





I'm just to the left of the soundboard. The sound should be awesome tonight!
Made my go-to yesterday... TWICE! My freshman dorm roommate and his college aged boys are in town for the Rush show this evening. I'm hosting them and offered to make pizza when got in from Colorado. They requested my go-to, pepperoni and sausage, for both pizzas. I made one pizza and then let the steel heat back up while we ate the first pizza. When we had finished the first pizza, I then working on the second pizza. This worked out and both pizzas came out flawless!
This is a new batch of dough this week. I made a change this week in one of the variables. Instead of one 30 minute bulk, I did 3 x 30 minute bulks with stretch and folds in between each bulk. I got rave reviews from my guests. The last time they had my pizza was 2 years ago and my pizza was even better than before!
Hand-sliced pepperoni, Italian sausage, (my own) tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan and cubed mozzarella! Let's here from you guys in the comments! SMASH that like button!
And yes, I'm finally going to see Rush tonight. I was supposed to go see them on Wednesday night. I talked about it in my last submission earlier this week. Unfortunately, they got held up at the border, having play two shows in Mexico City. So, they canceled the first night in Fort Worth and rescheduled it for July 2nd. I will be going to that show this coming Thursday, but tonight's show will be my first one of this tour. I'll post you guys a pic next pizza post I make!
Sauce: 1 stick of butter 1/2 cup, 3/4 cup Louisiana hot sauce, 1 tbsp habanero sauce, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp cayenne pepper, big pinch of brown sugar
Wings: deep fried flats and drums for 10 minutes until golden brown. Baked 350 on wire rack for an hour. Toss with sauce.
Fan-freakin'-tastic! In case you were wondering, that is fennel. That's right. I tried something different this week. I experimented. I took a chance. My friend is coming into town this weekend for The Rush concert in Fort Worth. He's bringing his college-aged sons. I'm making two pizzas. They've requested sausage and pepperoni on both pizzas. There's nothing wrong with that. It's my go-to. However, I have a need to be creative once in awhile and I was hoping that they would ask me to create something for at least one of the pizzas. Nope.
So, this week's pizza is the different. Fennel seeds are often used in making sausage. Fennel has a mild licorice (anise) flavor. When cooked, it mostly goes away. What's left, adds to a complex flavor profile. Totally worked. It was great! No other way to describe it. It was my first time using fennel. Walmart doesn't carry it so I went to Sprouts. I like how it all came together. The crust was on point. And there was quite a few flavors and textures that went well together. Yummy! 😋
Genoa salami, green pepper, castelvetrano olives, fresh-sliced fennel, (my own) tomato sauce, cubed mozzarella and dried parsley to make it look pretty. Finished with fresh grated asiago!
As always, let me know what you think in the comments!
The last time I cooked a ribeye, it was for Memorial Day. Everything was prepared. The potato was done. The green beans were steamed. And my Weber was out of propane...
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Today, I was planning on eating out on my day off and I decided to take that money and instead buy me a really nice steak and some fresh green beans. I already had the potatoes. This time I had propane. I tell you hwut!
I was just planning on making a plain pepperoni pizza this week. Then, I remembered that people were commenting that they loved onions as one of their favorite toppings in the comments last week. This was my first time making this combo.
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I had a guest over. He brought over some German beer and I made the pizza. He kept commenting on how good the pizza was. I was in full agreement! Soooo good!
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We watched a tapehead2 video boot of Rush's 4th show in LA. The sound was amazing! Highly recommended and I wanted to give a shout out to the creator. You can find more info in r/Rush or find her on YouTube (TapeheadToo). I'm seeing the band in one week in Fort Worth!
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As always, let me know what you think in the comments!
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Hand-sliced pepperoni, thin-sliced onions, (my own) tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan and cubed mozzarella!
Don't worry. This is not my weekly pizza post. I thought it was pretty cool Want to smash them all!
Inspiration for this week's pizza goes to u/austin-idol. He requested a sausage and peppers creation a few weeks ago in my pepperoni and triple pepper pizza thread. He specifically asked for bell peppers. I was originally just going to do a tri-color one. You guys know me. I couldn't resist the temptation to go Gonzo and made it a quad-color pepper pizza!
