Let‘s talk about pizza

[BoN-bOn]

I'm a west coast girl --- canadian bacon and pineapple all the way!

I just recently started branching out & eating pineapple on my pizza!! It’s my new favorite!

 

[scout86]

@Never_falter , I'm not sure. She's in a convalescent home, recovering from shoulder surgery right now, but I'll ask her. She's a very creative cook. Can take anything and turn it into something and never writes stuff down, but I'll ask & let you know what she says.

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

I love making pizza with my gluten-free vegan flat breads I make from leftover juicing pulp. If I haven't juiced that day, I still make it with the same ingredients blended together just as easily. Celery, romaine lettuce, (any other greens or veggies I wish to toss in) a little veggie broth to help the blending process, red onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, dulse flakes, sea salt, and black pepper gets mixed really well in the food processor....then I dump that into a bowl and add chickpea flour until it reaches the consistency I like, then add some nutritional yeast for a cheesy-ish flavor....put parchment paper on the pizza pan and spread the dough out evenly and bake it for about 20ish minutes,

Then I take it out and top it with marinara sauce, vegan cheese (usually a homemade cashew/brazil nut/sunflower seed blend - but will often leave it off and just add extra sauce), mushroom, onion, red bell pepper, garlic, purple cabbage, broccoli, and lots of oregano and basil and bake it some more until its done.

I also like to use the big zucchini squash and eggplants as pizza crust replacements during garden season for miniature round pizza slices. Good stuff!

The few times I get a take-out pizza, I order the g/f crust, no cheese, extra sauce, with all the veggies they have to offer on top. Not many places around here offer gluten-free, and the ones who do aren't close enough to deliver, so it's a very rare occasion.

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

My most recent pizza crust experiment (and favorite, so far) was made with celery/romaine pulp, veggie stock, garlic, red onion, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, dulse flakes, sea salt, black pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpea flour, baking powder, and hemp hearts....then topped with marinara sauce, a thin layer of hummus (first time trying it on a pizza), mushrooms, red onion, red and yellow bell peppers, and spinach. Yum!

 

[Sweetpea76]

Typically I prefer small local places, but if we're talking national chains, I have to give it up for Mellow Mushroom.

 

[KwanYingirl]

Otto’s in Portland. They started as a hole in the wall, and now have six places in and around Boston. Thin crisp crusts and simply Devine. I get basil and tomato usually, but they have a butternut squash and a mashed potato topping that is good too. @Tornadic Thoughts i also love using eggplant for homemade pizza. Load on the garlic!! How many hours does it take you to make your own from beginning to end? Sounds like a lot of prep time but all sound delicious!

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

It just depends on the day, @KwanYingirl . I've never timed it, but I'd guess a couple hours if I'm doing the juicing AND the food prep in the same day. That's a whole lot of washing, chopping, and clearing out the juicer of the various pulps in between ingredients, especially when also using fruits.

Sometimes, I just store and save the pulp for another day....and sometimes I haven't juiced anything, so I just toss the whole foods into the food processor to make the crusts and such. My best guess just for the crust making process is an hour-ish. Before I became comfortable/used to doing it....probably 2 or more hours. I tend to do things sporadically, so some days it can become an all day process as I get busy trying to tame the distractions in between. lol

 

[420kitty]

I love the pizza from BJs Restaurant. Fattening as fk but super yummy! I've been ordering jalapeno pineapple whenever I get pizza. So good.

 

[Deleted member 541]

I second the vote for Papa John’s. Good pizza and good food too...

 

[Deleted member 8714]

My own whole wheat thick crust pizza baked on a pizza stone. My husband swears by my pizza. Years ago I found a recipe and changed it to something better. When my kitchen is finished I'll have three proofing ovens. Then I can heat one up and rise the dough in another. I read some place recently that said putting a pizza stone in the bottom of an oven, ones with no cooking elements exposed, makes the other pizza stone produce a more even heat. Can't wait to try that out.

 

[Friday]

I read some place recently that said putting a pizza stone in the bottom of an oven, ones with no cooking elements exposed, makes the other pizza stone produce a more even heat. Can't wait to try that out.

Yep.

You don’t need 2 stones, though. Just 1 stone on the very bottom.

I learned to cook pizza in a wood fired oven (Italian dome style / in a restaurant). 600-800 degrees works the absolute best, with heat from the bottom then circulating around the top. So putting the stone -and pizza- on the bottom rack of the oven & cranking it to 500 degrees is the closest you can get without a professional oven (wood fired or electric) to pro pizza at home :) Although a BBQ will also come close.

One of the problems with home oven cooking is that you’re not moving the pizza around, very much. At 800 degrees you have to be moving oretty quickly, spinning, turning, & sliding so that the pizzas don’t burn and the cook in about 30-40seconds. It’s what you boost the oven to during a rush. The rest of the time 700 degrees will cook in about 2-3 minutes, but still requires and awful lot of pulling and spinning, which isn’t just to keep the crust facing the fire alternating but it changes the heat distribution throughout the rest of the pie, wrapping it, instead of fixed point receiving it. Home ovens, you open the door and lose most of your heat. A stone helps, and 2 will help more -to keep residual heat in / heat up faster (whether you have an extra on the bottoms, or an extra on the top reflecting downward), but the much lower temperatures you’re working with and massive heat loss are inherantly limiting.

:sneaky: My dream kitchen includes a wood fired oven. OMFG do I love those things! They aren’t super difficult to make, either. They just require a bit of space.

 

[SaharaSon]

Papa Johns Supreme Pizza with out the olives though. Now I don't have the luxury of ordering that...

Ditto. :D