OT: Dan, Dan the Pizza Man rides again...

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
**warning: long post**

After seeing the picture in the "mugs" post, many of you may be dismayed to learn that I actually rarely eat frozen pizza. :p Most of the time, if I can afford it, I make my own.

Yesterday was one of those days. I made probably the best deep-dish pizza I have ever made (been experimenting for awhile) and I've decided to share the recipe with y'all.

Here it is:

(serves 4 - or perhaps just 1 big-n-hungry fella...)


Dough:

7oz Lukewarm Water
1 Tbl yeast
1 Tbl sugar

Toss this in a bowl and let it sit for 7 minutes.

Meanwhile put a 10" cast-iron skillet (2-3" deep) in an oven preheating to 475.


After 7 min., Add:

1 tsp salt
1/2 C oil
2-1/2 C Flour (added incremently)

Knead for 4 minutes (or leave in a mixer on low for 3 minutes)

The dough should no longer be sticky, but not quite "springy" like a bread loaf.

Take the now-hot cast-iron skillet out of the oven, add some corn flour to the bottom, and carefully shape the dough to cover the bottom and rise halfway up the side of the skillet. Set this on the stove (over the warm oven) for around 10-12 minutes while you prepare the toppings.


Sauce:

***sorry, can't share this one...;)***

Just buy a really good pizza/spaghetti sauce. Don't get Ragu, Prego, or store-brand. You need a gourmet sauce available at places like Trader-Joe's, etc.

Or just make your own...;)


Toppings:

1-1/4 C Cheese - you decide: white, cheddar, mozarella...
1/4 C Diced Green Pepper (or red)
1/4 C Diced Onion
1/4 C Diced Pineapple (tidbits)
1-1/2 C Sliced Fresh Mushrooms (not canned)
1 C Sliced Jumbo Olives (strongest flavor)
1/2 lb. Sausage - I like the Jimmy Dean Extra Spicy

After the dough has sat for at least 10 but less than 15 minutes over the oven, add 1/2 of your sauce - be sure to carry it partway up the sides of the now-risen dough.

Next add 1/2 Cup of cheese - cover all the sauce.

Then cover it completely, using all the pineapple and mushrooms.

Add another 1/2 Cup of cheese.

After that, put on the green pepper, onion and olives.

Add last 1/4 Cup of cheese.

Last, put on the sausage.


Bake this in the oven at 475 for 15 minutes.


NOTE: this pizza recipe is not for everybody. It actually has toppings other than pepperoni! In fact, there is no pepperoni at all.



Let me clue you in to how I arrived at this recipe.

For years, I have struggled with heartburn. Pizza, it seemed, caused me a pretty bad burn. Plus, it tasted so good, that I tended to overeat it, making a bad situation even worse. If that wasn't bad enough, pizza always makes me thirsty, so I end up guzzling a lot of water afterwards and that makes Problem #1 & #2 Really Bad...:eek:

Give up and stop eating pizza? No way! :D

So,one day I had a pizza with a thicker/lighter crust and the burn wasn't so bad. This got me thinking that maybe it was the way it was prepared that caused me such a burn. I began my quest to find the perfect pizza/recipe. I gradually added techniques, changed ingredients, etc. until I had a pizza that gave me ZERO heartburn and didn't make me want to overeat it.

Here's what has changed:

First thing I did was to get rid of the pepperoni - and I've never missed it because I can use other meats that don't cause reflux. I use sausage instead, and not some greasy frozen sausage, or links, etc. The Jimmy Dean 1 lb. "tube" does it all.

Changing the crust: A thin, flat crust is harder to digest. I use a cast-iron coated with corn flour so that I don't have to add any grease to the pan or crust. I tried using a baking dishes, cake pans, cookie sheets - you name it. The cast-iron works best, plus it adds iron to your diet.

I used to think it was the onions that caused me problems. But after removing the pepperoni and changing the crust, the onions don't bother me at all.

Fresh mushrooms = they absorb oils and flavors that might otherwise sit around on top of the pizza and interact with the pepperoni/meats to produce heartburn.

In fact, all fresh vegetables absorb oils when cooked. For me, that meant getting the oil off the top of the pizza and spread around and diluted, so that it's easier to digest.

Pineapple - people out West have been using this on pizza for years and I now know why it works so well: Since it's in the middle, it doesn't get baked as harshly as the edges, allowing it to retain some of its enzematic quality and help in digestion.

This pizza is definitely now a low-cal pizza pie, but it has allowed me to enjoy the meal without the pain/discomfort.

Cheese and sausage: you can't get rid of all the fat, or else you tend to overeat, so I use just enough of each to guarantee satsifying the desire for fat, while not putting you over the top.


Last Note:

I have tried just about every frozen/fresh/restaurant/delivery pizza I can imagine. I've tried New York style, Chicago style, Western (yes, there is a style there), Southern Biscuit pizza... I've also had true Italian pizza, Sicilian pizza, and even pizza made in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.

While they each had their special qualities, none of them can compare to what I can make here in my own kitchen. I have never gotten sick off of one of my pizzas, while I've had many trips to the bathroom as a result of others. I now don't get any heartburn at all from my pizza, while 2 out of 3 of the others still give me heartburn.

