New Pizza Combos!

[cjs]

Just have to say right off the bat - par-baking the pizzas, then freezing for later really ROCKS! How much easier this method made the party last night. 24 1/2-sheet pizzas and everyone loved them. Great feedback. (More fodder for the next pizza book. )

For you pizza makers, you might want to try -

Chuker Fruit Salsa Pizza - Chuker makes an Apple-Cherry fruit salsa that I combined with cream cheese (or mascarpone) for the sauce.
Mozz, spinach, grilled pear and apple slices (these were a real crowd pleasers), pork shavings, aged gouda and toasted hazelnuts. Wine: Barrel-Aged Sieg-MA

Fennel, Leek & Zucc Pizza
Grilled vegie slices with a tomato pizza sauce, mozz and garnished with rosemary. Wine: 2010 La Petite Fleur

Everything Pizza
Tomato pizza sauce, pepperoni, salami, sausage, onions, red bells, cheese mix of provolone, jack & mozz. Wine: 2008 Barbera

Clam & Bacon Pizza
Lemon Aioli (for the sauce - another crowd favorite), gruyere, red onions, clams, bacon, mozz and a little parm. Wine: 2008 Syrah.

The two favorites were the clam pizza - folks just loved the combination with the lemon aioli and the grilled pear & apples with the other ingredients.

Sara did a wonderful job with selecting the wines and the pizza flavors (from what I had offered) to enjoy together. And, what was fun most everyone came with the glasses of wines to taste with the appropriate pizza. They had fun with it.

All in all, a wonderful night of different flavors

[Harborwitch]

They all sound really good. I'm glad it was such a success.

[esgunn]

Wow Jean,. Those sound fantastic and really different.

Did you use all one type of crust?

I am sure you or Bill has posted the directions for par baking the pizza crusts and freezing, but could you post it here? I can't imagine trying to search for "Pizza" on here!

[Gourmet_Mom]

LOL! Isn't that the truth, Erin! Jean, they all sound so good! I think it's so cool the guests matched the wines when tasting. What a fun night! My kind of party!

[Mare749]

Sounds like fun, Jean. Great new combos!

[DFen911]

Jean how big were they when you rolled them out? Were they thick or thin and how long do you bake them for? Do you wrap them up in parchment?

[cjs]

O.K., this is how Bill/Jane told me they do theirs.
"We put on a peel over a lite dusting of semolina. I roll my spike roller over the round and then slide it into my Cuisinart brick convection oven pre heated at 450°.I bake 3 min. or so until a thin crust forms. I remove and cool to room temp on a rck, then wrap in plastic wrap, freeze flat, and then you can stack in the freezer."

So I followed their lead - I rolled out the dough to fit the bottom of 1/2-sheet pans which were sprinkled with cornmeal, with just the tiniest bit of overhang - I didn't really want a crust edge, just wanted to keep the topping in when I grilled later and so it wouldn't shrink at all. Docked the dough (this really helps!)They were on the thin side but not overly, I wanted some support as they were going to be transferred from peel to grill to cutting to a shallow hotel pan in the chafers.

Baked in 450° oven for 3 minutes, lowest shelf; allowed to rest on the sheet pan for 5 minutes, then turned out on a rack to completely cool. I wrapped in a sheet of foil lined with a sheet of parchment paper and froze.

Removed from freezer to leave for the winery at 3:15 and started making pizzas about 45 minutes later and they were thawed nicely and no dampness to them at all.

topped with my ingredients and grilled on a huge grill with 5 burners, so I was able to turn on & off the 3 center burners to cook and brown nicely. That's it! Worked like a charm.

===
I used five different doughs and found for large pizzas the only one that gave me any trouble was the bread flour dough, it's a little to delicate for this use. But, I love it for others.

Bread Flour dough
Sourdough dough
Cis' 18 hour version dough with cornmeal
Herb dough (the old family standby)
and my new dough - Pizza Dough 2011 Number 1 (no name for it yet)

All worked great, except for the bread flour dough as mentioned above.

As far as the amount of dough needed for a 1/2 sheet pan, I neglected to keep good record of this, but I do remember the sourdough batch - one batch - I used about 2/3 of it for one pizza and added other l/o sourdough to the balance for another pizza later.

I think that's all the notes I have on all this. And, just to remind everyone, all the pizza dough (except for the 2011) are in the first volume of Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!(still availabe for $9.95 + S&H....) and the new dough and all the above toppings (plus many, many more) will be in the next volume.

[Old Bay]

I'll have to try the grilling method--I've finished mine with toppings in my brick oven or in a convection oven on a pizza stone at 450.
So glad the party was a success. I have your book and have given more as gifts!!

[cjs]

Yes, you have and I thank you for your support. Went out to the winery today to get paid, and sold two B.B. & Corn books. Guests love to have the "author" in house to sign them. Yipee!!

[Gourmet_Mom]

Way to go, Jean! No pizza books after last night, though?