paper plate pizza and other late night mastications

Stand and Deliver, O Children...

    Please note Exhibit A:

Because i respect You, i am shamed to admit that we've had several pizza nights since i promised to post the paper plate pizza recipe.

I swear i'm not a bad kid, just easily distracted, consistently engaged and persistently curious.

Meaning, of course,

i'm prone to lapses of consideration.

Forgiveness, please.

Above, you'll see a fresh concoction, compared to which the paper plate (read: convenience) variety pales. Nevertheless, at least with homemade processed food i know how to pronounce all the ingredients. And i'd like to become a pronuncitarian in addition to my other adopted dietary labels.

  The dough really is what makes this pie so ... i can't even find the words... i lifted it from here.  Follow the directions and you'll do fine.  But make some notes: the dough is very soft if made with all-purpose flour (what i use until i get a grain mill). So you have to be sensitive when you stretch it out or it rips easily.  I'd use bread flour if i had it or add a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten if i'd thought about it.  The dough recipe through the link will walk you through the mechanics on the prep end.  I usually spend a few hours whenever i can and double the recipe to make a dozen dough balls, then roll them in an oiled bowl, bag them in cheap food storage bags (so you can turn the bag inside out onto a floured surface later), and pack them 6 dough-balls per gallon freezer bag. The day before pizza night , i move 3 to the fridge: 2 for pizza night and 1 for paperplatepizza (heretofore refferred to as PPP).

  There are a few things i do with the sauce, but there are infinite variations waiting to be tasted. So experiment or stagnate. All choices are ours for the making.  Joe-Knee's not a fan of tomato sauce in general, so i make a white sauce by mincing some garlic, onion and whatever herbs i have laying or growing around, and pouring maybe 2-3tablespoons of olive over it in a small glass container. Sprinkle some salt and crack some pepper into it if you want to church it up a bit. Then leave the glass container on the stovetop as you cook down some tomato sauce or preheat the oven.  The earlier you concoct this oil sauce, the more the flavors coat the pie.  

   For tomato sauce, i spice up some store-bought pasta sauce until next season when i hope to replace our purchased sauce with preserved sauce from the Amish Paste Tomatoes....mmmm... One of the big cans is usually enough for 2-4 pizzas depending on how much sauce you like (just remember: more sauce/toppings=longer cook time).  Adding any fresh vegetables to yer mater-sauce is always a good idea. I belong to the "grab&mince whatever we have around and toss it in" school of pizza sauce makery, but i always include garlic, onion, oregano or thyme, basil, and a pinch of sugar more often than not.  Now listen up, this is important:  allow your sauce to cool before you slather it on your stretched dough.  Hot sauce will eat right through the tender, delicious dough you've poured your heart and soul into and result in a napalm-like soggy mess. Trust me. Or don't. Who am i to tell you what to do? I wouldn't do it again, though, tell ya that much.

  Now, here's what makes a PPP a PPP:  the dough-balls made from that recipe are the perfect size for paper plates, so after you stretch out your dough you can just lay it on a paper plate and top it.  Sad to say, i haven't even attempted to try freezing any toppings on the pizza...i have a problem... a cheese pizza problem: i'd like to call it minimalism but in my heart i know i'm lying.  Might be a good idea to top it with fresh foods right before you pop the frozen finished product in the oven. 

Anyway, then i cover it with wax paper. Can't say i know why, but it's something i do. Maybe it has something to do with sticky dough...? Maybe i have a nondisclosure agreement so i couldn't even tell you that i get paid to sell it....if i did...which i don't.

Cut-Rite

Wrap the whole she-bang in a gallon freezer bag and toss it in your ice-hole. I don't know how long they last in there because i always find a reason to eat them. 

When you're ready to eat one too, cook it the way you should always cook pizza:

• as hot as you can get your oven, 
• on stone or tile (preheated 30min-1hr preferred) or the underside of a baking sheet or flat cookie sheet (on which you build your pie),
• as close to the heat source as possible (stone on floor of gas ovens, lowest rack in electric models)

In about 10 minutes you should see one of these in front of you:

and from your periphery, a BLUR!

the insidious suburban pizza mole!

from cyberspace with love,

shua.

P.S.  My friend Brando suggested that i post a cost analysis on the blog, and i think it's a great idea. This being, after all, a blog about low-cost living.  So look forward to cost analyses for future projects. In the mean time, here's the approximate cost of 12 PPPs:

• $4 bag o' flour
• $1.50 can o' sauce
• $6 worth of cheese
• 75cents worth of yeast
• $1-2 olive oil
• 75cents garlic

So that's about 15smackers for 12pizza pies, for an average cost of $1.25 per pizza. Zonino. Of course if you buy more toppings or like extra cheese your cost will go up, but the best toppings are always straight out of the garden.