Time Machine: Old Posts Recovered!

Pizzablogger — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:47:16 +0000

Long story short. Many posts from my 2009-2011 initial blogging period that I thought were lost have been found.

They are not formatted for WordPress and take a little time to get back into the system, but look for some older pizza trips, videos and older posts to make their way back onto this site over the next several weeks.

Step back in time to a July 30, 2009 post about a backyard pizza tasting in Warren, NJ.

This was before Paulie Gee opened a pizzeria, appeared all over New York media and with Jane Pauley on the Today Show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

South Baltimore: Light Street Heats Up With Hersh’s Pizza & Drinks And Homeslyce Pizza Bar

Pizzablogger — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:16:39 +0000

South Baltimore relative newcomer Hersh’s Pizza & Drinks has not been open for six months yet and the Neapolitan inspired, Mugnaini wood-fired oven baked pizzas now have another pizzeria to contend with just one block away on Light Street.

: homeslyce on the left, hersh’s on the right.

Taking over the 25 year old Lighthouse Inn on the corner of Light and Barney Streets, Homeslyce Pizza Bar just opened on April 16th, 2012. The City that Breeds already peeped Homeslyce and they mention that among their offerings is a canoe shaped pizza, which looks interesting from the pictures.

We’ll have to check out Homeslyce and return for our third visit to Hersh’s soon.

Dessert Pizza: Toppings Ideas

Chau Tran — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:00:52 +0000

This dessert pizza was just something I threw together. I don’t even have a good name for this one, but it tasted great.

Neapolitan pizza dough, butter, bananas and blueberries (any fruit will do), brown sugar and cinnamon. Top with dollops of nutella and powdered sugar to finish.

Favorite Topping Combinations: The Bianco Rosa

Pizzablogger — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:00:39 +0000

Having now served some of my pizzas to friends, family and others, it’s been driven home that while many people love pizza (it’s the world’s most popular food after all), not everyone has heard of legendary pizza joints like Arizona’s Pizzeria Bianco or of one of its most well regarded pizzas, the Rosa. This is definitely a pie you need to make the next time you’ve got dough rising.

a recent home made version of mine. needs more top heat!

Once you have shaped your pizza dough, start off by grating a piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano, the real stuff cut from a wheel, not powdered or block cheese named simply ”Parmesan”, over the pizza dough until a thin layer of the cheese is formed. There really is no substitute for freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Try not to put any cheese near the edge of the pizza so the dough has room to rise and form a raised lip (cornicione).

After grating on the Parmigiano-Reggiano, add some very thinly sliced red onion, a dash of sea salt and a healthy amount of chopped fresh rosemary. I like to add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and then launch the pizza into the oven for cooking.

With about a minute to go before the pizza is finished cooking, pull the pizza and quickly add some chopped pistachios (I prefer to use in-shell, unsalted pistachios), put the pizza back in the oven and finish the bake. The pistachios can burn and blacken somewhat easily, so make sure to add them towards the end of the bake.

upskirt from the rosa pizza pictured above

The heavenly aroma of the fresh rosemary wafts out of the oven during the bake and those aromas are reflected in the strong, resiny notes the cooked rosemary adds to this pizza. A perfect compliment to the red onions, pistachios and Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is a powerfully flavored pizza sure to wake up those taste buds and is good to make towards the end of a multi-pizza session when peeps may be starting to experience pizza fatigue (if such a thing is possible).

I still haven’t dialed in my new oven yet and need more top heat to better cook the onion and pistachios, but the Rosa has been a consistent hit to the people I have served it to. Next to a classic Margherita, the Rosa has arguably been my favorite pizza for quite a while now.

So what are you waiting for, try this combo out!

Focaccia: Bread or Pizza?

Bill_SFNM — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:54:31 +0000

I baked this morning — sourdough focaccia studded with bits of balsamic-glazed onions and crispy bacon.

While we were waiting for it to cool a little, we debated whether focaccia is more of a pizza or a bread. The discussion quickly devolved into a debate over the differences between pizza and bread. And that lead to raised voices about the distinctions among regional varieties of pizza crust. The native of one city had some unkind words about the “so-called pizza” of the home-town of another person. Violence was avoided, just barely, when warm slices of this bread or pizza or whatever you want to call it landed on the table just in time. Rising tempers were quelled as everyone grabbed a slice. Some dipped theirs in nuovo olive oil. I’m a sucker for butter, especially with sourdough. Silence. Moans of delight. Discussion turned to the warming weather and plans to start shopping next week for tomato seedlings.

Leftover Pizza Dough Chronicles: Naan on a Hot Steel Plate

Bill_SFNM — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:00:59 +0000

I’ve been experimenting with baking on a steel plate in my home oven. A piece of 3/8″ steel I picked up at the metal yard was cut to the same size as my 3/4″ FibraMent stone. The oxidized surface was sanded down to bare metal, washed well and seasoned like I do with cast iron pans. I placed the steel plate on top of the FibraMent stone and have been very pleased with results. The theory is that the crust is in direct contact with the steel plate, which can deliver the heat stored in the plate and the stone to the bottom of the pizza much faster than just a stone.

This soft and airy flat bread made from leftover pizza dough was a big hit: