White Pizza - Finally!

After a few trial-and-error attempts at making a white broccoli pizza, I finally succeeded! (No pictures because unfortunately it was late and it disappeared pretty quickly). White pizza is one of my husband's favorite pizzas, but every time I made it something was... missing. Finally, a colleague of mine (whose family name ends in a vowel) tipped me off to the trick to turn my white pizza from blah to yum. After diligent research using Google, suggested wine pairings are a nice crisp white like Pinot Grigio or bubbly.

Now... when I make pizza I almost never measure anything, I just eyeball it to taste. Because let's be honest, a little more cheese never hurt anything besides the waistline, and pizza is intended to be a treat so may as well make it good, right? 

So with that said, here goes.


Crust: 
(This is my standard pizza crust recipe. I started out by reverse engineering Pizzeria Uno's crust recipe and now I think it's better!)

• 1 cup warm H2O
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 packet yeast
• 1-1/2 cups potato starch (The recipe will taste fine with just one cup, but adding the extra half cup makes the dough a lot more malleable. I've never been brave enough to *throw* the dough, but I can gently toss it.)
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1 generous tsp xanthan gum (some might call it heaping)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup shortening
• EVOO

1. Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 400 F. 
2. Mix water, sugar, yeast. Set aside to let the yeast foam. 
3. Mix together all dry ingredients in a stand mixer. Whisk together a bit until flours are completely combined. 
4. Add egg, shortening, and water. Beat until thoroughly combined.
5. Lightly grease a 14 inch pizza pan. I usually grease with shortening. 
6. Using your hand, Roll the dough into a ball and start shaping it/flattening it out if possible. (If it's not just start pressing it into the pizza pan). Press into the pizza pan, making sure the dough evenly covers the entire pan. 
7. Lightly brush the top of the crust with EVOO. 
8. Bake for at least 10 minutes. Check it after 10 minutes, especially if you like a softer crust. I like a bit crispier crust so always keep it in for at least 15 minutes. 
9. Take out of the oven and transfer to a pizza stone, and add toppings.

Toppings: 

• 6 Cloves Garlic, Finely Chopped
• 2 Tbsp EVOO
• Ricotta Cheese (Enough to liberally cover pizza shell)
• Mozzarella Cheese (Buy one bag of shredded)
• Chopped Steamed Broccoli (you can short-cut and use frozen veggies here)
• Salt and Pepper 

1.  Turn oven to broil.
2. Sautee 5 cloves garlic with EVOO. Mix with Ricotta, season with salt and pepper. Spread on pizza crust. 
3. Liberally sprinkle mozzarella on pizza crust. 
4. Season entire crust with a lot of salt and pepper. Seriously - I went to the point of, "Wow, this is going to be too much."
5. Combine final clove garlic with chopped broccoli. Sprinkle on top.
6. Broil until pizza cheese is completely melted, and is starting to turn brown. Take out of the oven and enjoy.

Easy Appetizer: Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

I love Rachael Ray - she's fun, and she's got some awesome ideas. It doesn't hurt that she's originally from the 518 - before she was really huge I remember my mom taking me to a small class she was teaching on cheese. :)

Anyway - my husband and I found ourselves getting into a little food rut, so I went on her webpage for inspiration. Among other recipes, I found this yummy-sounding recipe for a pepperoni pizza puff appetizer. When I read it, the back of my mind was saying "I bet this could be another use for the GF Bisquick mix" and besides, everything in the recipe is pretty yummy so it has to be good right?

Well, yesterday we had some people over for a fire and pumpkin carving. I couldn't see this recipe really turning out badly (Yanno, the whole "there's no such thing as bad pizza or bad..." philosophy) and I know my non-gluten free friends (usually) don't mind being guinea pigs, so I tried them out.

They disappeared.

No one could even tell they were gluten free - they were a super yummy finger food!

Here's Rachael's recipe with my modifications:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup GF Bisquick baking mix
• 3/4 teaspoon GF baking powder
• 3/4 cup 2% milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup) - I used more. I had an open-but-mostly full package of mozzarella cheese that I emptied into the bowl, so I'd say I used something in the ballpark of 1.5 cups. Plus I used a little bit cheddar/mozz mix for sprinkling on top at the end - maybe .5 cup.
  
• 4 ounces pepperoni, cut into small cubes (about 1 cup) - I used about half a cup here but they definitely needed more.
  
• 1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce - I used Ragu doctored with pizza spices.
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil - Added to the Ragu
  
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced - I omitted this.
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. -- I baked them for 18 minutes, then let them out to cool for about 10. Right before people were supposed to get there, I sprinkled the puffs with some cheddar/mozz and put them back in just long enough to heat them up and melt the cheese - 5 minutes, if that.

3. Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through, then stir in 1 tablespoon basil. Sprinkle the puffs with the remaining 1 tablespoon basil. Serve the puffs and red pepper slices with the pizza sauce for dipping.
   

I had the puffs on a platter, and you could spoon the hot pizza sauce onto plates for dipping them in. If I had to guess the puffs lasted about 15 minutes. :)

These are on my list to bring over to my GF mother-in-law's next time I see them - bonus, because everyone enjoys them! We had 5-6 people and I think I could have easily doubled the recipe and they still would have disappeared.

Review: Kinnikinnick Frozen Pizza Crusts

Last Sunday my husband and I spent Superbowl Sunday - at least before the game - in the kitchen. We'd picked up Kinnikinnick frozen pizza shells a couple months beforehand, and decided that Superbowl Sunday was the best time to try them out - along with wings and nachos. The package came with four 7 inch pizza shells. This was a good thing because we burned the first shells we tried cooking! (I blame a combination of no cooking directions on the package, and distracting SuperBowl ads).

The shells looked amazing - the crusts browned quite nicely in the toaster oven and they looked just like personal pizzas. We tried the pizzas, and....

Well, in a few words: the shells were just not good. Now, we're fans of New York-style crusts which admittedly is about a quarter of the thickness of these shells. But these were definitely not pizza shells - the crust was incredibly dry and just didn't taste good. it was the equivalent of eating pizza toppings on dry pita bread.

I ended up eating the olives off of my pizza and leaving the rest of it. My husband ate his pizza, but asked me not to buy these shells in the future.

Oh well - we'll still use other Kinnikinnick products in the future - their rolls have been palatable in the past - but for pizza, I think we've learned the lesson to stick with either making the dough from scratch or buying pizza in a restaurant like Uno's or Nunzio's.

Uno's Gluten Free Pizza

This past weekend, I threw caloric caution to the wind and enjoyed a date night with my husband at Uno's. We had heard they started carrying gluten free pizzas and were anxious to try them.

We arrived at the Latham Farms Uno's around 7 PM. The parking lot was completely packed, and we joked that the entire gluten free population of Albany must be trying those pizzas - but fortunately we didn't have to wait to be seated. As soon as our server saw the gluten free menu at our table, she mentioned their new gluten free pizzas, available in cheese and pepperoni. She also told us that, generally speaking, their gluten free pizzas were meant for one person, though two people could probably share one if they ordered salad as well.

We ordered one of each pizza so we could share. When the pizzas came out we were incredibly impressed - not only did they look and smell absolutely amazing, but our server took the time to let us know about their efforts to avoid cross-contamination, including completely wiping down the area before preparing the pizza. The pizzas were about the size of a huge dinner plate.

The pizza itself was delicious - the crust was flaky and crispy at the same time. My husband is gluten free but I can eat "regular" pizza and this impressed me as being "just as good" as traditional wheat-crust pizza if not better. I was partial to the pepperoni while my husband's favorite was the cheese (he can take or leave pepperoni as a topping). Still, neither pizza lasted long - I ate the equivelent of half a pizza myself and my husband finished the rest so we didn't have any leftovers. We both left the restaurant completely stuffed and satisfied.

He was tempted to order another pizza "to go" just to have on hand for lunches over the weekend - perhaps Uno's can market a line of gluten free frozen pizzas for the grocery store in the future, though admittedly they're probably best experienced in a restaurant.

What made the evening even sweeter was the fact that our meal didn't break the bank. The pizzas were between 10 and 12 dollars each, and our total bill, alcoholic beverages and 20% tip included, was under $50. We've definitely added Uno's to our regular rotation!

One thing that I would like to note - we all know that pizza is not exactly diet food, and these aren't necessarily worse than their other "regular" flatbread pizzas, but these bad boys pack a caloric punch: an entire pizza is between 870 (cheese) and 1,020 (pepperoni) calories. I really hope they add more options in the future - it would be great to be able to order a mushroom or a veggie pizza!

Overall though -- YUM! If you haven't tried their gluten free pizza yet, you definitely should!

Gluten Free Pizza at Uno's!

Lisa posted a blog that made my morning - Uno Chicago Grill has finally started testing their long-promised gluten free pizzas!

They've updated their gluten free menu to include cheese and pepperoni pizzas, and they're currently testing the new pizza in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and parts of Massachusetts. Unfortunately they're not available in New York yet, but they hope to roll out their new pizza to all stores in 2009 - and for us folks in the Capital District, New England isn't that far of a drive, especially when the closest Whole Foods and Trader Joe's is in Amherst!

