Pizza is an interesting topic. You may not believe this, but there was a time not so long ago when few people even knew about pizza. If you weren't from New York or Chicago, or some other large city with a big Italian population, you probably hadn't even heard of it. I was a kid in Kansas City. Never heard of or had pizza until about 1960 or 1961. When we discovered it, It became one of my favorite foods. Then we moved to Minnesota. No pizza, nowhere. In nearby Fargo there was even a Mexican restaurant, but no pizza. And no mozzarella cheese in the grocery stores. My Mom made pizza for us (pizza was so rare that she guessed at the ingredients), using Bisquick for the crust, hamburger, and regular cheese. It was great, even though the ingredients weren't exactly right. Later, there were Pizza "mixes", a package containing a pouch of flour, yeast, either canned pepperoni and pizza sauce, or a meat sauce, or a plain sauce for a cheese only pizza, and Parmesan cheese, also in a can. That was more authentic. I don't remember when we discovered the pizza mixes, but I think it was after we moved to Nebraska. I made pizza from a box at every opportunity. Usually once a week, on Saturday my sister and I made pizza. It was FUN.
My Dad traveled a lot, selling farm equipment, and a town about 50 miles away had a Pizza Hut. He would bring home pizza as a special treat whenever he was near that town. So much for my history with pizza. Well, almost. About ten years ago, I worked as a cook at a Pizza Hut. It was FUN.
Now, we make our own pizzas most of the time. We have a small pizza oven, bought at Sam's Club for $48. I recently saw the same one at Menard's for $39. In the summer, it doesn't heat up the whole house. We have special pizza pans, I bought USED from a competing pizzaria years ago, but we rarely use them now. We use (disposable) aluminum pie pans for our individual pizzas. We make our crusts, grease the pans, spread the dough, and top with spaghetti sauce. Then comes any ingredient you can think of. On top goes the cheese. Mozzarella, or colby/jack, or both. If making a pepperoni pizza, the pepperoni goes on top. Otherwise, the cheese goes on top.
Here are my favorite toppings:
mushroom, ham/pineapple, hot dog/sauerkraut (onions optional), ham/green pepper, sausage/onion.
Today, we had just sweet onions and cheese.
I am on a sodium-restricted diet, so that influences my choices. Mmm...Pizza !

P.S.- another variation- after making "pigs in a blanket" one time, I had one of my crazy ideas. I made a pizza crust, and sliced hot dogs on top. Then I added ketchup, mustard, onions, and sauerkraut. I put another crust on the top and I baked it like a pizza, except it had no pizza sauce and no cheese. It was great. The next time, I skipped the crust on the top. Mmm...

WAR !!!
Crust is so easy to make, no box needed

3 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt, optional
2 tablespoons olive oil or any oil you have in house
1 tablespoon yeast

Measure water and pout into mixing bowl.
sprinkle yeast and sugar on top, stir, let bubble, maybe 3 to 5 minutes
Add salt and oil.
Mix in flour 1 cup at a time.
Mix in mixer or by hand till ball forms.
Knead in mixer or by hand 4- 5 minutes
Grease bowl and let rise in a warm place till double.
Punch down, and roll out to desired shape.
You can get 4 individual pizzas out of it, 1 real large, 2 medium.
We go for the 1 large.
I bake my pizzas in a 450 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes depending on toppings.
I also have a stone that I use every so often also.

Rubies- We used the mixes in the 60s. Not now. Sorry for the confusion.

Dang! I am easily confused!!!

Mee too. Actually, I don't even know if they still MAKE those pizza mixes anymore. ;-]

you guys r making me hungry

we make pizza potaoes...we used left over or fresh mashes poatoes and use those as a crust..spread mashed potatoes on the pizza pan as you would your crust add toppings and grated cheese and put in over until cheese is melted...

Not a good thread to read while recovering from the flu, especially since my littlest one threw up pizza the first night. I'll come back & visit this thread in a week or so.


How could I be so stupid as to open a thread with PIZZA in the title is beyond me..... *gagwretchgag*

I do love pizza, don't get me wrong. Just.not.right.now.

My son has gotten hooked on the pizza/calzones I make for him to take to work for lunches. Sometimes he can stop at a sub station and heat them, but they're good cold too. I make the crust up and just before it's ready to bake add the usual sauce, turkey pepperoni and various slightly-steamed and then well-dried veggies. Seems to work better if I can get everything less 'juicy' before baking. Lay the dough on a cookie sheet and press out to all four corners, cut into 4 pieces, smooth on some tomato sauce/garlic mixture and top 1/2 with the meat, veggies and lo-fat cheese, then fold over and seal. I usually give the top a quick slash but just with a fork so steam but no sauce gets out. Bake as usual, then cool on a rack before packing. I like to use smoked salmon on a garlic/mozzarella base sometimes, or bbq chicken ....now I'm hungry too.

Welcome, Alaska Sue. You just made ME hungry too.

Please post more often, we don't bite, except for war-tide, and he's a gummer
anyway.
BTW, love your avatar

i just finished a delicious hot dog and green pepper pizza. On thin crust. i forgot to mention that the easiest (and fastest) way to make a thin crust pizza is to use a flour tortilla for the crust. (Don't use a pan- just place tortilla on the oven rack.) Mmm...
Eating pizza and watching Zombie Strippers. If only I had a beer, it would be perfect...

Pizza is the perfect food! Some of the favorites here are:

Leftover london broil, carmelized onions, steak sauce with cheddar and mozzarella cheese
Leftover shredded chicken with carmelized onions, bbq sauce and mozzarella
Garlic oil with a little dried oregano sprinkled over and topped with an Italian 4 cheese blend

and my very favorite .... no sauce but thinly sliced fresh tomatoes, artichokes and mozzarella.

At the dollar store the other day, I saw Chef Boyardee pizza mixes. Cheese for $2.75, and pepperoni for $3.00 . I bought one of each, and cooked one of them for lunch. They haven't changed much since the 70s. Not the BEST pizza, but not bad, and still FUN to make.

I love this Italian food.My favorite food to eating.I will must be try this in home.The most important thing is that easily you make at home.