge.  Roll it into about a 15 inch diameter circle.  Mine was really easy to work with actually.

Add 2 Tablespoons of oil to your cake pan and then add your pizza crust.  The oil is really important.  It lightly fries the crust which produces a crispy layer on the outside while keeping the inside moist and flaky.

Mush the dough into all the corners of the pan and crimp it around the edges.  It’s okay if it isn’t perfect.

Then add about two cups of shredded mozzarella cheese to the bottom, followed by 1.5 cups (or about half) of your marinara sauce.  Then add a thin layer of grated Parmesan and dot the top with olives and ricotta cheese.

This part is easy.

Bake this guy at 425 for about 30 minutes.  The crust should be golden brown around the edges and the cheese should be melted.

It’ll be hard, but let this cool for 5 minutes before chopping into it!

Chicago. You are onto something. I admit it.

The first piece is kind of hard to get out, but man was this a good piece of pizza.  Honestly, I had pretty low expectations and they were completely blown away.

I almost just ate it straight out of the pan.

I still think I might prefer the thin crust variety of pizza over this, but this version at least reminded me how it’s possible to like deep dish pizza.

It put deep dish pizza back in the mix of awesome possibilities.  And that’s all you can ever really ask from a recipe!

And so I settled on this awesome shrimp pizza with a red pepper pesto sauce.

Spicy shrimp pizza!

I went with a thin crust for the pizza.  It just seemed like a crispy thin crust was the best way to go.  The original recipe actually said to buy store bought stuff, but you can probably guess how I feel about that.

I actually keep a few balls of pizza dough frozen that way I just have to pull them out a few hours before (like 5) and let it thaw slowly.  Then it is just like fresh.

Shrimp and Red Pepper Pesto Pizza (Adapted from Pizza)
This is for one 12-15 inch pizza

- 1/2 pound large (16-20 count) shrimp, peeled, deveined, and halfed
- 1 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flake
- 1/4 medium onion, cut into thin strips
- 1/4 red pepper, seeded and cut into strips
- 2 Cups low-moisture mozzarella cheese
- Fresh basil (I left this off because I didn’t have any. It was fine.)
- 2/3 Cup red pepper pesto

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto (Makes about 2 cups)
– Clove garlic
- 1 jar (16 ounces) roasted red peppers
- 3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan
- 1 Tablespoon fresh basil
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes

Helpful Equipment:
- Pizza stone and peel

Prepping the Shrimp. If you purchased nice whole shrimp, take your time to shell them entirely and cut them in half head to tail.  Also remove the black vein near the back of the shrimp if there is one.

Then toss your shrimp in a bowl with the garlic, pepper flakes, olive oil, and lemon juice.  Let this marinate for 10 minutes or so.

A garlic marinade is one of my favorite things.

Red Pepper Pesto. The pesto is actually really simple.  Just throw all your ingredients in a food processor and give it a pulse until it is sauce.  It’s okay if it has some lumps.

The original recipe said to not use the oil in the jar, but then the recipe called for added oil.  I thought I would try just pouring in the entire contents of the jar and skipping the extra oil.  That worked like a charm.

This is good stuff.

Besides the pesto, chop up the onions and red pepper.  Try to get them pretty uniformly sliced.

Pretty simple toppings really.

The dough. I’m not going to go into the exact specifics of making pizza dough in this post.  You can check out a really detailed explanation on this post.  I actually made the dough I’m using for this recipe a few weeks before and just froze it in a bag with a bit of olive oil drizzled inside.

You should preheat your oven to about 500 degrees and if you are heating up a pizza stone, make sure you give it at least 30 minutes to get the stone as hot as possible.

Then roll out your dough and slap it on a lightly corn mealed pizza peel.  You can also use the back of a sheet pan if you don’t have a peel.

If at all possible, it's always worth it to make it.

Add an even layer of your red pepper pesto and then top it with the onions and fresh red peppers.

This sauce is maybe the best part of the pizza.

Next pile on your cheese and finally those shrimpies.  Try to keep the shrimp in one layer or they might not cook all the way through.  You can pile them on though as long as they don’t overlap.  They will shrink up when they are cooked.

Nice shrimpies.

About 12-14 minutes in a 500 degree oven and your shrimp should be cooked perfectly, your cheese melted, and your crust super crunchy and delicious.

