Freestyle Pizza

Pizza is a great dish to make because it is the sign of imperfection. No pizza is alike - unless you buy DiGiorno. The human element is so vital in pizza making. Human hands are needed to stretch the dough. The shape and thickness of the crust and the amount of sauce, cheese, and toppings is totally up to the discretion of the chef.

But what I love about pizza making is the ability for chefs to manipulate the dough. Sometimes, though, chefs get a little bit too creative.

With that being said, here are the tossing the dough BLOOPERS!



(I love the random scream at the end.)



(Homer Simpson trying to get slice. Why would you give a dog a piece of pizza anyway?)



(Yellow ascot spins the dough like it's nothing.)



(Check out this video from a British Domino's Pizza. The guy rests the dough on his knee, drops it to his foot, and kicks it back to the station? Amazing.)



(Tony Gemignani can put any pizza chef to shame with those skills.)

NBA Pizza

I love the National Basketball Association. When I was little, it was my dream to become an NBA player. Then I realized I wasn't coordinated enough for that career path, but I still follow the NBA religiously. And now there is a product for NBA fanatics and pizza lovers alike.

The NBA came up with the genius notion that NBA fans want to eat their favorite logos, USA Today reports. The NBA will sell edible logos of its 30 teams to 1,200 pizza shops across the country.

The logos will be made of a combination of sugar, starch, and food coloring. The logos are placed on top of the pizza after it is baked.

(I love the Lakers, but come on.)

NBA execs think that this measure, along with other new licensing ideas, will increase the league's revenue this year.

Really?

I cannot picture many pizza/NBA lovers paying an additional $5 so their pizza has a sugary version of their favorite team's logo.

There is an app for that

Love getting delivery, but hate actually talking to someone? Can't put down your smart phone for more than a minute at a time? Don't worry, there's an app for that.

The OrderPizza app has a simple interface that allows users to order pizza at the drop of a hat.

When you first access the OrderPizza app, you are required to create and confirm a four-digit pizza code to prevent anyone from ordering pizza from your phone.

Next, the app takes you to a listing of area pizzerias. Select your shop of choice and how you wish to place your order. Add your address if you want to place delivery. In the next window, you build your pizza.


It's amazing that you can order a pizza from anywhere so long as you have a smart phone or the phone number of a pizzeria saved into your contacts.

Apps and web tools like the OrderPizza app take out the human aspect to ordering pizza, allowing someone to checkout the menu, order, and pay without ever having to say two words to another person. Is this a good thing? That's up to the user to decide.

Pizza for Breakfast

Ever wake up with a hankering for a slice? You don't have to wait for lunchtime. Make a simple breakfast pizza.


What you need
pizza dough
shredded mozzarella
eggs (although the number depends on the pizza size)
toppings

How to make it
It's honestly very simple. First step is to prepare the pizza dough. In the morning, you won't want to spend a lot of time making dough and waiting for it to rise, so purchase a prepackaged dough. Next step is to scramble the eggs. Prepare six or seven eggs to be safe. The eggs will serve as the sauce in this pie, so you want enough to cover your dough. Add your shredded cheese on top of the eggs and any toppings you want on the pizza. You can also add the toppings while making the scrambled eggs. Bake at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes.

-OR-

You can try this recipe. This woman replaces the pizza crust with one made with shredded hashbrowns. This will be a little bit more time consuming because you have to prepare a hashbrown crust.

The Pizza Style Guide

Trying to define pizza by the country is simply impossible. Variety is the name of the game. The dish comes in all shapes and sizes, from the tiniest pizza bites to Goliath pizzas that require a palette and forklift instead of a cardboard box.

It's especially problematic stereotype American pizza because every city has it's own interpretation.

Let's check out some of the most popular pizza styles in the US.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a pizza ranking list, this is a guide.

California
Unique. Think California Pizza Kitchen. California-style pizza experiments with different, non-traditional toppings. Mozzarella and tomato sauce are just too boring. Think goat cheese and vegetables. The pizzas serve usually one or two as opposed to a traditionally large pie.