The article can be found via QRS magazine.

Thanks, for making my day! If you've tried Uno's gluten free pizza, please let me know about it!

Gluten Free Pizza, As Promised

Well, I believe I've finally started to adjust to working full time and taking evening classes, and what better way to come back to blogging -- and the football season -- than a post about gluten free pizza? I've been owing my co-worker Joan this post for a while now -- I've got a recipe that my picky hubby loves and that I keep adjusting and playing with. Here's the latest incarnation:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup + 4 tsp potato flour (or 1/3 and 1/4 cup)
  
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1/2 cup amaranth flour
• 2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dough enhancer
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 packet)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 egg whites (or 1 egg)
• 2 Tbsp EVOO + liberal amounts of EVOO for rolling, brushing, etc.
• 1 cup lukewarm H2O
• Desired Toppings

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix sugar, dough enhancer and yeast in lukewarm H2O. Set aside to foam.
3. Mix potato flour, potato starch, amaranth flour, xanthan gum, salt. Add water/yeast combination, egg whites, and olive oil and mix until everything is well combined.
4. Coating hands and pan with olive oil, knead the dough for several minutes. I like to do this manually and keep pulling and shaping. Eventually when the dough feels stretchy, shape it and place it into a pizza dough pan that's been greased with EVOO.
5. If you want a thicker crust, cover and let the dough rise. I like thinner crust pizza though so I usually skip this step.
   
6. Bake in preheated oven 5-10 minutes, until done. My oven usually takes about 5 minutes. When it's done it will smell like potatoes and the bottom will just start to turn brown.
   
7. Take out the dough and let cool. This is usually when I start preheating my pizza stone.
   
8. When the dough has cooled off and the pizza stone has preheated, transfer the dough to the hot stone. Brush the dough with EVOO, add sauce (I usually doctor plain Ragu with oregano, marjoram, onion powder, crushed red pepper and a liberal amount of garlic), mozzarella cheese and any other desired toppings (Hormel pepperoni now says gluten free right on their label!). Preheat the oven to broil and place the pizza in the oven until the cheese is melted.
   

That's all there is to it -- it goes wonderfully with buffalo wings and Bard's Tale gluten free beer!

Pizza and Wings, Anyone?

Well, we finally took a break from wedding-related planning to sit back and watch a Yankees/Red Sox game. Itching to try out some of the cool new toys I received at my bridal shower last weekend like this awesome deep fryer, I decided to make cheese pizza and hot wings.

Now, I know there's a saying out there that there's no such thing as bad pizza or bad sex, but before going gluten free we had the advantage of living very close to an amazing pizza place that we took advantage of at least once per week. The first time I made gluten-free pizza at home, it was such a huge letdown. As a complete beginner, I tried Orgran's Pizza and Pastry Multimix with extremely disappointing results. To be fair, the second time I tried their mix I added yeast (an optional step) but it just wasn't like the pizzeria-style pizza that we've come to know and love. I'll be the first to admit slight perfectionistic tendencies, and I've been determined to make high-quality pizza.

After I got a little more comfortable in the kitchen (and amassed a larger stockpile of specialty flours) I grew bolder and started to experiment with dough recipes from scratch. The last recipe I had tried was featured on Epicurious.com, and while it was quite good... there was still something missing.

Well, this evening I found myself in a slightly less-than-fully-stocked kitchen, craving pizza and limited to a rather creative selection of flours. Running low on finely ground white rice flour and almost completely out of tapioca flour, I experimented with some of the more unusual flours populating my cupboard and refrigerator. I came up with a very interesting dough that included amaranth and potato flour, and while I have yet to perfect the perfectly round "pizza pie" shape when I make dough, the crust was thin with just the right amount of crispiness and cheese. It was amazing - this recipe is definitely a keeper!

While I was baking pizza crust, Vince was preparing chicken wings for the deep fryer. We made a hot sauce mostly based with Frank's Red Hot sauce, and since we (well, mostly I) like a little kick in our wings added freshly chopped jalapeño pepper. We fried the wings and tossed them in our sauce, and they came out looking and tasting exactly like you'd find in a restaurant! I think this recipe is definitely a keeper!

That said - this summer during track season, we're looking forward to checking out Nunzio's pizza in Saratoga. Because even though this pizza was unbelievably good there's still something nice about going to a restaurant and being served good pizza. :-)

By the way, a sweet end to the evening? The Yankees beat the Red Sox. Go Pinstripes!