Text 11661, 89 rader
Skriven 2007-02-06 07:16:16 av Chris (15100.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Ten Points
======================
In article <rJUxh.4959$a96.2312@fe01.news.easynews.com>,
 Jeffrey MacHott <Raguleader@netzero.net> wrote:

> It wasn't until a couple years later (a couple weeks ago, actually), 
> that I found out that this style of pizza is called "Californian Pizza". 
>   If they had called it Californian Pizza in College Station, TX, they 
> probably wouldn't have done nearly so well.  I gotta give it to them 
> Ultra Liberal Hippiesü, they make good pizza.

that bears no resemblance to california style pizza(n. crap) which 
consists mainly of taking a normal pizza crust, adding untraditional 
cheeses like feta or monterey jack, putting oddly flavored tomato 
sauces(if they use tomato sauce at all) between the two, and topping it 
with the most unusual toppings possible, cashews, bean sprouts, carne 
asada, guacamole, saur cream, peanut sauce, etc, it's not even very 
popular around here in california. 

what you described, tomato, basil and provolone is much more closely 
related to Pizza Margherita, one of the oldest pizza recipes out 
there(and one of only 2 types of pizza recognized as "true" pizzas by 
the "Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana"), though margherita is 
traditionally made with mozzarella rather than provolone, it's a change 
that i personally like, as i prefer the flavor of provo. 

california "fast food style" pizza, as opposed to california gourmet 
style pizza(what i described above) is basically, the worst of what 
people who think they know how to make a pizza can do.   they take a 
flavorless "not seasoned at all to avoid offending the taste buds" 
sauce, a thin hand tossed crust that is never cooked properly, and then 
they do not realize that mozzarella is a cheese that "fills" the surface 
it's placed on, so they overload it with mozza. the thing about mozza is 
that it expands when it melts to cover a lot more area than it did when 
it was cold, in my experience, usually double the area(it's heavy in 
water, which we all know expands at high temps). but the locals are used 
to using cheddar, which is much dryer, and more or less "melts in place" 
so they put the amount of mozza on the pie that they would have to put 
of cheddar to get the same coverage, and end up with a big gooey half 
melted mess.

i have nearly given up on finding a good local pizza shop here in 
socal(i'm sure there are SOME, but none are near me that i've found). 
and make my own.

my recipe varies based on mood, though my toppings are limited to 
pepperoni and pepperoni(i just don't like most other toppings, i can 
tolerate sausage, but if i'm making it for ME, well, i put what i like 
so nyah!)

i have a thin crust or a thick crust i make, usually based on how hungry 
i am, as i can rarely finish even half of my thick crust. and i cheat on 
the sauce since i have not the time to make my own sauce from scratch. 
recipe as follows. 

for thin crust, just a traditional thin pizza crust recipe works, for 
thick crust i follow a Focaccia bread recipe. in both versions i put 
herbs and spices IN the dough as i'm mixing it. these include Crushed 
red pepper, oregano, basil, garlic powder rosemary, thyme.  then i put 
some of these spices inside a jarred sauce(like i said above, time 
constraints). and mix it up in there, then i top the dough with olive 
oil(extra virgin only) sprinkle the basic "italian seasoning" mixture on 
top of that, then coat it with a good layer of sauce, usually several 
tablespoons, then i cheese it, cheesing it goes in layers to maximize 
both flavor and liquidity of the various cheeses.  first is a thin base 
of mozzarella, then provo, then fontina, asiago, romano and parmesan.  
this allows the mozza on the bottom to flow outwards and take the other 
cheeses with it, while the provo keeps it from flowing too far, then i 
put on the pepperoni(if i'm lazy, just the regular pillow pack works, 
but if i have time or pre-sliced, i have some natural casing pepperoni 
that i use that tastes much better than the pre-sliced pillow pack 
stuff) the pepperoni is put on in a layer that is counter to the mozza, 
where i leave space between pieces of mozza, i cover every square inch 
with pepperoni, because unlike the cheese, the pepperoni shrinks. then i 
cover the pepperoni in an even thinner layer of mozza and provo. this 
helps to bond the pepperoni to the layer of cheese below it, as well as 
give me a visual clue as to when it's done(when the top layer starts to 
brown). i then cook for 10-12 minutes at 425° and take it out and enjoy, 
with the thick crust, i often warm(ok, hot) up a bowl of sauce to dip it 
in as it is so thick that the sauce i can safely put on top w/o 
effecting the cooking process is too little. 

my preferred crust is actually the focaccia(thick) crust and i often 
make this as a dish at pot luck events, or a side for holidays, though 
in those cases i lessen the sauce to just a light brushing, so it's more 
of a "cheesy bread" and i chop up the pepperoni into small tidbits to 
make it less like a pizza, and slice it into squared for easy dipping. 

...chris
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