Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza (43 page)

If you want less saucy Pizzettes, use less of the scallop mixture. They are your mini pizzas, so make them the way you like! If your Pizzettes vary in size, adjust the amount of topping to suit. Then sprinkle some salt and pepper and some Romano cheese over the top, if desired.

Baking
– Place the pans into the oven and bake at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for eight to twelve minutes until the crust browns lightly. You should also see the toppings bubbling across their surface. The instructions list a range of time because the temperature of different ovens can vary. You want to bake the Pizzettes until the crust browns nicely, but not too much. Any cheese or sauce that has dripped will be very dark and almost burned.

You might find that the pizzas on the top rack bake at a different rate than those on the middle or bottom racks. You can use the convection feature of your oven, if it has one, to keep the temperature even throughout the oven. Alternatively, you can swap the Pizzettes from the top rack to the bottom rack (and vice versa) after four or five minutes of baking.

Variations

Dough
– Basic Pizza Dough, California-style Sourdough Dough, Half Wheat Dough, New York-style Dough, Rye Dough

Sauce
– Basic Pizza Sauce, Chicago-style Sauce, Sweet Pizza Sauce, Fresh Plum Tomato Sauce, Mexican Chile Sauce, Mustard Sauce, Sassy South of the Border Sauce, Squashed Tomato Sauce

Toppings
– Virtually any edible cheese, vegetable, fruit, or meat.

Pizza Recipe Compendium

The
Passionate About Pizza System

You will make great homemade pizza every time you try if you ignite your passion and follow a systematic approach to making pizza. Plan your pizza-making activities, use the same equipment and high-quality ingredients each time, use proven preparation techniques, rely on your RECIPES, and work to make continual improvements.

Pizza Recipes

Now that the previous sections introduced you to the various styles of pizza, you are ready for further exploration and practice. To help you along, I have included a variety of pizza recipes here. These recipes use one particular dough recipe and pizza style; however, feel free to switch to your favorite dough and pizza style to suit your fancy.  The recipes will give you ideas for creating your own pizzas (click to follow link):

Artichoke Dip Pizza
Black Olive and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza
Bananas Foster Pizza
Chocolate Heaven Pizza
Chevre, Artichoke, and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza
Chicken Fajitas Pizza
Chicken Spiedie Pizza
Eggplant Pizza
Four-Cheese Pizza
Fresh Plum Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza
Fresh Tomato and Green Pepper Pizza
Hawaiian Pizza
Meat Lover’s Pizza
Mexican Pizza
Mojo Chicken Pizza
Mustard Chicken Pizza
Pesto, Ricotta, and Prosciutto Pizza
Rajas Pepper Strips with Chicken Pizza
Sautéed Peppers, Feta, and Garlic Pizza
Sausage, Ricotta, and Fresh Tomato Pizza
Vegetarian Lasagna Pizza
White Pizza with Chile Peppers

Artichoke Dip Pizza

This pizza is great as the first course of a pizza party or Tapas dinner.
Makes one fourteen to sixteen inch pizza.

1 15-ounce can artichoke hearts
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon seasoned-salt (adjust amount of salt to your taste)
7 – 8 plum tomatoes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion
1 recipe California-style Pizza Dough (see recipe
page 103
)
6-8 ounces Mozzarella cheese, shredded
fresh ground black pepper
unbleached all-purpose flour (for kneading and shaping)

Topping
– Finely chop the artichoke hearts. Combine chopped artichoke hearts, mayonnaise, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and seasoned salt and mix together until smooth.

Immerse plum tomatoes into boiling water for 1 – 2 minutes. Drain and place in very cold water until cool. Using a paring knife, peel the tomatoes and discard the skin. Cut each tomato in half and remove the seeds with your finger or by squeezing; discard the seeds. Chop the remaining tomato flesh.

Shaping
– Prepare California Pizza Dough as directed. Stretch the dough into a circle and place it on a prepared pizza peel.

Assembly
– Using your fingers (it is a mess!) evenly spread the artichoke mixture over the pizza. Evenly spread the chopped tomatoes and onions over the artichoke mixture. Sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese over the top. Add fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Baking
– Slide the pizza onto a preheated baking stone and bake at 500˚ for ten to twelve minutes. Baking time may vary from eight to fourteen minutes depending on the oven, but be careful not to bake too long; the crust should be crunchy-chewy and very lightly browned.

Variation
– This recipe makes great mini pizzas. Cut the dough into little dough balls, shape each one into a small disk. Alternatively, you can roll out the dough and cut dough circles. Place a small amount of topping mixture on each disk and sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.

Black Olive and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza

Makes one fourteen to sixteen inch pizza.

2 large sweet red bell peppers
1 cup pitted black olives, preferably oil-cured, drained
1 Tablespoon basil flavored olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 recipe Basic Pizza Dough (see recipe
page 92
)
olive oil
8 ounces Mozzarella cheese, shredded
salt and pepper
unbleached all-purpose flour (for kneading and shaping)

Topping
– Hold the peppers over an open flame on a fork and turn frequently until completely charred on all sides. Place the peppers in a loosely closed paper bag until cool, about 15 minutes. Placing the charred peppers in a paper bag for a few minutes allows the skin to steam loose and makes it much easier to peel off. Remove the peppers from the bag and rub off the blackened skin with your fingertips. Remove the tops, seeds, and veins from the peppers and discard them. Finely chop the pepper’s flesh.

Finely chop the black olives. Mix the peppers, black olives, olive oil, and garlic.
Shaping
– Prepare Basic Pizza Dough as directed. Stretch the dough into a circle and place it on a prepared pizza peel.

Assembly
– Brush the dough all over with olive oil, then top with the olive and pepper mixture, leaving a half inch border. Evenly spread the Mozzarella cheese on top of the pizza. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Baking
– Slide the pizza onto a preheated baking stone and bake at 500˚ for ten to twelve minutes. Toppings should be boiling over the entire surface. The crust should be crunchy chewy and very lightly browned.

Variation
–
Do not mix the peppers and olives together. Place the cheese on the pizza first then make alternating rings of peppers and olives on the pizza to form a bulls-eye pattern.

Bananas Foster Pizza

Makes one fourteen to sixteen inch pizza.

2 almost ripe bananas
4 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice, strained
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons rum
1/2 recipe Herman Sourdough Dough (see recipe
page 106
)
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
unbleached all-purpose flour (for kneading and shaping)
vanilla ice cream (for serving)

Topping
– Peel the bananas and discard the skins. Remove any strings and cut out any bruises. Cut the bananas in half lengthwise then cut each piece in half across the middle. Try not to break the banana pieces. Melt the butter, add the sugar and lemon juice, and stir together. Cook for over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes to dissolve the sugar and to make the mixture smooth. The mixture may bubble up as it cooks; that is okay. Add the vanilla extract and rum and stir to mix it in. Add the bananas to the pan and spoon the sauce over the bananas. Cook the bananas until they are soft and the sauce has thickened somewhat. Remove the pan from the heat. Take the bananas out of the pan and set aside. Reserve the caramel sauce to put on the pizza.