I could barely wait to eat it.

Honestly, I had never really made a seafood pizza before, but it worked really well.  I ate about half of this pizza for dinner one night and took the other half for lunch the next day.

As with most pizzas, it’s possible that this one was better cold.

This was pretty good cold the next day also.

If you are looking for a spicy and interesting pizza to try, definitely give this one a go.

Be sure to check back tomorrow also to vote on a new dish for next week!

For each battle there are two ingredients.  Each competitor gets to pick an ingredient.  This battle’s ingredients: Anchovies and Oyster Mushrooms.

The chosen ones.

These ingredients are tough.  First, neither of them are ones that I have used a lot.  Second, when I have used them I usually eat them in their most basic form.  I love anchovies on a bit of toast.  I love oyster mushrooms sauteed in butter.  Using them as ingredients is tricky.  Third, oyster mushrooms have a pretty mild flavor and anchovies have a stronger flavor that I was worried would overpower the shrooms.

Fourth, I really wanted to find some fresh anchovies, but it turns out that these are not easily available this time of year in DC.  All the markets I checked out only had ones that were preserved so that is what I had to go with.

All that in mind, after thinking about it for a few days, I came up with two things I wanted to try.  First, an appetizer: Anchovy, Mushroom and Salmon Mousseline.

A mousseline is a pate that is processed with cream and egg white.  You can use many different kinds of meat to make it.  I have never made one before but I’ve been interested in them ever since reading Michael Ruhlman’s “Charcuterie.”  The recipe in the book is actually shrimp based and makes a slightly larger pate than I wanted.  So I reduced the amounts a bit and substituted anchovies for shrimp.  I also planned to add in a bunch of oyster mushrooms to try to get some of their flavor to come through.

Anchovy, Mushroom and Salmon Mousseline

- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 7-8 ounces oyster mushrooms
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 10 ounces of anchovies (the original recipe calls for 1 pound of shrimp, but I tried to tone it down a bit because anchovies can be strong in flavor.)
- 1 large egg white
- 1 Cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon basil (optional)
- 6 ounces of salmon (I found some great wild caught salmon. I’m not a big fan of the farm raised stuff.)

The important part about making the mousseline is to make sure that everything is very cold.  This will help it all combine.  Following Ruhlman’s advice, I put my processor bowl and blade, along with my anchovies, in the freezer about 20 minutes before I was ready to go.

Meanwhile, I added my butter to a sautee pan and added my mushrooms to the pan which I roughly chopped.

Chopped and sauteed.

After about 5-7 minutes these were cooked.  You then need to chill these before you get started.

Once you have all your stuff ready and cold, put your anchovies in a processor with the salt, half of the mushrooms, and egg white.  Once it is processed, then slowly add in your cream until everything is combined.  I actually had to do mine in two batches because I only have a small processor.

Gray matter.

Once I processed all of my mixture, I wanted to use the other half of the cooked mushrooms to give some texture to the dish.  I folded them in after the mousseline was processed.  So half the mushrooms were processed and half were folded in.

The whole time I was doing this, I was tasting the mixture and adjusting the flavors a bit.  I was pretty worried about the anchovies overpowering everything.

Now. I needed to cook this stuff to have it set.  If you have a terrine pan then more power to you.  I don’t and I didn’t want to buy one just for this dish, so I read through the chapter on Pates in the book and Ruhlman also mentions that you can wrap your mousseline in plastic wrap and lightly poach it.

That sounded like something I could handle although I will say that it was far from easy.

First, I laid down a layer of cheese cloth on a baking sheet, and then a layer of plastic wrap.   I added a layer of the mousseline, followed by sprinkling the basil, and then the salmon, which I cut the skin off of and cut into long fillets.

This is getting weirder and weirder.

This was not easy to roll up.  Eventually though I got it rolled up with the salmon in the center.  I tried to stay calm and work carefully and it ended up okay.

All rolled up.

Why the cheesecloth?  Well, for starters I was skeptical that the plastic alone wouldn’t just fall apart in the water making anchovy-mushroom soup.  Second, it is near impossible to handle a hot tube of mousse filled plastic.  So I wrapped the cheesecloth around it and very tightly secured both ends with butcher’s twine.

Water tight is important.

This felt pretty sturdy so I thought I was ready to poach.  I kept my water at about 180 and let this poach for about 30 minutes.  It was at this moment that Betsy walked in to our anchovy smelling kitchen wondering what the hell I was doing.

It was at this moment, that Betsy became skeptical.

After I took my mousseline out, I encountered yet another problem with this dish.  Ideally, you are supposed to weigh down the pate and refrigerate it.  However, since I didn’t cook mine in a dish, I couldn’t really weigh it down because it would just flatten out.

I rigged up the following insanely complicated setup that would apply a bit of pressure to the pate while it chilled.  And yes.  Those are beer caps and a piece of aluminum foil.

What?

The next day I was anxious to try this.  I unrolled it and pulled out some tiny toasts to serve it on along with some arugula that I thought would work to lighten the spread up a bit.

I give it a rating of not bad.

As the caption says, I give this an honest rating of not bad.  It was actually better than I thought it was going to be.  The flavor was pretty good.  The texture was a bit runny though and I think there is some rule that it is hard to make gray food appetizing.  And unfortunately, this turned out gray which I think was due to the mushrooms.  As I feared, the anchovies also completely overpowered the mushrooms.

I’m glad I made it though.  It was a challenge, but gave me some confidence that hopefully I can use to make another one in the future.

The second part of the meal I wanted to make was a bit more classic:  Anchovy and Mushroom Pizza.

I chose pizza because I thought that was maybe the best bet of getting the mushroom flavor to come through a bit.

I don’t want this post to go on forever so I’m not going to detail exactly how to make pizza dough.  I’ve detailed it before in this post, so maybe check that out if you are interested.

Once I had my dough made, I decided that a white pizza would be a good option to show off the anchovies and mushrooms.

I drizzled about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil on my crust and then topped it with a few ounces of ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.  I also added about 4 ounces of mushrooms and 6-8 anchovy fillets which I chopped into quarters and distributed evenly.  I topped it with some pepper and basil.

To really do this right you need a pizza stone and peel.

Piled high.

In the oven for 18 minutes at 500 degrees and I was very happy with the results.

Out of the oven.

I topped the pizza with a few leaves of arugula.  The tartness of the arugula worked perfectly with the other flavors.  I thought this pizza was fantastic and guess what?!  I could taste the freakin’ mushrooms which was really my only goal.  The anchovies added a nice flavor and saltiness, but the mushrooms stayed nice and whole.  Betsy, myself, and a friend devoured the whole pizza in a few minutes.

Worked out great.

One more photo for good measure.

A good slice of pie.

So that was my take on these fairly difficult ingredients.  Thanks for reading this battle.  Be sure to check out Ryan’s and Sheila’s creation before voting.  You can vote below or on their page.  Both sites link to the same poll and you can’t vote more than once.

Voting is set to close on Tuesday at noon!

At first the idea of a polenta pizza didn’t really intrigue me.  I like my pizza crispy and thin and simple.  It seemed like it would be too thick for me.  I was sort of right, but it was still pretty good.

Photo tip: Don't photograph yellow things on a yellow plate. DOH.

Anytime I see a Bittman recipe online, I always like to cross-check it with “How to Cook Everything.”  In the book, he usually provides lots of alternatives and suggestions for changes.

When I cross-checked this recipe, the preparation of his version of polenta pizza in the book was very different from the version he presented on the Today show and online.  The online version says to bake the pizza crust for 20 minutes before topping it and the book version doesn’t give that instruction.

Guess which one I chose?  Yep.  The wrong one.

Polenta Breakfast Pizza

Pizza:
- 1 Cup Coarse corn meal
- 1/2 Cup milk, preferably whole
- 2 1/2 Cups water
- 1/4 Cup olive oil plus a little for the pan
- Salt
- Pepper

Toppings:
- Eggs (3 was enough for me. 4 would look more even I guess.)
- Crumbled bacon
- Cheddar cheese
- Herbs (Optional.  I used sage which was a bit overpowering.)

Polenta deconstructed.

Start by bringing your water and milk to a boil and then whisking in your corn meal.  You really do need to whisk it or there will be clumps.  Turn your burner down to low and keep whisking for 10 minutes or so.  It will get to be the consistency of thick oatmeal.

Like thick oatmeal.

