Spiedies are cubes of marinated meat that are cooked over a grill on skewers. Spiedies originated in the "Southern Tier" of New York near Binghamton. For those individuals who grew up in that area, Spiedies are food of the Gods. The marinade gives the meat a flavorful moistness that is unique and wonderful.
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Yeast is amazing stuff. It is a single-cell organism. It gives off carbon dioxide gas and alcohol as it multiplies. When allowed to grow inside dough that has gluten in it (as most pizza dough does), the gas is trapped in the gluten and the dough "rises." Yeast exists in many different strains. Some are wild and others are cultivated for specific purposes and sold commercially. Brewer’s yeast and baker’s yeast are two such strains. Sourdough starters capture and cultivate wild yeast. Both baker’s yeast and sourdough starter are excellent sources of yeast for making pizza.
Kamodo style barbecue grills have become popular over the last decade. One of the most commonly known versions is the Big Green Egg. Kamodo cookers are made of thick ceramic material and can cook at low, medium, or very high temperatures.
Kamodos can be used to make pizza if you prepare it properly. Here are some tips:
Remember that pizza cooks from both the top and bottom at the same time. Therefore, to bake pizza properly in a Kamodo, you need to move the pizza up toward the top of the cooker so that radiated heat from the Kamodo’s top cooks the top of the pizza. Most people do this using the "plate setter" accessory that comes with the grill (or is purchased separately). The plate setter has three legs and a flat surface. Place the plate setter on the grill’s cooking grate and then put a round pizza stone on top of the plate setter. You can adjust the height of the pizza stone by putting plates, fire bricks, or other spacers under the stone until you get even cooking on the top and bottom of the pizza.
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You might think that flour is just flour; however, not all flours are created equal. You can use almost any type of flour to make a pizza, but the type of flour you use can make a difference.
Different flours have different amounts of gluten. This is the protein in wheat that helps hold in the bubbles of gas produced by the yeast. It also allows the dough to stretch as you shape the pizza. Different flours with varying amounts of gluten will behave differently; you can see and feel the difference in the dough as you mix it.
My favorite flour to use for making pizza is a mix of half All Purpose Unbleached Flour and Bread Flour. This mix provides a good balance between the extra strength of the Bread Flour with the ease of use that comes from All Purpose Unbleached Flour.
Pizza Ingredients
The most important thing you can know about the ingredients for making pizza is that you should use the highest quality ingredients you can. Higher quality usually does not cost much more, and you will notice the difference in taste. Beyond that tip, I want to pass on to you some of the things I have learned about various ingredients.
Pizza Pans
Pizza Screens
Baking Stone
Your home oven is all you need to make great pizza. Using pizza pans, pizza screens, or a baking stone will turn your oven into a fine pizza-baking machine!
Pizza Making Equipment
You can make great pizza using minimal equipment. Having said that, there are some pizza-specific tools and gadgets that will aid in you pizza-making experience.
- Cherry Tomato & Shallot Focaccia
Focaccia Flatbread is a great accompaniment to any meal. You can suit the toppings to your taste or menu plan and have fresh bread with your meal with almost no fuss. The sky and your imagination are the limits as far as what you put on top.
Cracker Crust Sausage Pizza
Cracker Crust Pizza is very thin and crispy with little tiny air bubbles throughout the crust just like saltine crackers.
- Chicago Style Prosciutto Pizza
Chicago Style Pizza is thick-crust pan pizza with a definite mid-western flair to it. Sausage and spinach are two favorite pizza toppings in Chicago. If you put pepperoni on your pizza, you are probably from out of town!
- Stuffed Chicago Style Pizza
Stuffed Chicago Style Pizza is like no other pizza you will find. It takes the best of Chicago Style Pizza and puts it into a truly different package. It is hard to go away hungry eating this type of pizza; it is also hard to eat more than two pieces!
New York Style Pepperoni Pizza
New York Style Pizza is thin-style pizza, but not just any thin-style pizza. A New Yorker who eats thin-style pizza in some other part of the country may not even consider it pizza!
Pancetta & Onion Pizza Bread
Pizza Bread is a great appetizer or mini-main course. It is as if you took your favorite pizza topping and rolled it inside a loaf of bread. You can make Pizza Bread as an appetizer, as an accompaniment to a meal, or as a snack.
Brozetti’s Pizza Passion from Belgium
Dear Sir,
My name is Fré and I am Belgian.
It seems that you and I have a thing or two in common.
Like yourself, I am also very passionat about pizzas. Also, like yourself I believe that the test of a good pizza maker is his (or her) cheese pizza.
Moreover, like yourself, I have had the pleasure of living in upstate N.Y.
In fact, as I am typing this letter, my mouth is watering just thinking about a delicious Brozetti’s pizza. I’m sure that you can imagine how one can crave for something even after so many years have gone by.
It’s almost spiritual!!!
Forgive my entheusiasm sir, but my problem, and the reason for writing this letter, is this…
For to many reasons to bore you with a list, I can’t imagine my ever being able to return to the Empire State. Do you think you would be able to help me? Do you think you could teach me to make such a heavenly pizza?
I don’t know how I could ever repay you for such a service except to say that if you were ever inclined to travel to Europe I could give you many good tips on what to see here in Belgium.
I anxiously await your reply as I remain…
Sincerely and respectfully yours,
Fré