Stop screwin' with pizza, dammit!

I like chicken, but not on pizza. It just doesn't taste right to me.

One of the guys in the office loves jalepeno-pinapple pizza from Domino's. It sounds a whole lot worse than it is; it's really not bad. I have a feeling that with better sauce than Domino's makes, it would be really good. Another guy I used to work with loved the meatball pizza from the place across the street - with ranch dressing on top.

Mac and cheese pizza doesn't sound bad. I'd try it. Otherwise, give me mushrooms and/or pepperoni and I'm happy...

Cici's pizza chain has a mac & cheese pizza, but I've never tried it.

One of the local pizza places has a pepperoni and jalepeno pizza that is delicious.

I don't mind trying something different every once in awhile, but keep the standards nearby, please.

I make a killer homemade pizza, too.

My college cafe made a great pizza with broccoli and cauliflower on top. Loved it.

TJ--do you make the dough too? I've tried (with my bread machine) but it always came out tacky to the touch. I could never get stretched enough to fill the pan. It'd get holes in it, too.

tjwriter said:

One of the local pizza places has a pepperoni and jalepeno pizza that is delicious....

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Now that sounds droolworthy....yum.

stormie said:

TJ--do you make the dough too? I've tried (with my bread machine) but it always came out tacky to the touch. I could never get stretched enough to fill the pan. It'd get holes in it, too.

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I actually use the Great Value mix packets from Walmart. But I've worked with it enough times that I think I've figured out the tricks. I use 1.5 packets per pizza that I am making. I make sure the water for the dough is right around 105 degrees.

After I get it mixed up, I put about a tablespoon of oil and coat the whole dough ball with the oil. Then I wrap the entire bowl in a dish towel and set on the top of the stove so the preheating oven could warm the dough. The towel being over the top holds the heat in and over the bottom keeps it from getting to hot from the oven.

The dough hangs out there while I brown the italian sausage, chop vegetables, etc. This last time, I left there for a really long time but it seemed to turn out the best.

I always grab a little bit of flour to put on my pan while I spread the dough, and I have to work it slowly before it really starts to want to stretch, but the slow and steady gets it on the pan evenly with no holes. Or rather sometimes I make holes on accident, but I can usually just pinch them together. Add toppings and bake until done.

And that is a really long explanation on how I use store dough mix to make pizza crust.

Also, all this talk of pizza has me dying to make one this week. Oh, how the husband shall love me!

He's so sick of pizza, but it's been the one thing I couldn't get enough of during both of my pregnancies. I drive him to insanity and back with it.

tjwriter said:

The dough hangs out there while I brown the italian sausage, chop vegetables, etc. This last time, I left there for a really long time but it seemed to turn out the best.

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[Alton Brown] This is not surprising. Letting the dough rest for ten minutes or so allows the gluten in the dough to relax, making it stretchier and easier to handle. [/Alton Brown]

MeowGirl said:

[Alton Brown] This is not surprising. Letting the dough rest for ten minutes or so allows the gluten in the dough to relax, making it stretchier and easier to handle. [/Alton Brown]

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Dang! No wonder my dough ends up more on my hands then anywhere else.

It also seems to rise better during baking and hold its heavy load better. My husband likes gobs of cheese, so our dough is loaded down with all the toppings.

When I was in Italy, I had a carrot and pickle pizza.

Seriously.

It was actually quite good.

Pizza: The crust should be so thin you could read through it. The sauce tangy yet slightly sweet and just enough cheese to let the sauce bubble up through it in places and when you fold it in two the olive oil should rise to the top

You can't get anything like that at the mass produced conveyor belt chain places.