So I recently got a pizza stone and have figured out how to make a good thin crispy crust from scratch. I can do either a pesto-based or tomato sauce based pizza. I prefer provolone over mozz, but like both. For the pesto-based combos I tend to do a chicken topping and for the tomato, everything else, including sausage with pepers, and pepperoni with mushroom. But these are simple combinations that everyone has thought of already.
What’s some good topping combinations that I should try out?
My absolute favorite: spinach, feta, and walnut. First two are pretty normal; it’s the third one that awesomifies it.
New thing I just discovered this week: Chilii verde pizza. Had leftover C.V., pizza crust…hmmmmm. Why not? Throw a little extra onion and cheese on top. Yum.
Extra cheese, mushrooms, ham, pineapple on my half, spicy sausage on his.
(That’s right pineapple! I said it, I like it, and I don’t care who doesn’t!)
Nothing exotic for me. My favorite combination by far is grilled chicken and mushrooms, and I get this with red sauce rather than white.
However, I get it from a pizzeria that specializes in thick crust, juicy sauce and gooey, dripping cheese. I feel truly sorry for those who inexplicably prefer thin crust. That ain’t pizza, that’s painted cardboard.
My go-to variants:
Canadian bacon and pepperoni.
Italian sausage, mushrooms, and green pepper.
Shrimp, scallops, anchovies, black and green olives, minced onion.
All with cheese and tomato sauce, of course, though seafood with bechamel (white sauce) is good too.
Chorizo or Italian salami (mild or hot) can be used instead of pepperoni.
What we used to call Dago sausage (ground beef mixed with minced garlic and red pepper flakes) can be substituted for fennel-based Italian sausage.
As a rule, flat meats should go under the cheese; everything else, on top.
I like to use a blend of cheeses on my pizzas (Mozzarella, Parmesan, Emmentaler, Gouda, Edam). I sometimes dot the pizza with gobs of feta as well, especially when there are olives on it.
When I was in Italy, I had what they called Tyrolean pizza with thinly sliced veal shank and Gorgonzola. Absolutely delicious!
Also delicious is roasted chopped garlic on top of the pizza.
Drizzle everything with extra-virgen olive oil (first cold pressing) and sprinkle with hot red pepper flakes. Yum-O! :o
I like both. I made pan pizza for the longest time–was too afraid of the stone. The thin crust is good if made correctly. It should be crisp, not chewy or hard. Bread flour works best.
Thick crust is good too, and you can definitely get more sauce and cheese in a thick crust pie.
Provelone is good too, but I would blend it with Mozzarella at least.
Sausage and onion is my go-to pizza.
sausage, green peppers and onions is my favorite combo
Dingdingding…mine too.
Usual pizza for me is provolone, then red sauce, then pepperoni, then a mix of mozz and romano.
I also frequently do light red sauce, mozz, feta and sun dried tomatoes.
My standard is what is usually considered a “special” around here: tomato sauce, mozzarella, Italian sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, (and often onions.)
Another favorite, but this depends on the pizzeria, is bacon & clam: olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, clams, bacon (no sauce)
One of my favorites is also the Rosa from Pizzeria bianco in Phoenix: red onion, olive oil, fresh rosemary, pistachios, grated parmesan (no sauce, no mozzarella/melty-type cheese). I’ve had similar ideas at other pizzerias, too.
The last one, especially, hinges on the quality of the crust.
But for the typical red sauce & melty cheese pizzas, being from Chicago, it’s all about the Italian sausage, and then build with mushrooms, green peppers, and onions. If I only pick two of those, it’s usually sausage & mushrooms, followed by sausage & green peppers.
A really decent pepperoni is hard to beat, in my book. Thin, dry but not stiff crust; fresh-made red sauce, cheese, decently heavy hand on the 'roni… maybe a good sprinkling of red pepper flakes BEFORE baking, and I’m good.
We usually order one of these and a sausage/onion/pepper/olive mix. I’ll eat a slice or so of the other.
My favorite is tomato sauce, mozzarella, green pepper, onion, mushroom and black olives.
Back about twenty some years, my ex and I would have a card night with some friends, and we’d always order pizza. One particular friend was all about the BBQ sauce, pineapple and canadian bacon - I just couldn’t stomach it.
My are fairly milquetoast I guess.
Sausage/Pepperoni (sometimes with mushrooms)
Pepperoni/Mushrooms
Spinach
Pepperoni/Jalapenos (sometimes with pineapple)
The idea of spinach and walnuts is interesting, I will have to try that sometime.
Here’s what I believe should never be on pizza:
bbq sauce
pineapple
pulled pork
chicken or turkey in it’s native state
beef in it’s native state
egg of any kind
nothing with asian flavour profile
nothing with southwest or mexican flavour profile
nothing with a fish or seafood flavour profile if there is going to be cheese as well
Motor oil. Trust me.
Peter van der Linden, in his earlier career of college student and practical jokester (he’s now widely known as an internet security expert), poured maple syrup on his pizzas… because that way no one else would gobble them up, college pizza-bar style.
Which is also why Leroy “Chinese” Gordon put pepper all over his food… but that’s an even more obscure reference.
Pineapple, garlic(heavy) and anchovies.