This is week #20 of my ultimate plan of "52 Pizza Party Pizza", 52 Pizzeria Quality Pizzas that you can make at home.This recipe is a slight variance in that I doubt if a true Pizzeria would serve this pizza. BUT, I am positive that any self respecting bar would happily serve this as an appetizer bar snack. So change pizzeria to bar snack and this would fit into an as yet attempted, "52 Bar Snacks for Home" series... Hmmm... One day I may start that series.
I have been doing quite a bit of cooking with beer recently. In the culinary world, cooking with beer always seems to take a back seat to cooking with wine, but really, if carefully selected, beer has such a wide range of flavors perfect for adding much more robust tastes than a bit of sweet wine. From lighter bodied citrus flavored wheat beers to the full bodied heavy British Porter styles, Beer just works great in so many recipes...
Like Beer Pizza Crust.
When hard pressed to pick a favorite beer, I really like my hometown Brewery's; Boulevard Brewing Company's Amber Ale. A beautiful copper color and a nutty flavored sweetness is perfect to drink... And make a Beer Pizza Crust!
Here's the recipe I like to use...
Beer Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup Beer (something with strong flavors, I used a Boulevard Amber Ale)
- 2-1/4 tsp (one envelope pre-packaged) Yeast
- 2 TBS Olive Oil
- 1-3/4 Cup Flour (additional flour as needed)
- Microwave beer in a glass bowl on high for 30 seconds. Test for temperature, should be just slightly warm to the touch, no more than 110 degrees. Microwave an additional 10 seconds as needed to reach temp.
- Stir in Oil and yeast and let stand for 5 minutes for the yeast to activate. You will see foam begin to form on top.
- Combine Flour, salt and beer mixture in a stand mixer (can be mixed by hand instead). Mix and knead the dough for 5 minutes, add additional flour as needed to make the dough smooth and elastic.
- Divide dough in half and form into balls. Dust with flour, place in separate bowls, cover and allow to rise in warm draft free area for 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Use as you would any pizza dough and ENJOY!!!
OK... Once you have your beer bread dough, you can use this dough for just about any pizza.
Like this Buffalo Chicken Wing Pizza Sticks...
All the tastes of a Buffalo Chicken Wing without the bones and added to a pizza, cut into bar shapes for easy "sittin' 'round a bar" eating! Like I said, bar snack appetizers!
Ingredients
- 1 Ball of Beer Pizza Dough
- Drizzle of Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- For the Buffalo Chicken -
- 1/4 Cup Beer
- 1 Cup Diced cooked chicken (like from a store bought Rotisserie Chicken)
- 12 Drops of Tabasco Brand Hot Sauce
- For the Blue Cheese Sauce -
- 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
- 2 OZ Blue Cheese
- Additional Toppings -
- 1/2 Medium Red Onion, sliced into thin rings (better still, use some pickled red onion slices)
- 1 Cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese
- Preheat oven and a large pizza stone on Broiler Setting for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 550 degrees when pizza foes in.
- For the Buffalo Chicken, in a small saute pan over medium high heat, add beer and chicken and simmer for 5 minutes. The chicken will absorb the beer.
- Sprinkle hot sauce drops to taste on the chicken and stir to mix. I like about 12 drops, if you want HOTTER pizza, add more, less spicy, add less.
- At the same time, make the Blue Cheese Sauce... In another small saute pan, over medium heat, heat the sour cream to melted stage. Add the Blue cheese and stir until the cheese also melts into the scream.
- And assemble your pizza. On a sheet of parchment paper, spread the dough into a rectangle shape, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Drizzle Olive Oil on crust, spread with a brush to coat, making sure the edges that will not have toppings. Add Salt and Pepper
- Spread a thin layer of Mozzarella Cheese on pizza. Add Onion slices
- Top with chicken and drizzle Blue Cheese Sauce over chicken
- Transfer to the HOT Pizza Stone
- Bake for 8 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble
- Serve while still HOT with a COLD Beer and ENJOY!
Once you learn the tricks of the trade, Pizzeria Pizza at home is simple and addictive.
So, as to Pizzeria quality Pizzas at Home ...Well, that is not really the point of the series. It's just a chance to show variety, to make you ponder what you can do and if you have never, try it yourself. there are plenty of recipes, tricks and techniques to get you started over at the Pizzeria Pizza at Home 101 Post. Scratch sauce, Scratch Dough, history and LOTS of photo instructions to get started.
As with most recipes, the basics can be learned in minutes; mastering the art will take a lifetime (or at least 52 tries). You can achieve success with my Pizzeria 101 Link, a cookie sheet, standard oven and items in most every kitchen. But... eventually you will want to try the toys of the trade So if you want to dig deeper, I recommend these books and items...
Enjoy your Pizza making... Let me know what pizzas you are making and be sure to come take a look next Sunday to see what I come up with!
I hope I did not make it sound complicated... it really only takes a few minutes if you are an experienced home pizza maker. The pay off in beauty and taste is well worth the effort. Plus, if you get in the habit of making pizza dough 4 balls at a time (as my recipe does), and you always have a jar of sauce laying around (since I make 8 jars at a time, this beauty is actually very affordable). Your big cost is the toppings, but since mostly I use leftovers, pizza is about as affordable as it gets... As long as you are not buying a $20 pizza at the pizzeria when you CAN make em at home!
And of course... This is a MUST MAKE recipe for my new Page that eventually will be a guide to Italian Cooking (worth following). I will try to research the history, Italian name for the dish and most of all the authenticity (going to be hard not to monkey about with the recipes, but I at least promise to try).