I went back to the mini sausage balls this week. It seemed to be popular the last time I did it. Don't worry. I didn't overcook the sausage. It's only par-cooked. That way it finishes on the pizza and it's still juicy. That's 24 pieces on the pizza! The rest were divided, vacuum sealed and put in the freezer for future pizzas.
Did I go too far? Should I have stopped at three peppers? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Italian sausage, quad-color peppers (green, yellow, orange and red), (my own) tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan, cubed mozzarella, parsley (to make it look pretty), crushed red pepper and a dusting of onion powder!
First off, I'd like to apologize for the lack of pics of the whole pizza. I was playing around with different angles and took a bunch of shots trying to be creative and I forgot to take a good shot of the whole pizza. D'oh!
And yes, I finally did it! I made a simple pizza. After weeks of wanting a break from making overly complex pizzas, I just made something simple. I give you... THE CHEESE PIZZA!
I still couldn't help myself and was experimenting with amount of sauce. I put down my normal sauce. I added my mozz and then I added globs of sauce around the cheese. I share my pizza pics with many friends before I ever post on Reddit. That gives me feedback on what they like and don't like. One was commenting that they could see subtle differences in the sauce. I told them, yup, I did that on purpose! And now you know!
I had a friend over to help me devour the pizza. I baked it for a little bit longer due to the amount of sauce. I think I made the right call. I love to experiment! Let me know what you think in the comments!
(My own) tomato sauce, cubed mozzarella, globs of more tomato sauce and dried parsley to make it pretty. I finished with fresh grated Romano!
5 1/2 minutes max temp bake + 3 minutes high broil = 8 1/2 minutes total bake time.
Oh yes I did! I was thinking about make a pepperoni and jalapeño pizza this week. I made the trek to La Michoacana (market) and picked out three small jalapeños. That's when I eyed the bin of serranos. When you go to the American stores, they no longer let you buy just one pepper (other than jalapeños). No. You have to buy a whole bag of them that you will never use. But here, they got a whole bin full of them and I'm allowed to buy just one. Excellent!
I look around. Sure enough, I found small bins of habaneros in the refrigerated section. They had green, orange and red varieties. I picked out a nice sized orange one. A smile creeps over my face. I'm actually doing it. I'm making a something different this week!
I rush home. I've got a new batch of sauce this week. I've got a new wedge of Parmesan, as well. I even re-seasoned my steel this week. You know it's going to be good! I start my prep. First I slice the pepperoni, making sure to cut enough so that they touch. I know how you guys like them!
Now, it was on to cubing the cheese. I made sure that I cut just a little extra because I felt that I needed enough to hold all of this together. What are you guys think? Did I use enough cheese or did I use too much?
Lastly, I had to chop up the peppers. I break out my santoku knife and started with the jalapeños and do a chunky chop. I actually like it that way because I feel you get more flavor from bigger pieces than you do with thin rings. Serranos and habaneros are hotter on the scoville range, so I opted to slice them thinly. I made sure to save the seeds on all of them. That's where all that yummy heat is. One thing that people don't realize is that once you heat the peppers it takes the heat down from eating them raw. So, yes, you can do this!
Hand-sliced pepperoni, jalapeños, serranos, habaneros, (my own) tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan and cubed mozzarella!
4 minutes max temp bake + 3 minutes high broil = 7 minutes total bake time. I wanted to thank everybody who follows me each week. I appreciate your support.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
After last week's ambitious birria pizza, I planned to keep it simple this week. I thought, that I would just do a plain sausage pizza. Then, what would be the harm in adding some pepperoni? Everybody loves pepperoni! Could I leave it at just that? Heh. What if I added some color? Maybe a green pepper? Couldn't leave well enough alone.
So, off to the market I go. The first store, I head to the produce. I look around. I don't see it. I see a worker on the other side of the produce section. I asked them if they are out of green bell pepper. They inform me they've been out for 2 weeks. That seems bizarre in my world. I pick up some mushrooms because now I got to have mushrooms. And a few other things. Since I'm there.
I decided to head over to one of the Mexican stores. Surely they will have a green bell pepper and have a really good price on it. I'm looking around and I don't see it. I see an employee. I asked them if they were out of green bell pepper. They look at me strangely. They fumble with what to say. I understand. They don't speak any English. I thank them anyways and leave to try out yet another store.
I head over to Kroger's. I'm hoping this is not a green pepper shortage. I look around. I don't see it. I ask an employee, who is stocking the area, if they had any green bell pepper. He points to the corner of a shelf. There it is! And it's a buck. For one measley green bell pepper. I get it anyways and head home.
I decide to go light on the bell pepper and mushrooms. Trying to keep balance with the rest of the pizza. First, I hand-sliced the pepperoni. I then diced up four rings of the bell pepper. Lastly, I thinly sliced four white mushrooms and dry sauteed them to reduce their moisture.
My plan was to keep it simple. Heh. Maybe I'll go simple next week. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Hand sliced pepperoni, Italian sausage, green pepper, fresh sliced mushrooms, (my own) tomato sauce and cubed mozzarella!
I made birria tacos for the first time last week. You can check the link in the comments. It was a lot of work. The tacos were very yummy. I had set about half of the meat aside and vacuum sealed it and stuck in the freezer for this week's pizza. The crust is on point. Truly an awesome pizza!
My guest had wolfed down two slices by the time I took my first bite. I made the base from the consume. I reduced it, adding some cornstarch towards the end. About 3 minutes of heat while constantly using the whisk brought it to the consistency that I wanted. It thickened up greatly after I took it off the heat. It was so good. Lots of involuntary "Mmmmms" while eating this. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Birria meat, fresh chopped jalapeños, and cubed mozzarella. Finished with diced onions and cilantro!
I am planning on making a birria pizza next week. I made birria tacos today and will use the leftovers to make the pizza. Check r/pizza next week, if you're interested.
I had never made birria tacos before. I was looking for goat so that I could authentic. I did a little googling and thought that maybe I would find it. I heard that you could get it at the butcher shop in Fiesta. I did not have it, so I just got a couple of beef chuck shanks. I shared them on both sides and then dropped him in my Cuisinart slow cooker and set it on low for 8 hours. I used a shortcut, called a birria bomb. I plan on making it from scratch in the future. I did find a place to source the goat. It's a halal market. I used beef broth instead of water to give it some more flavor.
I also made a batch of salsa verde and some guacamole from scratch. It was soooo good! I'll have plenty of leftovers and I'll be making a pizza next week.
I was playing around with another variable this time when making the dough. I decided to try to work the dough as little as possible after the bulk and just shape the dough. It got quite a rise during it's time on the counter. It went all the way to the top. That's surprised me. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks. I think it's fun to experiment and see if an improvement can be made. You guys know what I'm talking about!
On to this week's pizza! I planned to do something more ambitious, but I ran out of steam. I was up until 4:00 in the morning making pizza dough on Monday night. So I went with something not so elaborate for this week. I'm a kind of guy that has to plan things out because I want it to taste yummy.
I lightly saute some mushrooms. It's a balancing act. I wanted mushrooms to be the star this week. But I'm worrying that I'm going to have too much or too little. As you can see by some of the pics, the mushrooms did get reduced down quite a bit. That's a whole pound. I didn't quite use all of them but I think that I definitely went strong on the mushroom this week. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Hand-sliced pepperoni, baby bella mushrooms, (my own) tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan and cubed mozzarella!
I'm making the base for next week's pizza today. Stay tuned!
I took the dough out right before I headed out for a doctor's appointment yesterday. I have been trying to get surgery on my lip for almost a year now. (It's cosmetic. Nothing to worry about.) At first the doctor is super agreeable to doing it. But he says that I would have to be knocked out with anesthetics. I explained to him that my friend I had the same procedure done just walked in same day and did they did it right there on the spot. So, he goes to talk to his colleagues. They come back and say they can do it right then and there. I'm like, "but it's PIZZA DAY!" They agree that you can't mess with pizza day and we schedule the procedure for today. Ain't got no time for that! 😂🍕
Let me know what you think in the comments! About the pizza or about my decision to postpone the surgery for pizza. SMASH or trash!
Hot sopressata, hand-sliced pepperoni, Italian sausage, (my own) tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan and cubed mozzarella!