Here’s one of my latest creations! I liked the crust texture, but my homemade sauce was too acidic.

(The half cheese one was underneath the others, so I didn’t take a picture. But the slices looked huge!)

Napkin Blot Faux Pas

It was pretty good! Cheesy, pepperoni under the cheese so it didn’t get burnt. The sauce and crust were good too. Overall it was very greasy, and although I like a little greasiness, this was almost too much. Also the cheese was sliding around the crust, I think if they use a dough dressing that may prevent the cheese from sliding around. My husband did the pizza-napkin-blot to remove excess pizza oil (for him and the kids), and I kind of cringe when I see that. Although I would agree that this pizza did have a bit too much. Then when I got home, there was an article in my email about it – a poll on What pizza practices are unacceptable? It says that many consider the napkin blot a faux pas. What do you think?

I’ve only read the beginning introduction so far, it has a small but informative reference on the equipment, ingredients, and basic preparation and cooking techniques for making pizzas. Then it goes right into the pizza recipes. They’re divided into several categories: Pan pizza, thin crust, flatbreads of the Americas, dessert pizzas, and international pizzas around the world.

Like any recipe book, it’s a great reference if you’re looking for something new to try. I’m not sure if I’m ready for some of the ethnic dishes, but I’ll have to take a look at making flatbreads and how making the crust differs from a traditional crust. It has different recipes and techniques for making thick crust, calzones, or flatbread crust. There are also a few bread recipes in here too, and plenty of ones I can’t even pronounce! Can’t wait to try one out.

Some of the things I’ve learned already is that it’s OK to use canned tomatoes rather than rely on the freshness of the ones found at a store, and dried herbs do just as well as fresh if you cook them long enough to bring out the flavor. Except for basil which should be added fresh, a sprig added at the beginning and taken out at the end.

I’ll have to keep reading and use some of these tips for my next sauce!

But I found a few pizza costumes that are quite funny!

Which is your favorite one? Do you have any pizza clothing??

Recipe

This one calls for ground beef, Taco Bell seasoning, lettuce, tomato, ready to use pizza crust, and Mexican style shredded four-cheese blend with a touch of Philadelphia, which I assume means sour cream. But why doesn’t it clarify?? It has an average of 4 and a half stars with 155 reviews so it sounds like most people like it. You can drizzle salsa on top to add a little more moisture.

I was browsing some articles on Serious Eats and someone posted a link to 25 Healthy Pizza slideshow on Cooking Light.com. The navigation is quite nice – you can click the next or previous buttons to see a short description of each one, then click a link for the recipe of one you like. When you click for the recipe it goes to MyRecipes.com.

I’m not sure what makes them healthy. They do provide nutritional information on MyRecipes.com. One is Bacon, Tomato, and Arugula Pizza and the bacon adds quite a bit of fat. There are a few seafood ones: Garlicky Clam Grilled Pizza and Smoked Salmon Thin-Crust Pizza. I’ve never tried one with seafood except an occasional anchovy that mistakenly was added to my pizza. Next time I’m feeling adventurous I might have to try one. The Pepperoni Deep-Dish Pizza appeals to me; I like Chicago-style pizzas. But it has more fat than the bacon one! Does pepperoni have more fat than bacon? The Veggie Grilled Pizza is not as low-fat as I would have guessed, but it’s a great way to add more veggies to your diet! What do you think about these recipes?

Continuing my posts on tools used to make pizza, another type of pan used is a perforated pizza pan. I picked one up on Amazon and gave it a try. Supposedly it allows more heat to reach the pizza than a typical solid pan, but not as much as a pizza stone which allows for great heat conduction and moisture loss due to its porous nature. Many small holes or fewer larger holes in the pan will allow more moisture to escape. This means that the bottom of the crust will become crispy. Depending on whether you like crispy crust, this may or may not appeal to you. I can be wary about thin crispy crusts; I don’t like ones that are so thin they have no taste or are too tough or chewy. I can imagine that it’s easy to overcook the crust if you have too many holes in the pan.

Pizza Screens

Another type of pan is a pizza screen (left). While the perforated pan has larger holes, the pizza screen will have tons of smaller holes without much space between them. I believe the larger holes allow more moisture to leave, resulting in a crisper crust than the screen (even though the screen has more holes). I haven’t used a screen yet to find out. I believe you can also use special screens directly on a grill to cook your pizza. We have one but haven’t tried it out yet either.

Anti-stick Agent

I used shortening on the perforated pan to make sure the pizza did not stick. Just used a paper towel to spread it around. I was afraid using olive oil would be messy and wasteful as it flows out of the holes! Of course a spray can with olive oil would be the next logical idea. Shortening was also messy — you’ll definitely need to clean up afterwards! I like the taste of oil-cooked pizzas from restaurants, but I haven’t mastered the technique yet. I tried it in my deep-dish or regular pan, and it adds a little too much moisture rather than adding to the flavor.

Results

I cooked with my perforated pan a few months ago and here is a picture. The crust wasn’t too bad, and you can see I don’t usually go for thin crust pizzas Click the picture to see more on my Flickr account.