So, Cin Cin indeed as I add Breakfast Pizza Uova e Pancetta Pizza) to my "52 Authentic Italian Recipes".And if you like this dish and want to see more, be sure to take a minute and "Follow" me on Pinterest for all of the updates to come!!!
This is Pizza #20 in my list of 52 Pizza Party Pizzas...
Week #1 ...A simple Salami Pizza (break free of the addiction to Pepperoni). A classic example of the Italian belief that less is more... Allow a quality ingredient like the artisanal Dry cured sausage, the sauce and the cheese balance beautifully!
I made a fantastic HOT Sausage Pizza... Made with mini balls of sausage (there is a small trick) that also looks as dramatic as it is tasty!
I was on the grill making a dessert or Appetizer FANTASTIC Honey - Goat Cheese - Arugula Pizza... Delicious and PERFECT if you want to WOW your friends with something unique on the GRILL!
A Pizza from my youth, the (then) exotic sounding Canadian Bacon and Onion GRILLED pizza! Loaded with color and the unique taste of the sweet juicy back bacon that became a legend back in Pekin, Illinois in the 70's.
A fond memory of our time living in the islands... US Virgin Island, St Thomas had a fantastic little beach bar where you could get a Steak and Gorgonzola Pizza (and a bottle of wine) for just $25... one of the few bargains on the island and a darn fine PIZZA!
We stayed out on the grill for a fun APPETIZER PIZZA of Goat Cheese, Honey and Walnuts! Worked perfect to serve as guests arrive, the sweet honey, zippy goat cheese and the savory walnuts paired perfect for a fine welcome treat!
HOW COOL IS THIS BREAKFAST PIZZA??? Ham and Eggs... Cheese and tomato sauce! It is actually a classic Italian recipe for
Bacon and Egg Pizza (Uova e pancetta Pizza)And it is WONDERFUL!
Was something really special for me, a chance to cook with another respected Food Blogger, Penny from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen, AND to use her open fireplace cooking grate to cook over a live fire and make a pizza topped with Ina Garten's Guacamole Salad! Fruit, Vegges, Black Beans... Makes a FANTASTIC Pizza!
My beloved Rotisserie Chicken gets dressed up with Taco seasonings to help create a Taco Chicken and Pickled Red Onion Pizza! A wonderfully colorful and spicy pizza. Something you would expect at a California fancy pizzeria... or now at home!
Cul de Sac Famous empty Nestors that we are, we were a bit intimidated with the idea of sitting for 7 (YES, SEVEN) of our nieces and nephews for a weekend. I decided to make pizza one night, even more challenging I decided to offer each of the kids a chance to pick their own toppings... CHEESE PIZZA was by far the most requested. But just because it is a simple cheese pizza is no excuse not to make it the best. LOTS of tips to make yours better than a pizzeria!
A new twist on the original classic pizza... A Basil Mint Pesto Margherita Pizza. Pesto is loaded with fresh herbs (herbaceous), Pine Nuts (Nutty) and Garlic (you guessed it... garlicky!), making this pizza layers upon layers of flavors! And pretty too!
Another big change of pace that was HUGELY successful as an appetizer was this Black Bean and Quinoa Salad Pizza. Lots of fresh grilled Corn and a sweet sauce of honey and mascarpone cheese. Unusual combination of ingredients, sauce,cheese and a DELICIOUS Change of Pace!
Fresh, Local, and best and SUMMERTIME!
Great produce is available at just about any street corner... And sometimes even your own garden. Cherry tomatoes are easy to grow and work great in container gardens. And they make a FANTASTIC... Cherry Tomato Margherita Pizza. Colorful and Summertime fresh tasting!
More fresh local And Best...
Seasonal Summer Pizzas are very simple. You want the ingredients to shine. The sauce, dough and cheese takes a back seat to fresh garden herbs. This Fresh Herb Pizza tastes like summer in a garden!
This pizza was a delicious trip to my back yard garden! MY TOMATOES ARE IN MY TOMATOES ARE IN!!! A Fresh Heirloom juicy sweet tomato pie! This is what an Italian pizza ought to be... fresh local and loaded with flavors. My favorite so far!
This pizza is a stretch of leftovers. I had grilled some wonderful Korean Style Short Ribs but only had a single serving left. SO... Stretch those ingredients to make a wonderful pizza for two, A Korean Beef Short Rib Pizza for 2!
I experimented with a new technique today when I made an Italian Brick Oven Style Pizza AT HOME. The trick is HOT HOT HOT, not only the oven but a Pizza Stone as well. My first was this FANTASTIC White Sauced garlic and Tomato Naples style Pizza!
I went a little more traditional American Pizzeria style this week with a sausage pizza. In Fact, this got an Italian upgrade with a Spicy Italian Sausage and Tomato Slices Pizza. Made Naples style in the HOTTEST OVEN Possible.
I vary a bit from a traditional looking pizza with a simple BEER BREAD Crust, MARGHERITA TOPPED Pizza. A bit unusual but fast and EASY to make and a great Bar Snack or Appetizer.
OK, be sure to come back next Sunday... I already have plans for next weeks' Za!
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Everyone knows about cooking with wine, but BEER has so much more complex flavors. I imagine the day after beer was invented, someone made an Irish Stew. Cooking with beer infuses recipes with this intoxicating concoction of hops and barley in an effort to enhance and enrich everyday food.. Come take a look, sure to have something you might like to try. All recipes have been tested and WORK!
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