Hit this with some salt and pepper and finally stir in your 1/4 Cup olive oil.  Pour this out onto a lightly oiled baking pan.

Pizza dough?

The next step is kind of a balancing act.  You want to press the polenta into a pizza shaped object, but at first it will be much too hot to work with.  However, if you wait too long then it will harden and you won’t be able to work with it at all.

After letting it cool slightly (maybe 1-2 minutes), put a sheet of plastic wrap over the top and start pressing it into shape.  If you are using eggs, make little divets in the crust to hold the eggs.

Divets for eggs.

If I were re-doing this, I would bake the crust at this point at 375 for about 20 minutes to get it to firm up a bit.  Then add your toppings.

Also, my divets were not quite big enough for eggs.  Turns out eggs have a tendency to run all over the place so this step was a bit messy.  I just used three eggs because Betsy said she didn’t want eggs on her slice.  She got some anyway though.

Three is enough I say!

Then I topped it with a good amount of bacon and cheddar cheese and some chopped sage.  In hindsight, the sage was maybe a bad choice.  It overpowered the pizza I think.  Looked pretty though!

Can you find the eggs?

Bake this at 375 for about 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the eggs are set.  Because I didn’t pre-bake the crust, it was still a bit soft.  I didn’t want to burn the toppings though so I was stuck with it.

Was I drunk when I took this? Yellow on yellow! Great idea Nick.

In short, this was pretty much a great big FAIL but it still tasted alright!  Things I would do differently if I remade this pizza:

• Not use egg.  They were pretty heavy.
• Pre-bake the crust!  This step was left out in the book, but it seems pretty essential to me.
• Don’t use overpowering herbs.
• Don’t photograph the darn thing on a matching background.

This is kind of a cool idea and making polenta is easier than making pizza dough from scratch.  Too bad there were conflicting versions of this recipe.  If you want to try it, learn from my mistakes!

Mashed potato pizza is one of those things that you might think is weird or gross when you hear it, but I promise it is really good.

It turns out that mashed potatoes and pizza are made to be together.

This was one of the best pizzas I've ever had.

There is no tomato on this pizza. In its place is a thick layer of garlicky, buttery mashed potatoes. I actually had mashed potato pizza for the first time in New Haven at a place called “Bar,” but I’ve sort of made the recipe my own and I think I might be able to give them a run for their money.

Mashed Potato Pizza

The dough (This makes two pizzas. From Alton Brown’s recipe.)
- 4 Cups bread flour
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt (I probably used 1 3/4. The original is a bit salty.)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 Cups lukewarm water
- Flour for dusting the pizza peel or baking sheet.
- Olive oil for rising the dough.

Pizza
- 4 large potatoes (enough mashed potatoes for 2 pizzas)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1/2 cup milk or cream
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounces of bacon per pizza
- 10 ounces mozzarella per pizza
- Broccoli
- Anything else that fits your fancy!

Helpful Equipment:
- Pizza stone and peel

Let’s make the dough first. Pizza dough is something that really needs to rest for a good amount of time to mature in flavor and get nice and elastic. I typically like to make mine the day before I intend to cook. To start, combine the yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil, and water in a bowl.

Yeast soup.

Add your flour and bring all of the dough into a ball. When it looks like the below you can start kneading it. If you have a fancy mixer you can beat it with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes and save yourself a workout.

Before a 10 minute knead.

If, like me, you rely on pure brute strength to make awesome pizza, then you’ll need to knead this dough for at least ten minutes but probably closer to 15. Eventually it will become very smooth. Then it is time to rise. Pour a bit of olive oil in your bowl and lightly coat your ball of dough. This will make sure it doesn’t dry out.

Let it rise at room temperature for two hours.

This is active dough.

After the rise, you can punch it down and cut it into two balls. If you must, you can use them right away, but they will be much better if you let them chill in the fridge for at least a day. They can keep for a few days though if you coat them in a bit of olive oil. If you do put them in the fridge, let them rise at room temperature for an hour before using them.

Now we need to make the toppings for this guy. I’m assuming you know how to make bacon (crispy is better for this recipe). You also probably know how to make mashed potatoes, but if not, just cut up the potatoes into cubes and boil them in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes until they fall apart when poked with a fork.