Chicago
The deep dish. Picture UNO. Chicago-style pizza has a deep crust - usually several inches high. Chefs load the pizza with cheese and chunky tomato sauce, but the crust typically rises above it.
The thin crust. Chicago loves the thin crust pizza as well. A thin crust pizza is typically thin and crunchy.


Detroit
Square. Don't think Little Caesars. Detroit-style pizza is a square, Sicilian style pizza with a thicker crust. The sauce is added last and the pizza is twice baked. Despite the pizza chains like Little Caesars that call Detroit home, these chains do not reflect Detroit's style.


Hawaii
Fruity. Think anywhere but Hawaii. Pineapple, ham, and bacon typically top a Hawaiian-style pizza. But this style did not originate in Hawaii. The first Hawaiian pizza was supposedly made in Ontario in 1962, according to the Toronto Sun. Hardly Hawaiian, but still popular in many circles.


New Haven
Apizza. Think Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. New Haven-style pizza is minus the mozzarella cheese. Apizza consists of crust, tomato sauce, oregano, and Romano cheese. Mozzarella would be a topping. The crust is thinner and cooked in a coal oven as opposed to the typical brick oven.


New York
Big and mobile. Picture Sbarros. New York-style pizza is big and greasy. Slices are much larger than typical fare so the pizza can be eaten on the go. Fold the pizza in half to make it easy to eat while walking the city streets.


St. Louis
Crispy. St. Louis-style pizza requires a think crust made without yeast and Provel cheese as opposed to your typical mozzarella. Most restaurants cut St. Louis-style pizza in squares. Chefs load the pizza with oregano and salt.

Grilling the Dough

Typically when we talk about pizza, we assumed that it is baked. But that is not the only way to make a pizza. An alternative would be grilling the pizza.




Grilled vs. Baked
fast, 10 min. vs. slow, 20 min.

thin-crust only vs. any crust you want

minimal sauce vs. no limit to sauce

handful of toppings vs. bucket full of toppings

grill marks vs. bake burns

cook pizza outside vs. hot kitchen

tastes good vs. tastes good

use your hands vs. use a pizza peel

personal pizza vs. world's largest pizza

cook next to a burger vs. cook next to a hoagie

What to do with all this dough?

So you decided to make a fresh batch of dough to make a fresh pizza. But the problem is that you just made too much.

What can you use all that excess dough for besides tossing the dough (get it because that's the name of the blog. Alright, that was a pretty lame joke)? Easy, a calzone.

(Every once in a while, you can take a break from pizza.)

A calzone is an Italian-take on a turnover. Picture a pizza pie that is folded in half and sealed. That is essentially a calzone.

A calzone has all of the ingredients of a pizza, but it can be less greasy on the hands because all of the greasy mozzarella is on the inside.

(A tasty alternative use for pizza dough.)

What do you need?
Again, it's a simple grocery list:
-One canister of pizza dough (do not buy a prepackaged crust like Boboli for a calzone because the dough needs to be fresh enough to fold before baking). Size will depend on how big you roll out of the dough before folding (12" dough will feed should two about two people, 14" will feed three to four).

-Handful of flour

-Mozzarella cheese

-Ricotta cheese (if you do not like ricotta, substitute another cheese or just lose the second cheese all together)

-Garlic butter (more for garnishing, this is not a necessity)

-Parmesan cheese (again, this is for garnishing, but you can do without it)

-Pizza sauce or marinara sauce for dipping

-Something to stuff it with (pick your favorite pizza toppings and throw them together)

Something to note: What is the difference between a calzone and a stromboli? A calzone has ricotta cheese and a stromboli does not. If a restaurant offers both, their take on the calzone will likely have ricotta, but ask before ordering to be sure.

(Stuff it with whatever you wish.)