I've found what works for me, and while that may not be what works for you, perhaps you can learn from my experience (or just have fun reading...:D)
 
I also make pizza in a cast-iron skillet. Lots more convenient than having a special pan.

For sauce, I like using canned, crushed tomatos, with some garlic and spices added. I'll also occasionally use finely chopped green chilies (fairly mild) instead of sauce.
 
I just might try this but will cut dough recipe in half since I prefer the thin hard to digest stuff. And I'll toss out the pineapple and use Italian saugage rather than Jimmy Dean which I prefer for breakfast.
 
Fruit and fish are not served on any pizza I pay for.

Pendentive, out of curiousity, not to break a professional ethic or anything, what is the reasoning behind keeping the sauce a secret?

Are you leaving the recipe to your heirs? Do you sell this in jars? Some cooks are funny this way. I don't get it. Heaven forbid your neighbors might enjoy a tasty pizza with your great sauce!!! Maybe the best pizza in the world is the one no one else has.

Is there a pizza contest, like a chili cookoff, where secret recipes are closely guarded?

I mean no offense. I'm the guy who hoards worthless petrified wood. I'm not sure why. When I'm gone my wife or sons will probably toss it into the driveway...and I'm aquiring another strange habit, that of hauling home worthless junk. The only thing left for me as I approach middle age will be aquiring the numerous flashlights old men seem to need.

Bury them with their flashlights, I say.

munk
 
LOL! :D very funny post, munk.

It's not a professional ethic...it's called "Mama's Special Sauce That Even Mama Don't Know What Really Goes In It..." :D:D:D
 
Bill, you've mentioned the Kami's epoxy many times. What of Nepalese cooking? Are there things on the plate you'd rather not know about? I once ate pigs ear from the Vietnamese, and a sheep's barbecued eyeball in a taco from a proud Mexican. He complained I cheated because I put so many jalopenos in there I couldn't taste the eye. Well...duh...

Pizza Man, I have to admit, it is a pretty satisfying image of this backwoods giant of a man cooking with his secret recipes. I don't think the Freemen, for instance, were ever known for their home cooking.

But then there's Bar Jonah.

munk
 
Thanks Dan:)

I'll probably make it with the pineapple the first time. I don't usually like it on my pizza, but I've learned to make a recipe by the book the first time BEFORE modifying it.

BTW, I still make Yvsa's cornbread on a regular basis and his stew recipe on new years--if yours is that good maybe we'll add it to the roster:D
 
Standard Nepali fare is dhal bhat tarkari and I don't care if I ever see a plate of this stuff again. They serve it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's rice, lentils and sauteed veggies spicy but not hot.

I've had all I ever need or want of this stuff. In fact, if I had to choose over this and barbequed monkey ribs I think I'd take the monkey ribs.
 
whenever you're served dirty rice or lentils, the talk is always about the protein, the 'balance'.


munk
 
Just made the pizza again last night (I'll be having the leftovers for lunch today). I had heartburn before I sat to the table and after I finished it was gone! :confused: :D :cool:

My oldest son is 2 today (yes, I was a late starter...:p ). We celebrated his birthday last night - hence the pizza. Kids are great. They restore faith.
 
Thank God another late starter...I'm a walking dead man, age 46, with a baby of 6 weeks, a 2.5 year old, and a first grader.



munk
 
Hey Munk-

My eldest will be 21 in February. Middle one 18 in January. 'Peanut' was 10 in March, I was 51 LAST January. She was "unexpected" shall we say. I've enjoyed them all. Being older, as parents, helps your perspective, but I think it also doesn't hurt the kid. I look at things a little different than I did at 21, & tend to pass this on, I think. Plus, I have the added benefit of everybody thinking I am her Grand-dad.....til she spouts off & says,"my dad is the old, bald-headed one!!!!!" I'll be working til I am 104 to educate this bunch.....well maybe only 103.
 
age may be a number to us, but I've noticed to the young beautiful ladies the number appears to be very large regarding myself....anyone over thirty is old...and parents having sex is an unnatural, unseemly visualization to the young. It seems the persons not really allowed to 'make out' are under 15 and over 35. They must hide in shame, arranging secret rendevous.

Could be the real reason for old folk's homes...


DKP, I've been with my wife 16 years, and always been safe using modern medicine and the timeing of the all mighty EGG. The one time, and I mean the one time I said, "the hell with ovulation, all across America people follow the directions on the package and that's good enough, they never have kids!!! We had a baby. 'One of you must be very fertile" the Doctor said.
I just had a vasectomy.

But yeah, baby munk is looking at me and wants something. I've got a few years left to teach these kids to think for themselves and know how to laugh. They remind me life is worth this.

course, to a lesser extent, so does a good khuk and a fine revolver.


munk
 
FED; all the girls I knew were on the pill. I was drunk all the time anyway, and avoided the responsibility of childbirth almost as much as I avoided sobriety.


munk
 
I'm 33, and my newborn is 3 weeks. I'm glad I waited til now, got to see half a doen countries, get out and be freaky and all that, and have a good perspective on the kid rearing thing.

Just when everything seemed like it was getting to be tha same old same old, we said, hey, let's have us a kid to play with.

Most amaing thing, and I've got plenty of parenting in fronta me.

Keith
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top