A Pizza Heaven

Some Funky Ideas To Spice Up Your Pie

January 19, 1993|By Brenda Herrmann. Source: "Pizza" by James McNair, 1987, Chronicle Books of San Francisco.

Feelin' like a hungry peasant?

That's why we have pizza.

Pizza came about as an Italian peasant snack but it's evolved into one of the world's most-loved foods - and certainly a kid's favorite scarfin' snack.

Contrary to what you might have heard, pizza isn't junk food. In fact, if you get rid of fatty toppings like sausage, it's actually one of the most perfect dinners you can eat. It supplies basic nutrients in the amounts recommended by the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs: 15 percent protein, 27 percent fat and 58 percent carbohydrates. If you choose low-fat cheeses as well, you can even eat it while dieting.

The pizza you're most familiar with probably comes topped with cheese, pepperoni and tomato sauce - and shows up in 30 minutes or less guaranteed. But there's a lot more to pizza than that. There are potato pizzas, corn pizzas, even a dessert version topped with cream cheese and fruit.

Here are some ideas for making pizza at home. We concentrated on how to top a pizza but, remember, you can make crusts lots of ways, too: from scratch (check out a cookbook), with a mix (like Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix) or using ready-made dough or Boboli pizza bread.

Extra items

- The first pizzeria, Port'Alba, is said to have been established in 1830 in Naples, Italy. People were eating pizza long before that, though - in the year 1000, Italians, Romans and Greeks were eating picea, a disk of dough dusted with herbs and spices.

- The first Italian pizzas didn't have tomato sauce - because the tomato hadn't been introduced to Italy yet. One of Columbus' sailors brought tomatoes (called pomidori) to Italy around 1500.

- Cheese wasn't added until 1889 when baker Raffaele Esposito was told to prepare a pizza for Queen Margherita. To salute the colors of the Italian flag, Esposito added white mozarella cheese to the red tomato and green basil. And the rest is history.

- Why knead the dough? Because the pushing/pulling action helps develop the gluten in the flour to make your dough elastic enough to stretch across the pizza pan. Too much kneading will overdevelop it, though, and give you a tough crust.

- There are more pizza parlors in the U.S. than hamburger joints, according to the National Restaurant Association. Pizza Hut is the largest with more than 7,200 outlets that serve more than 8 million pizzas a year!

- According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey, the favorite pizza topping is pepperoni. The least favorite is anchovies. The survey also notes that Saturday is the biggest night of the week for eating pizza.

Layer it on

Regular pizza uses a tomato sauce made of crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano and salt. You can buy ready-made pizza sauce to make it easier. Store-bought, sliced pepperoni, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese can then be sprinkled on.

You can also take your traditional pizza and jazz it up by adding spinach, bacon, ham, black or green olives, crumbled hamburger, onions, bell peppers, sliced cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese mixed with cheddar, parmesan and/or ricotta cheeses. Lots of bakers leave off the tomato sauce to create a "dry" pizza, as well.

Creative bakers can add raisins, broccoli, corn, clams, pineapple, baked zucchini, walnuts, avocado slices, artichoke hearts, red chili pepper, baked eggplant, meatballs, dried tomatoes, salami, carrot slices, peas, and anchovies.

Gourmets might consider endives, swiss chard, shiitake mushrooms, leeks, parsley, scallops, shrimp, diced squid, crab meat, peanuts, mussels, chopped baked chicken pieces, smoked salmon, fresh sardines and cheeses like Gruyere, provolone, gouda, gorgonzola, fontina or goat's milk cheese.

Topping it all off

Some combinations to help get started:

Hoity-Toity Pie

Wanna feast like the rich? Layer sour cream over your pizza crust and then pour on three kinds of caviar - black, red and golden - arranging them in a bullseye style. But don't say we didn't warn you: Caviar is really fish eggs.

Quick Pizza

No time to make a whole pie? No prob. Toast an English muffin or two, slather them with canned pizza sauce, top with whatever tidbits you find, add a slab of mozzarella cheese and microwave 1 minute. Ta-dah - pizza for one.

Chili Pizza

Real simple - just pour some canned chili on in place of tomato sauce and bake it up with lots of monterey jack and cheddar cheese.

Hawaiian Delight

Top your pizza with mozzarella cheese and add Canadian bacon or baked ham, chopped pineapple pieces and some green onions.