Then mash them up with the garlic, cream or milk, and butter. I actually like mine a bit on the chunky side. It gives the pizza a good texture.

Good ingredients.

Next, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone in it.

Forming a pizza takes a bit of practice. If it is your first time, go slow and be patient. The dough is very forgiving if you made it correctly. It will be very elastic.

Take a ball and roll it out into a circle. With light pressure start working it from the inside out. Once you feel comfortable feel free to pick it up and stretch it over your knuckles a bit. It shouldn’t rip if you keep it moving by lightly rotating it around your hand.

If you are feeling brave, you can give it a toss!

Had a little photography help on this one.

Once you have a rough circle that is the size you want and the thickness that you want, slap it on a pizza peel that has been dusted with corn meal or flour. If you don’t have a peel, you can use a baking sheet. The sheet just makes it a bit harder to slide it into the oven. I used one for years though before I got a peel.

Feel free to make a decorative crust or just leave it flat. Whatever makes you happy.

No need to do a crust, but they are pretty easy.

Sprinkle a bit of olive oil over your dough. Since we aren’t using a sauce, we need to add a bit of moisture on the bottom.

A sprinkle of oil.

Then lump on your mashed potatoes. No need to spread them out evenly or anything. They will flatten out while baking. Also, don’t be stingy. This is the base of the pie.

No need to go light on the potatoes.

Next, add your bacon. Sweet, sweet bacon.

I mean come on.

Then add your grated mozzarella. Feel free to sprinkle on some dried basil, pepper, and salt at this point also.

Ready for an oven.

Carefully slide the pizza into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Try not to drool on the oven door.

Longest 15 minutes of my life.

Take out your pizza and the crust should be crispy and great. The cheese should be lightly browned. Wait a few minutes, slice, and eat a piece right away.

A little slice of Heaven.

A made a second pizza with broccoli and some cheddar on top. I think it was even better than the first.

Healthy?

I cannot express how good this recipe is. If you like pizza, you will love this. If you don’t like pizza, then you will probably still like this. If you don’t, then I’m not sure we can be friends.

If you liked this post, I would love it if you used the below links to share it with others. Everyone should try this guy.

Getting the perfect pizza dough and perfect crust is something I could write on for days, but let’s be real: If you don’t have a brick oven that can get up to 900 degrees (I don’t) then you aren’t going to get it right. It is impossible. But you can get darn close!

Round 1: BBQ Chicken. BBQ Sauce, shredded chicken, red onion, gouda.

I knew that we were going to be doing this a few days before so I made a slightly more complicated crust that requires a day of rest in the fridge. It’s one of the better pizza dough recipes I’ve seen. Check it out here. If you don’t have an extra day and need pizza NOW, then check out Alton Brown’s recipe which I’ve also tried with great success.

So what can you put on these things? Well, really anything. I wanted to keep my crust pretty thin so I limited each pizza to just a few toppings. If you put on too many toppings then the crust won’t cook evenly.

Also, since I had 6 pizzas to make, I thought I would take a little self-guided photography lesson through depth of focus. Hence, all of these photos have varying levels of focus.

Mush, red onion, mozz. Turns out mushrooms shrink a lot on a pizza.

As far as equipment goes with pizza making, the only thing I would say really helps is a pizza stone. It makes for a much better crust. If you have a pizza peel, it will make it easier to get the pizza on and off the stone. I don’t have one actually. I just use the back of a baking sheet with a bit of cornmeal on it. Put the dough on the baking sheet, shake it back in forth to loosen it up, build your pizza, then deftly slide it off of the baking pan and onto the stone!

Mush, basil, mozz. Can you say depth of focus?

About now we were a few bottles of wine into this party and I realized this was maybe the best party idea I’ve ever had.

Spinach, pepperoni. Serious Pepperoni.

Spinach, mush, garlic, mozz. This was maybe my favorite.

Last but not least: Back to Basics. Just cheese.

As a final note, I’ve desperately been trying to submit a photo to Food Gawker and so far have tasted nothing but the tang of rejection. Leave a comment if you like any of these. Maybe I’ll get up the courage to face the Food Gawker Gods…

If you want to make some pizza on your own, you may want to invest in a Pizza stone and peel.  Worth every penny.

If you actually attended this party, and are reading this, you have an obligation to comment on which one was your favorite.