How do you make it?
1. Spread your flour on a bread cutting board (a wooden one). Coat your hands and the dough with the flour. Roll out the dough to your desired length (I recommend 12" because it's easier to manage than 14"). To roll the dough, lay the dough ball on the cutting board. Use your hands to spread the dough out, being sure to rotate the crust so you don't end up with an oval.

2. This is the stuffing part. Place whatever you are stuffing in the center of the crust. Add your cheese(s) and whatever you are stuffing the calzone with. I personally love sausage calzones, so I'm going to add my mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. Then, I'm going to add grilled sausage that I have cut into small cylinders, red and green peppers, and onions.

3. Close it. Take the half of the crust without stuff and fold it over the stuffing. Firmly press down on the edges of the folded crust to enclose the stuffing.

(This is how your folded dough should look.)

4. Take a knife and make three slits on the top of the calzone. These slits help the stuffing cook and give you an idea of how the inside is cooking.

5. Place it in the oven at 450F for 20-25 minutes.

6. When the crust is cooked (it will look exactly like the crust of a pizza), take it out of the oven and add your garnishes (garlic and Parmesan cheese).

(The crust will be dry on the outside, but very moist within. Serve with sauce to combat that dry outside.)

7. Serve with marinara or pizza sauce and enjoy.

3 Tips for a Healthier Pizza

Many people are turned away from pizza because it's simply not a healthy meal. Consider the carb-filled dough, sodium-packed sauce, fattening shredded cheese, and an array of toppings.

How do you fit all of this bad stuff into a 2000 calorie diet?

Easy, swap out that greasy, meat lover's pizza for one of these three alternatives:

1. Lose the meat, or just go green.
The easiest way to cut some of those unwanted calories from a slice is to order a plain pizza. Toppings add a good flavor to the pizza, but you don't always need them. If the cheese and the sauce are fresh (meaning that you ordered from a pizzeria, not your local franchise shop) the pizza should have more than enough flavor.

But if you can't sacrifice toppings all together, just switch the meat for some veggies. Green pepper, red pepper, spinach, mushroom, olives, and tomatoes are some great alternatives.


2. Lose the sauce, just go white.
White pizza has become very popular in recent years. In making a white pizza, you essentially replace the pizza sauce with garlic and oil.

Here are the steps:
1. Roll out your dough.
2. Sprinkle garlic on the dough.
3. Add a small amount of olive oil. You just need enough oil to make the pizza moist.
4. Sprinkle mozzarella .
5. Bake.
6. Garnish with herbs, namely parsley.

Yes, it's that easy.


3. Lose the dough, give whole wheat a go.
Whole wheat is a nutritionally healthier option of bread than your traditional white. Whole wheat uses every part of the wheat grain, the bran, endosperm, and cereal germ. Whole wheat is a better alternative because it provides the consumer with B vitamins and fiber.

What do you need for whole wheat crust?
- sugar
-water
- active dry yeast
- oil
- salt
- whole wheat flour
- all-purpose flour

How do you make it?
Dissolve the sugar in the water. Add the yeast and let the dough sit.
After the mixture foams, add salt, oil, whole wheat flour and most of the all-purpose flour. Knead the dough and place it in a warm area for an hour so it can rise. Once the dough doubles in size, it's ready for baking.

Nutritional Information

So last night I wanted to order pizza from a chain. I eventually narrowed the decision to Papa John's and Pizza Hut. But in the back of my mind, I didn't want to feel like a total pig. Let's be honest, pizza is not exactly the healthiest food (shocking, I know). Granted, you can make a healthy pizza. But national chains do not. This pizza is less pizzeria, and more fast-food.

I decided to check out the nutritional information for both restaurants and, ultimately, decided against either.

Still curious as to which restaurant is the healthier choice, though, I decided to do a little comparison.

Here is what I have found.



First, I compared the calories in each menu item for both restaurants. Pizza Hut clearly has more calories across the board.

