Pizza As A Negotiating Tool

Posted on March 8, 2013 by kimbesa

Just in case you need another reason to make a pizza. Negotiations go better over food!

Pizza can make everything go better! (Fans know this already.)

Jean Chatzky was on the Today show, talking about a Babson College business study. The researchers found that both sides come out with a more profitable deal if they work over lunch, or dinner.

Pizza was her first thought, too. Her example: Have pizza when you need to negotiate with your spouse.

My pizza dough was ready to go, by the time I heard this.

Then I tracked down a report on the Babson study. that said, “…eating while deciding important matters offers profitable, measurable benefits through mutually productive discussions.”

The report didn’t say what they ate. But, I have to wonder, will Macy’s and JCP have pizza with Martha?

Meanwhile, my pizza crust is rising in a bowl on the kitchen counter. It’s warm indoors, and cold outside. When I turn on the oven, it will do double duty. Give us extra heat and bake us a pizza for lunch.

More Pizza On My Mind

I’ve been thinking about grilling pizza, when more of the snow melts. My pizza stone is ready for that, too. I’ve been looking at how other grillers assemble their pie, and what ingredients they use.

There are lots of examples where pizza makers use no sauce, just fresh tomatoes, cheese, and a few other toppings.

I love my favorite sauce so much, I’ll be experimenting with using it, just less of it, to balance the factors. I want the pizza to slide easily off the peel. Cornmeal helps, but if it’s too heavy with toppings, that could defeat the purpose.

Even so, I don’t want to leave off the sauce. It tastes so good, it won’t be pizza without my sauce.

That means experiments are to come! We’ll enjoy eating and rating the results.

Eating pizza needs no reason. What’s for lunch, or dinner, at your house?

Did You Search For Pizza This Weekend?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by kimbesa

I just heard that lots of people searched online for pizza this past weekend? Were you one of them?

No need to wait for your pizza order to be delivered, or to go out into the dark or bad weather to get your favorite hot and tasty pizza, when you make your own at home!

Just a few simple steps in preparation, and you can be pizza-ready at your place:

Flour and yeast for the crust. A good bread flour keeps well in an air-tight plastic container. I keep it in my cupboard. I keep my extra whole wheat flour in the fridge, and it’s in an extra large zip bag.

Same with the yeast. I keep my big supply in a plastic container in the freezer, and a smaller snap container in the fridge where I can get to it easily.

Olive oil. We always have a bottle in the cupboard, because we use it for cooking many different dishes.

Pizza sauce. I love my favorite brand, Pastorelli, and I keep several cans around at all times.

Cheese and mushrooms. If I have fresh mushrooms, I’ll put them on pizza, but it’s so much easier to keep canned ones around. The big can, please. The convenience makes that an easy choice most times.

Mozzarella and Parmesan are in the fridge. The fresh mozzarella cheese does have a shorter life span, but you can freeze it if necessary. We have pizza often enough that cheese does not go to waste around here.

Those are the main components. It’s that easy! Basic pizza from your own kitchen.

For a pizza with more toppings, get your other favorites when you shop for groceries, and you’ll be ready to add them to your pizza, too.

Just make your dough an hour ahead, or longer if you need to. Slow down the rising by putting your bowl of pizza crust to be in the fridge. (Lightly oil the dough ball, and cover the bowl with plastic.)

A good, hot pizza is as close as your own kitchen, and ready to eat, straight from the oven, make your own at home!

dp seal trans 16x16 Did You Search For Pizza This Weekend?

Sunday Night Pizza Time

Posted on February 17, 2013 by kimbesa

Any night is a good night for homemade pizza. Sunday is often an easy time, because you can be relaxed about making the dough, prepping the toppings, and putting it all together to bake.

My homemade pizza crust can easily be made in the morning and put in the fridge to rise. Or if you’re starting after lunch, leave it on the counter.

Always oil the ball of dough lightly, and cover the bowl with a clean towel to prevent it drying out.

If that happens, just punch it down, knead a few times, add a few drops of oil to the surface, and let it rise a bit longer.

You may have to let the dough rest part way through stretching it out on your sheet or baking stone. It will relax in 10 to 15 minutes and let you finish.

And that’s about all the time it takes to preheat your oven to 500 degrees.

You can bake your pizza as soon as the oven is up to temperature. Pizza stones do not have to be preheated along with the oven, but if you do, it makes for a crispier crust.

Then you’ll need to use a peel or perhaps a sheet of parchment to transfer the unbaked pizza to the hot stone. Some cornmeal helps the pizza to slide. Be careful! That pizza stone will be hot!

Get your plates and drinks ready so that you can enjoy a hot, homemade pizza, fresh from your own oven!

Homemade Pizza Rules

Posted on September 18, 2011 by kimbesa

Your own homemade pizza can beat the pants off anybody’s. IMO.

