2009 Pizzas of the Year

I recently participated in a survey from a popular restaurant, about their newest product ideas. They are top secret and I vowed not to tell anyone about them, but I DID NOT promise not to MAKE them! So, the next Friday night the new pizzas (Ruse style) were tested, tasted and... (I'll let the tension build for a second here...) approved!! Wildly approved, I may say.

Pizza #1
Bread Stick Pizza

All righty. Our goal here is to have a pizza with a wide border of crust, filled with mozzarella, (think cheese filled, garlic butter slathered, pizza in the middle)... pizzaness.

1 pizza's worth of pizza dough (technical, I know)
pizza sauce
pepperoni (it's what was in the picture, but I suppose you could use other toppings...maybe?)
mozzarella sliced and shredded
butter
garlic powder
olive oil

OK. These amounts are all based on personal taste, so you're on your own, unless you come to my house for this, in which case you're on ... my own. I guess.


Heat oven to pizza temperature. For me this 405 degrees. Regretfully all ovens are different, so it may be (is probably) different for you. By the way, it took me a LOT of pizza to figure out "pizza temperature" for my oven. And, as far as I know, Mom still hasn't figured it out for hers. It's rough being a cook. Very scientific.
Spread some olive oil on your stone, or pan. Press out your dough so that it hangs off the edges of your pan by... oh, a couple inches. If there are only say, two of you and you don't need so much pizza, you could just start the dough out the size of the pan. Is any of this making sense? Well, you all have my phone #.
Now our slices of mozzarella should be around 1-2 inches wide. And we need to lay the slices on the dough around the edge of the pan. You know, so there is a little more than enough dough left to fold over the slices, hanging out beyond that. Ok, good. Now fold the edge over the cheese, and sort of seal the edges all the way around. Now we're gonna want to brush that cheese filled edge with olive oil. We want these "bread sticks" to be the ultimate in chewy, buttery, wowness. Last, spread that sauce in the middle, sprinkle with shredded cheese, and douse with pepperoni (you're on you own if you didn't use pepperoni).
Throw it into the oven for ... well ... pizza time. Sorry to pull that one again, but for me that's 7 minutes then rotate pans (I have to do 2 at a time), and then 7 more minutes. I bake for less than 14 minutes though, if I'm only doing one. Maybe 12ish? Anyway, when the crust is turning golden, and nothing looks raw, pull it out and stick it on a counter. Do NOT cook like a man and set this on the stove top for the next step. Counters are much much much MUCH easier to clean than stoves. At least mine are.
Melt the butter. I probably use... hmmmm, 2- 3 tablespoons per pizza? Maybe? I don't know, make a guess. And, brush that over the wide breadsticky crust. And give it another coat. And another. Ohhhhhh... go for a little more! Now sprinkle with the garlic powder while it's still wet.
Now for the most important part: let it cool for a few minutes so all the toppings don't slide off and disappear when you cut it (that wasn't the most important part), and slice and... CHOW DOWN (this is the important part)!!!

This stuff is fabulous hot or cold and probably anything in between. I LOVE the leftovers and totally regret every Saturday morning, that we don't have pizza for breakfast any more and I'll have to wait forever until evening to eat these pizzas again.




Pizza #2
Pizza With a Lid

This one is a little easier to understand than #1, but slightly more time consuming. BUt only slightly. These are both quite simple to do, as long as you can figure out what I'm saying here.

OK. Our goal here is pretty much a basic pizza, perhaps a few more toppings that usual, with a top crust that is once again, nice and buttery, garlicky. James likes this one best, as do Micah and Kenton.

dough- one batch of my bread recipe is enough here, otherwise a slightly larger amount of dough than 1 pizza usually requires
sauce
cheese
other toppings of your choice (we tend to do this as a meat lovers pizza)
butter
garlic powder
olive oil

Spread oil on your stone or pan. Divide dough into 2 parts, one a little bigger than the other. Smoosh the bigger one out on your stone. Decorate in the usual pizza style, sauce, toppings, and cheese. Now grab the remaining dough, and if it's sticky, lightly oil a section of counter top, and smoosh out a little bigger than pizza size. It will be a on the thin side, so be careful not to rip it. Cuz if you do... well, it'll be ripped. Now for the talented part: hoist that puppy up over the top of the pizza. Once again if it's sticky, a little oil massaged over it should keep it from sticking together in a wadded up mess while you try to pick it up. Now tuck the edges under the bottom crust and pinch to seal. I like to do the pie crust pinch. My kids all stand around and ask me why, and a gazillion other questions about it, so it's fun and gives me company.
Bake at pizza temp (see above) for a pizza time (see above again), or until browning and not raw. Yank out of oven, hurl on counter (once again, again for above reasons). Melt butter, brush over the en-tire top, and DON'T skimp!!!!! Sprinkle with garlic. Hurry Up And Eat. Everyone is hungry!
These here things are good.