Not surprisingly, Pizza Hut also has more calories from fat than Papa John's. Calories from fat is important because the more calories you intake from fat, the less you get from protein and carbohydrates (obviously). You do not want to cut fat from your diet, but you do not want your daily caloric intake reliant on fat.

Finally, I compared the amount of sodium in each menu item. The differences are minimal except for a breadstick. Pizza Hut has 190mg more in a breadstick with sauce than Papa John's.


By comparing these important nutritional categories, it's clear that Papa John's is actually a slightly healthier alternative than Pizza Hut.

World's Largest Pizza

Lately I've become addicted to the Travel Channel show "Man v. Food." Basically, this show consists of Adam Richman traveling across the United States to compete in various food challenges at restaurants. Richman is not a competitive eater.

This show is incredibly addictive. Some of the food that Richman eats is so massive, yet so appetizing.

For example, at Randy's Wooster St. Pizza Shop, Richman tried the Hartford Stuffed Pizza Challenge. The challenge required him to eat a 22-inch, 10 pound stuffed pizza in an hour with the help of a teammate.



Shockingly enough, Richman and company defeated the unbelievable challenge.

http://www.travelchannel.com/travelchannel/TV_Shows/Man_V_Food/Video/Adams_Hartford_Press_Conference

But, judging by Richman's face after this competition, I think the stuffed pizza may have won after all.

I mean, I love pizza, but I could not imagine making a dent in a pizza that big.

What's going on at Pizza Hut?

This week Pizza Hut began an advertising campaign to announce their new simplified menu with this set of commercials:



Oops, sorry. Not that one. Moving on.

The new menu options are designed to make it simpler for customers to order a pie - was it honestly that difficult - and move Pizza Hut ahead of its competitors.

Here is an abbreviated version of the new menu:
Medium Pizza (up to three toppings) = $8
Large Pizza (up to three toppings) = $10
Stuffed Crust = extra fee
Medium Specialty Pizza = $10
Large Specialty Pizza = $12

The pizza chain even offered an interesting dining room deal. Customers a free order of breadsticks with the purchase of any pizza if they wore a sports jersey with the numbers 8, 10, or 12. Don't grab that Troy Aikman, Chipper Jones, or John Stockton jersey just yet. The deal ended September 12.

Although I don't think ordering from Pizza Hut was that difficult, this is a cool move by the chain. They essentially shortened the menu without discontinuing any options.

I just wish they would bring the 4-for-All Pizza back.

The pizza you eat backwards

I'll admit, I am dying of hunger right now. I've got night class during my usual eating time, so I need to find something quick and easy to fill my stomach.

Not enough time for pizza.

(Aw, grilled cheese again?)

But, what I'm really in the mood for is some stuffed crust pizza. Pizza Hut made this type of pizza famous, calling it "the pizza you eat backwards." To be honest, though, I love to eat this pizza regularly. Instead of following a tasty slice of pizza with a dry crust, you can follow it with a cheesy one. Can you honestly ask for anything better than that? Ok, world peace would be pretty awesome.

(So hungry.)

What is a stuffed crust pizza?
A stuffed crust pizza is not particularly special to be honest. Simply place a filling inside the outside crust, typically string cheese. That is the key to a pizza. Some pizza companies will play the cheese right in front of the outside crust, but a stuffed crust pizza is meant to have the crust literally stuffed inside the crust.

(The crust is actually the best part.)

What do you need?
The recipe is very simple.

You will need everything for a basic pizza and string cheese.

grated mozzarella cheese
pizza sauce
oregano
pizza dough
string cheese - stick with mozzarella to maintain a uniform taste between the slice and the crust

Here is a simple how to:


(Easy as 1, 2, 3.)

Now, I recommend experimenting with the crust. You never know what interesting flavors you can combine with pizza, but it's always fun to try to find new ones. Instead of using cheese in a stuffed crust, add another topping to the crust. It will make the dish a combination of a pizza and a Stromboli, giving you the best of both worlds.