Saw Hoda and Kathie Lee tasting Naked Pizza on the Today Show this past week.

It didn’t look naked to me. It looked pretty good, with a crust that looked whole grain and some good toppings. Best I could tell from TV.

But they’d just had some wine, which they were excited about. Apparently it was aged in stainless barrels. So the pizza was not getting their full attention.

I understand convenience. Well-made homemade pizza can be just as convenient. The notion of “naked” pizza, as in “just plain pizza” appeals to me. I just put it through the lens of “homemade.”

Homemade pizza that rules them all

Make your crust with the balance of whole grains and flours that suit your taste
Select your toppings the same way: massive mushrooms or sausage sensation, or…
Bake it round, square or any other shape
Serve it HOT from the oven, no transport delays

Homemade pizza: well topped and always tasty!

Homemade Sausage Pizza | Inspired by Castle

Posted on September 12, 2011 by kimbesa

Homemade sausage pizza is a favorite at my house. I’ve written about it several times, and how much I love our local pizza sausage.

Add fresh basil? Sounds good. Let me get some green on my pizza.

Here’s how:

Choose fresh basil leaves
Rinse the leaves and pat dry
Stack several leaves together
Roll the stack
Use a sharp knife to thinly slice the leaves (cut across the width)

This will give you long thin strips of fragrant and tasty basil, what chefs call a chiffonade. Then arrange on your pizza, after the Parmesan and sausage, before the mozzarella.

Some people like to put on the whole leaves, but I like to have the dusky flavor spread out, so that every slice has some.

I used 8 medium sized leaves for my 14-inch pizza, and this was the ordinary basil variety that is common in farm markets and specialty groceries. You could experiment with other varieties, as you wish. I used smell as my guide, and I wanted to be sure and get an herb that would complement (and not overpower) the sauce and sausage.

I’ve seen recipes for basil on sausage pizza before. But what pushed me to try it?

I got the idea from an episode of Castle, and it just struck me as something that would be delicious. Castle is one of my top three favorite TV shows. It was a program from Season 3, “A Slice of Death.” This is the episode where the plot plays out against the intense rivalry between four New York pizza restaurants, with names so similar it adds another layer to the mystery.

In the end, Castle goes “across a bridge” to get a special sausage basil pizza for his daughter. He’s such a good dad! (I’ll forgive him not making it himself.)

Any night that Castle is on is a good night for homemade sausage pizza, too!

Make a Spooktacular Pizza Buffet

Posted on October 29, 2010 by kimbesa

Pizza3 300x225 Make a Spooktacular Pizza Buffet

Feed your hungry goblins and ghouls some healthy pizza when they return from their candy collecting and parties on Halloween.

It’s easy to be ready to serve hot, fresh pizza made at home with a few simple steps in preparation.

Shop for pizza-making supplies. You’ll need some good bread flour and yeast for the homemade pizza crust. Or you can purchase frozen dough in balls at the grocery. Stock up on pizza sauce, cheese and other toppings, too.
Prepare the pizza toppings. Cook sausage, slice onions, fresh mushrooms, peppers or olives. Shred or slice the mozzarella as needed.
Make the dough for the pizza crusts. It will rise slower in the refrigerator, so you can make it several hours ahead of when you’ll need it. Or, freeze your own homemade pizza crust ahead of time. Let the dough return to room temperature before you try and stretch it out.

When the tired kids of all ages return, you’ll be ready to assemble and bake them some nourishing homemade pizza.

A spooktacular pizza buffet will put a satisfied smile on their faces as they relax after their Halloween haunts.

National Sausage Pizza Day – Bake a Homemade Pizza

Posted on October 11, 2010 by kimbesa

Sausage pizza loaded 300x225 National Sausage Pizza Day Bake a Homemade Pizza Homemade sausage pizza has become one of our favorites due to discovering the great pizza sausage from our local Hollywood Markets. No surprise to find there’s a National Sausage Pizza Day today to celebrate this good food.

No affiliate relationship, just a tasty sausage that goes wonderfully well with our favorite pizza sauce by Pastorelli (which I keep tabs on which markets carry it… I’ll drive to a different grocery store for it).

I’m very loyal to particular products when I find one that’s outstanding, one that I’d recommend to family, friends and others. The Hollywood sausage and Pastorelli sauce both qualify.

It’s easy to enjoy a hot sausage pizza several times a week. I’ve already written about how to cook your sausage for pizza. Our favorite Hollywood sausage is not too spicy, not too bland, just right.

Tips for easy sausage pizza:

Purchase sausage in bulk, without casings
Precook and crumble the sausage before adding to your pizza
Drain the sausage on paper towels if there is excess grease
Freeze sausage if you won’t use it promptly, in pizza-sized batches
Plan to use your frozen sausage within two or three months
Thaw package of frozen sausage in the refrigerator overnight, the day before you’ll make your pizza
Add cooked sausage to your pizza after the sauce and Parmesan cheese, before the mozzarella

A good pizza sausage adds lots of flavor to your pizza, complements your sauce and other ingredients. It can make your pizza baked at home extra good.

