Why I Oughta...

I'm not *exactly* sure how I recently came across this new (to me) pizza style, but it sure has my attention.  What style is that?  I suppose the widest birth name-wise I can give it is: Sfincione.  It is a version (most often) of something similar to a Sicilian or Grandma pizza.  Tweaked.  Kenji @ Serious Eats has done his thing with it and calls it "New Years Pizza" .  It is characterized by a light, hole-filled dough that is crisp/fried on the bottom.  Sauce on top.  And...finished with the crunch of breadcrumbs.  That recipe is, however, NOT where I started on this pizza journey rabbit hole.  Nope.  It was earlier this year when I read that a pizza pop-up from Nashville (of all places) was coming to town to participate in a Chicago pizza festival.  That place is St. Vito Focacceria.   Well...that's interesting, I thought.   I didn't attend said fest. But, I've been sitting on this Instagram po...

If you ask ten people who lived on the northside of Chicago what their favorite pizza from that time in their life was, I'd bet that 8 of them will tell you one place:  Pequod's .  It is a place that serves a distinct version of Chicago Deep Dish that features what they call a "caramelized crust".  What it really is a well-done whole milk mozzarella edge.  Not quite a frico , but more an 'edge'.    Is it my favorite?  No.  But, I'm a thin-crust-always-kinda-guy.  We've been to Pequod's.  Both the city location, but also the original up in Morton Grove.  Here's my post from a visit there in 2015 .  And here is our first visit to the suburban location (the original started here by Burt Katz) in 2011 .  Also note...we did eventually make it to Burt's Place before Burt Katz passed away .   But, back to Pequod's and why I bring it up.  One of our neighbor's requested a Pequod's-style pizza recently.  I haven...

I make exactly ONE "stunt pizza" at home.  It is a BBQ chicken pizza that I call the "Orange Bird" that features chicken and double application of a store-bought sweet bbq sauce.  First I apply the sauce to the chassis and then, post-oven, I squeeze on a drizzle (it is, I suppose, *more* than a drizzle, but less than a full slather) on top.  I've added this post-oven drizzle after I found the pice a little dry but that the sauce burns pretty easily when put on top pre-bake.  In this case, (once I de-pan the pie) I put down (first) a heavy hand of post-oven Romano scattered on top, then after waiting a beat, I put down this sauce which finishes with the heat off the top of the pizza.   Btw....you might be wondering what a 'stunt pizza' is?  Urban Dictionary has an entry that sums up the term pretty well , but that's not where I picked up the term.  It was from Pizza Blogger Adam Kuban - somewhere along the lines of following him online in various p...

August marks six-month mark on my Bar Pizza journey.  Started back in March and have posted a few times including my ' pockmark progress ' and how I've tried both pre-and- post-bake ricotta .  I've recently settled some of that (I'm now using Chellino Ricotta pre-bake on my bbq chicken 'stunt pizza'.  More on that in a future post).    Here are a few recent photos showing my progress.   First, with so little yeast, I'm surprised by this kind of structure: Below, you can see a sort-of edge profile.  I'm happy with the thickness, the ply-ability and the crisp on these pizzas.  I do, however, give them first a cooling-rack rest followed by a post-cut dimple pan.   Here's a little frico below.  I've recently moved away from using any sort of cheddar - as it oils-off differently than the other cheeses I'm using. And the full monty - below.  Cup and Char post-bake basil. Here's another profile below: And the top-down, cheese onl...

A few weeks back, I saw in Adam Kuban's Instagram Stories (he's the "OG pizza blogger" that I've posted about from time-to-time ) that he had purchased some new pans from Lloyd's Pans that included a long/thin pan that had a pretty unique shape.  I think...he then included a 'repost' (is that what we call them on Instagram?) of a story from TheKitchenWhisperer.Pizza where she was talking about how she was using similar pans.  Here's one of her posts .  And if you look at her feed, there are a bunch .  This one appears to be when she first acquired the pans .    Here's one of a full topped pie below: View this post on Instagram 🎵 “I’m feelin’ Hot! Hot! Hot!” This pizza was SPICY 🔥 in all the best ways! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I couldn’t let another day go by without using my 18” Long Pan from @lloydpans . A girl’s gotta eat after all! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Layers of 🔥🌶spicy banana pepper sauce, cheese blend, ...