Pizza

[MACCA]

Not been for 2 years, probably only been twice in the last decade since I moved away. (Enzos )

I don't do pasta, so it's always steak or chicken in a sauce for me when visiting an Italian, which never really wows me as I can do a similar dish for 4 people for the cost of my £30 meal.

Not many decent restaurants around here. Although the Park in Accrington ( pub grub ) and Bistro 197 are my next ventures down to people highly recommending them.

[gandhisflipflop]

Surprised nobody has mentioned prontos yet. Excellent value for money

[KateR]

never eaten a chicken pizza, pineapple is fine as long as it's with ham, after that, no it's wrong.

can not eat pizza with fresh tomatoes but then again can not eat anything with fresh tomatoes, its a texture thing!

Favorite pizza is definitely seafood, loaded with shellfish preferably, but like almost all pizza, thin crust preferred.

long time since I had a chain type pizza though.

[Lord Beamish]

I don't eat pizza anymore.

[Herts Clarets]

I make my own pizza which is better and so much cheaper than a take away. Bread maker on the dough setting so you don't need to knead! Tomato sauce from tinned plum toms cooked then blitzed with salt, pepper and a bit of sugar to counter the acidity.

Roll the dough out nice and thin, hand stretch it if you are good enough but don't make a hole in it. Heat the grill and a non stick frying pan. When the pan is smoking hot, put the dough in. After about 30 secs it will start to bubble. Work quickly, add the sauce, a sprinkling of grated parmesan, toppings then a handful of chopped up mozzarella. The bottom of the pizza will now be set and light golden brown. Take the pan off the heat and place it under your pre heated grill for a minute or two at the highest level you can get it. Total time from dough in pan to serving is 4-5 mins. It gives a crisp base, cooks the top and melts the cheese, but because the heat is so fierce the centre is bread like and not biscuit like, as happens in an oven.

Proper pizza ovens are 450 degrees c, domestic ovens run around 240. So they cook slower and dry out the dough.

[Rick_Muller]

The best cheese I've found for making pizza (in the UK) is a Turkish-made Kashkaval, which is full fat, and a light yellow. This forms a hardened grilled crust with molten loveliness underneath. For me a slice should remain connected to the whole by strings when lifted from the plate.

When making the dough (using a breadmaker for the hard graft), I use olive oil rather than butter.

The sauce should be made several days in advance, and spend more than an hour simmering in the pot. I sweat onions and garlic in olive oil for half an hour before adding the plum tomatoes, and then a hand blender to make the lot smooth. If you want a chunky sauce you could be clever in the way you use the blender, or just add a tin or two of chopped tomatoes to what you've already blended. I throw in an (pre-mixed) herb concoction of oregano, thyme, basil, and rosemary (in equal amounts), with (smaller quantities) mint and parsley. It cooks for so long all of this pretty much melts into the sauce, so you won't see many green dots but the flavour is there.

Pizzas originated as an end of the week meal using up left overs - toppings could be anything at all - but there is room for debate over what is best on top of or underneath the cheese. Mushrooms, garlic, ground meat and pepperoni for example always go underneath the cheese on mine. Pineapple, peppers, egg and seafood always on top. Most pizza chains use very cheap ingredients - so even if you buy ready-sliced ham from a supermarket you're already several rungs up the ladder from the place down the street. They call that cubed rubbery stuff 'chicken' but just a few scraps of leftovers from your Sunday roast will taste so much nicer. Making it yourself opens you up to ingredients that you might not find on a takeaway menu - smoked salmon, capers, artichoke hearts, and red peppers is nice together.

The oven (fan assisted if you have that feature), should be as hot and dry as possible (assuming like me you don't have a wood fired stove). If you put a small brick in the bottom of a regular oven it can help keep the moisture to a minimum. Five minutes or so is generally enough time, but lift up the pizza a little to check the base is cooked underneath.

Following the above you could make very good quality pizzas for a fraction of the cost of a take away.

Nailed it, thanks AndrewJB

PS - Enzo's are awful pizzas - I used to live next door to "Mr Pizza Cutter" himself when I lived in Burnley and I didn't think much of his hygiene

[AndrewJB]

Herts - I was told that cooking a tomato sauce for longer than an hour sweetens it naturally. But now I've looked for online evidence to support this I can't find any.

[ClaretEngineer]

Herts - I was told that cooking a tomato sauce for longer than an hour sweetens it naturally. But now I've looked for online evidence to support this I can't find any.

It certainly enhances and intensifies the flavour. It gets even better (to a point) the longer you leave it after cooling before using.

[Herts Clarets]

All down to taste Andrew. Just a teaspoon takes the edge of it. Not sure i have cooked mine for an hour but certainly a good 30 mins to reduce the liquid content.

[Herts Clarets]

FB_IMG_1490723638655.jpg (42.42 KiB) Viewed 1010 times

A quick margherita from a couple of weeks back