Pizza.
I mentioned earlier that before heading out last weekend on our Saturday drive, we stopped by Goodwill. We do that every once in a while because we never know what we're going to find. Well, on that trip K found a couple of things, including a $4 deep dish pizza pan. The thing is, that was Saturday and our weekly pizza night is Friday. So we had to wait nearly a full week to try our hand at making a pan pizza. Yesterday was The Big Day.
Backing up a little... I did some (re: 2-3 hours, likely) research the last few days on different recipes, before ultimately going with this one. I read pizza forums and comments to get a feel for what people did, looking for themes. The first thing that I discovered is we'd need to season our new Goodwill find. Rather than smoke up the house, I did as one guy suggested and used our little propane grill on the back patio.
After a little canola oil (lower smoke-point than, say, olive oil) on the outside (no need to season the inside) and twenty minutes on the grill, it was done.
Turns out, the reason pans need to be seasoned is to make them black so, instead of reflecting heat from a shiny surface, they heat evenly. Makes sense.
Then I followed the dough recipe, which was a little different than our standard dough (most significantly, had about 1/4 of the yeast). Put it in the fridge for the day, then got it out and pressed it into the pan to rest a few hours right before we headed out for Friday night skiing. When we came back, with only a half-teaspoon of yeast, it hadn't risen over the pan or anything. Phwew.
Different than the recipe, I didn't layer the cheese directly on the crust, opting instead to just put the sauce on like normal.
Then the toppings. For tonight's pie, I had cooked up some ground sausage and threw on diced tomatoes and red onion. Oh, and pizza seasonings of course.
Then it was time to bake it in our oven I had cranked up to 550º.
Ooh, boy. After 18 minutes on the bottom rack (I didn't end up ever moving it to the top rack because it seemed to bake pretty evenly, crust and toppings), it was ready.
After slicing and inspecting, I was pretty impressed. The dough was a little squishy on top but not like unbaked-squishy. Maybe there's something to putting cheese down and then sauce? Either way, it wasn't bad. The bottom was pretty dang crispy. I might use more olive oil next time because the point is for the crust to basically fry in the olive oil while it bakes. The edges were near-perfection, with charred crispy cheese and grease.
All-in-all, a legit first attempt at a pan pizza. Admittedly, we're no noobs when it comes to pizza so it's not terribly surprising. Definitely going to keep experimenting, with dough recipes, ingredients and how we put them on, and baking. This summer we'll hopefully build our outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven to take the game to a whole new level. Still, after some night skiing, a beer and homemade pan pizza hit the spot.
Backing up a little... I did some (re: 2-3 hours, likely) research the last few days on different recipes, before ultimately going with this one. I read pizza forums and comments to get a feel for what people did, looking for themes. The first thing that I discovered is we'd need to season our new Goodwill find. Rather than smoke up the house, I did as one guy suggested and used our little propane grill on the back patio.
After a little canola oil (lower smoke-point than, say, olive oil) on the outside (no need to season the inside) and twenty minutes on the grill, it was done.
Turns out, the reason pans need to be seasoned is to make them black so, instead of reflecting heat from a shiny surface, they heat evenly. Makes sense.
Then I followed the dough recipe, which was a little different than our standard dough (most significantly, had about 1/4 of the yeast). Put it in the fridge for the day, then got it out and pressed it into the pan to rest a few hours right before we headed out for Friday night skiing. When we came back, with only a half-teaspoon of yeast, it hadn't risen over the pan or anything. Phwew.
Different than the recipe, I didn't layer the cheese directly on the crust, opting instead to just put the sauce on like normal.
Then the toppings. For tonight's pie, I had cooked up some ground sausage and threw on diced tomatoes and red onion. Oh, and pizza seasonings of course.
Ooh, boy. After 18 minutes on the bottom rack (I didn't end up ever moving it to the top rack because it seemed to bake pretty evenly, crust and toppings), it was ready.
After slicing and inspecting, I was pretty impressed. The dough was a little squishy on top but not like unbaked-squishy. Maybe there's something to putting cheese down and then sauce? Either way, it wasn't bad. The bottom was pretty dang crispy. I might use more olive oil next time because the point is for the crust to basically fry in the olive oil while it bakes. The edges were near-perfection, with charred crispy cheese and grease.
All-in-all, a legit first attempt at a pan pizza. Admittedly, we're no noobs when it comes to pizza so it's not terribly surprising. Definitely going to keep experimenting, with dough recipes, ingredients and how we put them on, and baking. This summer we'll hopefully build our outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven to take the game to a whole new level. Still, after some night skiing, a beer and homemade pan pizza hit the spot.
