Pizza-Making ?

[Mike Nolan]

Semolina is usually considered a healthier flour than white flour, especially for diabetics, what is the dietician concerned about?

[Italiancook]

Mike, too much protein and too much fiber.

[aaronatthedoublef]

ItalianCook, my family did not like the texture, I think.

I've tried two and three cheese mixes. The first pizzas I made was for the school bar in college and we used mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan (doubt it was Reggiano ;-)). I've tried that mix and just mozzarella and provolone. I am the only one who likes those mixed. I've tried fontina which was too strong. I've been meaning to try fontal which is soft and milder to see if they would like that.

I make the dough and grate the cheese. Sometimes I will cut up the vegetables but my wife usually does that - olives, some kind of pepper other than green which I do not like, and onions - usually red. I usually buy pre-sliced, criminy mushrooms and break the slices into smaller chunks as I put them on the pizza.

Meat is simple, usually sausage or pepperoni. I've experimented with a few different sausage types - Italian (pork or chicken), Turkish and Moroccan (lamb usually with different spices). I used to par-cook it before I put it on then I stopped that.

My wife is the creative one. Sometimes she likes a swiss chard-olive oil-goat cheese-and mozzarella pizza.

You can try a lower gluten flour. I use part cake flour. That would help lower the protein content.

[Mike Nolan]

I buy whole-milk mozzarella at Sams Club in 5 pound bags, then repackage it in 12 ounce quart bags and freeze it.

My mother always said a pizza just wasn't a pizza without a little Romano cheese on top, but I don't keep that around, though sometimes I use a little Parmesan. I do keep a four-cheese blend from Sams on hand, but don't generally use it on pizza. (It's excellent as a topping on bagels, though, and I also use it in gluten-free Brazilian Cheese Rolls.)

We've been doing flatbread pizzas lately using a lavash we can get at the grocery store, we use the mozzarella and some havarti.

If I make a crust, I'm probably going to use the 'Roman' crust recipe in Peter Reinhart's book, "American Pie". It's a dough that makes a really thin crust. For a thicker crust, I'll use my variant on one of the recipes from Pasquale Bruno Jr's book, "The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook", which I have posted here: Chicago-Style Pizza Crust. (Pasquale's book was out of print for a while but is available again.)

[aaronatthedoublef]

Has this thread been going on for over a year!?!The power of pizza!

I was re-reading some of the older posts. I've had Nancy's recently and they accidentally gave us a large instead of a small. You could barely tell we'd eaten any. My colleague ate two pieces despite my warnings.

Giordano's seems to have the best par-baked and shipped pizza.

I've made my own sausage. I've also made sausage for Whole Foods. All their sausages have some amount brown sugar. Breakfast sausages have more. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas they add sage to some of it and that is for turkey dressing. Hot Italian sausage has red pepper. I don't remember black pepper but I can check.

I like making it because I can vary the spice level. I can reduce the sugar and the salt without affecting the taste. It seems as if it needs to a day or two for the spices to really open up and add flavor.

[BakerAunt]

Sigh. I do miss the occasional good sausage, as well as most cheeses. I'm glad, however, that I can make a pizza we like that fits into current dietary parameters.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, you may have said this in one of the cooking/baking threads, but I don't recall. What do you use in place of the cheese on pizza?

I can't have tomato sauce but can sub garlic oil. I can't imagine a substitute for cheese.

[Italiancook]

Aaron, Rachel Ray on Food Network made a lot of different sausage when her 30 Minute Meal was regularly aired. Of course, she used pre-ground pork, instead of grinding it herself. The only reason I haven't tried her recipes is that I never know how long to cook sausage patties. With links, I cook until brown on all sides. Seems to me patties have more sausage, and I'm worried that they cook all the way through. End result is hard, crunchy patties.

[Mike Nolan]

There are vegan substitutes for cheese, they're not too bad on pizza, actually. (I made some vegan pizzas when we had a guest who had a milk allergy.) I don't recall much about their nutritional content.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I sometimes use tomato paste from a tube to spread on the pizza crust. I've also brushed it with olive oil and put sliced tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes on it.

I use part-skim mozzarella on my pizza as well as freshly grated Parmesan. For a pizza made on a half-sheet, I use 4 oz. That keeps my serving to 1 oz. per meal.

The part-skim mozzarella has been the best that I could find here for a lower saturated fat cheese. However, today, I found pre-grated 2% cheese at Kroger in the larger town where we do our grocery run. I'm planning to try it for a black bean burger recipe. I'm not sure that I could find vegan cheese in this area, even if I wanted it. I'll stick to lower-fat cheeses because I also need to get a good amount of calcium from foods I eat--especially in light of a recent nutritional study that calls into questions whether supplements actually provide the benefits of consuming vitamins and minerals in real food. Sigh.

[Italiancook]

I saw Sara Moulton on Simply Ming today. I thought she was making a pizza, but when I searched for the recipe I discovered it's called, "Alsatian Onion Tart." https://www.registercitizen.com/lifestyle/article/Recipe-Alsatian-onion-pie-11986234.php#item-85307-tbla-2

Regardless of whether it's called tart or pie, I think it looks like a good pizza. I am fascinated by the sauce -- crème fraiche with an egg yolk & nutmeg. Have any of you ever used crème fraiche as a sauce?

She made her dough on the show, but I missed the mixing of the dough, so I don't know the recipe of that.

[Mike Nolan]

Creme fraiche is kind of like sour cream, but a bit smoother and less likely to curdle. It's rather pricey.

My wife has a 'Christmas Coffee Cake' recipe that calls for sour cream that was her grandmother's Christmas treat. We've made it a few times but my wife was always disappointed with the taste. Her grandmother was a farm wife and I think she used real sour cream, not that cultured stuff they sell these days.

I've thought about either trying to sour some fresh cream, make some creme fraiche (I've got a recipe for it) or buy some at the store and try that in the recipe, I think it might come closer to what she remembers, although some remembered tastes may be more memory than taste.

[BakerAunt]

Interesting article on pizza--particularly, Detroit style:

https://www.tastecooking.com/future-pizza-crunchy-square/

[Mike Nolan]

I'm going to have to order Peter's new Perfect Pan Pizza book when it comes out next month.

[Mike Nolan]

Larger supermarkets may have sections catering to vegans and people who are lactose-intolerant, but a health food store might be a better option, if there's one around.

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