And now, another edition of Cooking With Flew

[flewellyn]

My friend parrhesia was talking about her attempts to make homemade pizza, which is an endeavour I can truly approve of. After all, pizza is a divine food, and all the tastier if you make it yourself (and cheaper, too!). However, if you try to go from scratch, it can be a hassle to make your own pizza dough. It's not really HARD, per se, but it is a bit messy, and it takes time. Time that could be spent eating delicious pizza! Obviously, I had to find a better way.

So I shared with her my family's recipe (sort of) for "pita pizza", which is pizza made on top of pita bread. Since I think you folks might also be interested, I've copied what I wrote here. Pita pizza, you see, is very quick, easy, cheap, and tasty. I generally find that, between prep and cook time, a set of pita pizzas takes about 20 minutes, tops.

Pita bread comes in several sizes at the grocery store, at least at the ones I shop at. Get the larger, 8-inch pita pockets, and cut them around the circumference, so that you get two circular "pita halves", each of which is used as a surface for pizza sauce and cheese, as well as seasonings. The pizza sauce can be plain tomato plus things like basil and oregano, or you can use preseasoned sauce. Don't spread it too thick, though, since the "dough" is rather thin itself.

Then you spread on some cheese. I like to use a mix of cheddar, mozarella, and parmesan or romano, though I've sometimes substituted provalone or pepper jack for the cheddar. Any other toppings should be used sparingly: again, you don't want to overload the pitas. But you can put on things like sliced mushrooms, olives, already-cooked ground beef, or I suppose even pepperoni and ham slices, if you really want to.

Then, just put on a cookie sheet, pop in the oven for about 15 minutes on 350 (you did preheat your oven, right?), and take 'em out. They'll be nice and crispy, but not burnt, and you'll have good melty cheese on the sauce. They might need a minute to cool enough to handle, but since the pitas are thin, it doesn't take too long. Since they're relatively small, and crispy, you can eat 'em like big pizza crackers!

Oh, you can also make other "pizzaish" things than straight pizza this way; you can put pretty much anything on them and cook it. I have done this with things like olive oil and a bit of garlic, with sliced tomatoes on top, or a spread of pesto and parmesan cheese. Just remember that the pita crisps up quickly, so you shouldn't put meats that need awhile to cook on there, or you risk burning the pitas; precook things like chicken or beef. Also, the pita is load-bearing, so you don't want too much weight on top.

That's this edition of Cooking With Flew! Remember the Cooking With Flew mantra: "Don't cook for too long, I wanna EAT!"

Comments

[mitrian.livejournal.com]

Or there's my method: Put pizza dough ingredients in bread machine; push button; come back 90 mins later and hey, there's dough!

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Sure, but that's 90 minutes to dough, instead of 20 minutes to pizza!

[bear-foot.livejournal.com]

pizza! *drool* Your making me hungry at 3am

[creepers58.livejournal.com]

Gonna have to try this the next time I get a pizza urge.

[sheistheweather]

Piiiizzaaaaaaaa. *drool*

[mrz80.livejournal.com]

Stores 'round here sell, usually alongside the tortillas and pitas, prefab pizza crusts, completely circular, partially pre-cooked and ready to lay there on your baking pan and have ingredients strewn upon them. I also note a singular lack of reference in your "toppings" discussion of the Dean of Toppings, namely Italian Sausage. You must have italian sausage or it's only a sort of mock pizza. :-)

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, but those prefab crusts are not as thin and crispy as the pitas. And they take longer to cook. Don't cook for too long, I wanna EAT! :-)

And if you want to put Italian Sausage on your pita pizza, go for it.

[keryddwen.livejournal.com]

Definitely going to have to try that........ especially for Aidan. :)