Best Flour To Use For Homemade Pizza Crust

Posted on September 12, 2010 by kimbesa

I love bread flour for pizza crust. Guess we’re fortunate at our house, because no gluten allergies here. (I am exploring gluten free pizza crusts, for future use. Why should an allergy get in the way when you love pizza?)

Pizza crust flour 300x213 Best Flour To Use For Homemade Pizza Crust Got some bread flour from Hampshire Farms at the Royal Oak Farmers Market.

This is a whole grain bread flour, milled locally from local wheat. One of the photos shows a comparison, regular bread flour to this flour.

I found that ¼ cup, up to not more than ½ cup of this flour in my usual pizza crust recipe worked well to give the crust some more “tooth” which makes the pizza even more satisfying in this cooler weather. My recipe for pizza crust is on this page.

Pizza crust crusty 196x300 Best Flour To Use For Homemade Pizza Crust The corner pieces are almost like a slice of pizza with a bread stick on the side. Something crunchy to munch. I could see making this crust into a batch of bread sticks and using the pizza sauce to dip. Could be a good game-day buffet item. Just keep the sauce warm in a small crock pot or chafing dish.

In the quest for a great pizza crust, the importance of having a hot, pre-heated oven comes up over and over. Give your oven 10 or 15 minutes to heat up, so that the pizza goes in to a fully hot oven. As for temperature, it’s 500 degrees in my case. That’s as hot as my ordinary home oven goes.

As I write, I’ve got another batch of dough for pizza crust rising in the kitchen. I can already smell the yeasty goodness. Ultimately this will be a sausage pizza, of course. Another tasty pizza coming up soon, crust and all!

Chicken Sausage on Pizza

Posted on August 31, 2010 by kimbesa

Chicken sausage 300x229 Chicken Sausage on Pizza Regular readers know that I’m obsessed with the pizza sausage from Hollywood Markets, a local chain of grocery stores in Southeast Michigan.

The only down side of this sausage is that they hardly ever have it in the meat case, and I have to special order it.

Since I was in another favorite store, Holiday Market in Royal Oak, I checked out the meat case there to see what they might have. This led me to try the dried tomato-basil sausage, made with chicken and turkey.

It is great to have so many choices of locally-made products. Like the pizza sausage, this one is made in the shop by the meat department.

Oh, yes, this one is good, too!

I fried it in a skillet before adding it to the pizza. You do have to watch it closely. The dried tomatoes and other ingredients can burn if you’re not careful.

This sausage goes nicely with my favorite sauce, Pastorelli. It has a savory zing, spicy but not overpowering.

Now I’ll just have to make a pizza with some of each, and do a taste comparison. Any excuse for more homemade sausage pizzas!

Sausage Pizza – Saturday Night

Posted on August 14, 2010 by kimbesa

Sausage pizza on Pfaltzgraff1 300x225 Sausage Pizza Saturday Night Homemade sausage pizza is so good, it could take me years to get tired of it.

A hot, homemade pizza just hits the spot, especially on Saturday or Sunday night, for a causal meal, easy to eat while relaxing or watching some television.

It’s easy to make homemade dough for the pizza crust ahead of time, even the day before, and allow it to rise in the refrigerator.

Let your dough warm to room temperature before stretching it out on your pizza stone or baking sheet.

Frying the fresh sausage (destined for pizza) is definitely the way to go, if you have the time. Browning develops the flavor and you have more control if you work in a skillet.

Sausage for pizza browned1 300x225 Sausage Pizza Saturday Night

Work in batches so that you brown the sausage rather than steam it
Allow to drain on a paper towel to remove excess grease
Cool the sausage so you don’t burn yourself when adding it to your pizza

Pizza is so versatile that you can add more or less of your favorite ingredients, or try some new ones. Black olives are on my list for this.

And a brain wave – next time I order my favorite pizza sausage from Hollywood Markets, have them leave it in bulk instead of stuffing it in casings. I’m just going to take it out of the casing anyway.

I’d prefer not to freeze it, but buying in bulk (casings or no) I can’t use the quantity before it would spoil, unless I’m making pizza for a serious crowd.

Should I fry it before or after freezing? This is a question for my friend Chef Lynn, to be determined. I want to preserve the wonderful flavor of the seasonings, and freezing can alter them.

Meanwhile, time to enjoy another fresh hot pizza Saturday night!

About the plate: Pfaltzgraff buffet plate in the Seychelles pattern. Generous size for two big pizza slices.

Kimbesa's Homemade Pizza

Enjoy homemade pizza, making pizza at home