Octopus Overlords

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:09 pm I don't dislike NY-style pizza -- it's still pizza, after all -- but it's never my first choice. I like a thicker crust with a nice crunch on the bottom. Pizza should not be foldable.

Same here. Is that what it's called? But I guess it's cheaper to start off with, so there are lots of pizzerias here that start off making that style and eventually go thicker when they're more successful. It seems like pizza styles are interchangeable here, and there's often no distinction made other than 'Pizza'. Well, we do have deep dish, but that's more of an option.

Btw Sudy, have you tried the Papa Murphy's? Kind of curious to try. They're take and bake. One location opened here during the pandemic.

Oh btw, in case anyone was curious about the pizza vending machine, here's a video. The types of pizzas available depends on the location as there are more varieties than they show here:

Pizza dough is laughably cheap and easy to make at home, so the kids sometimes do pizza entirely from scratch for us.

The problem they haven't licked (nor have we researched it...) is how to make a truly flat pizza. Our dough always puffs up and is full of air.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:25 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:09 pm I don't dislike NY-style pizza -- it's still pizza, after all -- but it's never my first choice. I like a thicker crust with a nice crunch on the bottom. Pizza should not be foldable.

Same here. Is that what it's called? But I guess it's cheaper to start off with, so there are lots of pizzerias here that start off making that style and eventually go thicker when they're more successful. It seems like pizza styles are interchangeable here, and there's often no distinction made other than 'Pizza'. Well, we do have deep dish, but that's more of an option.

Btw Sudy, have you tried the Papa Murphy's? Kind of curious to try. They're take and bake. One location opened here during the pandemic.

Oh btw, in case anyone was curious about the pizza vending machine, here's a video. The types of pizzas available depends on the location as there are more varieties than they show here:

They had one down the street from where I work in downtown Toronto. Always had people there when I walked by. I imagine it made a killing from the late night bar crowds from Kings St/Adelaide (pre-covid)
I just checked their website and this location is no longer active.

Holman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 5:00 pm Pizza dough is laughably cheap and easy to make at home, so the kids sometimes do pizza entirely from scratch for us.

The problem they haven't licked (nor have we researched it...) is how to make a truly flat pizza. Our dough always puffs up and is full of air.

I've had decent success rolling it out thin and using a stone at 450. You have to have some kind of sauce as well.

Holman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 5:00 pm Pizza dough is laughably cheap and easy to make at home, so the kids sometimes do pizza entirely from scratch for us.

The problem they haven't licked (nor have we researched it...) is how to make a truly flat pizza. Our dough always puffs up and is full of air.

Are you pre-baking it? I top mine before any baking and I don't have any issues.

Also, I make the dough before hand and refrigerate it. Roll out without any rising time.

The best resource I know of for crafting specific styles of pizza and pizza dough is Cheeze_Pizza over on Twitch. His dough recipes are posted in his Discord -- it's all more work than I can be bothered with, but the guy does know his pizza.

Roman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 5:09 pm
They had one down the street from where I work in downtown Toronto. Always had people there when I walked by. I imagine it made a killing from the late night bar crowds from Kings St/Adelaide (pre-covid)
I just checked their website and this location is no longer active.

They do tend to move around a lot, from what I've seen. Maybe it moved to a different street corner

Holman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 5:00 pm The problem they haven't licked (nor have we researched it...) is how to make a truly flat pizza. Our dough always puffs up and is full of air.

You might try docking the dough with a fork after it is rolled out.

As dumb as this sounds, I think our problem is that we're letting the dough rise.

Typically one of the boys makes pizza dough in the early afternoon and then puts it away to rise for a while before we roll it out and make a circle. (One of the recipes they follow says to do so.) If we made it just before rolling, topping, and baking it, would we have flat pizza?

We do have a good pizza stone.

EDIT: Did some brief research. Possibly the best approach is to preheat the pizza stone, make the dough (without giving it extra time to rise), and then shape and bake the pizza immediately. Whatever rising action is necessary for a thin crust will occur in the oven.

My pizza dough rises for about an hour, I break it into the portions we're going to use, and then it rises for another 10 minutes. I've never had an issue with it getting puffy/airy when it bakes.

If you dont want dough to rise dont use self rising flour. Use plain flour. Dont add baking soda or baking powder.

Yeast is what makes the dough rise.

Well, unless you're making a pizza biscuit, I suppose.

Pizza quick bread.

Fleischman's makes a special "pizza yeast" which seems to work well for that purpose. I use a foccacia bread recipe, a full batch can cover a standard cookie sheet and ends up moderately thin. Since I like crust to be on the crispier side (no NY style flopsies here), I'll have-bake just the crust before applying toppings then finishing.

Ive pretty much decided I like seasoned potato wedges over both fries and tots. Now to test out some between KFC and the local food store deli.

Also these are very lime...and some jalapeno

ImLawBoy wrote:Yeast is what makes the dough rise.

Not always. See Daehawk's mention of self-rising flour above...

I like to add baking powder to my dumplings so they puff up nice light and airy. Dense dumplings are not good.

disarm wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:42 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:Yeast is what makes the dough rise.

Not always. See Daehawk's mention of self-rising flour above...

Good pizza dough is made with yeast.

I don't bother making my own dough. For $2 I can get 20 oz of frozen pizza dough from the North End. The brand I buy is better than what I could make, and $2 isn't a big splurge. Achievement unlocked.

disarm wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 6:42 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:Yeast is what makes the dough rise.

Not always. See Daehawk's mention of self-rising flour above...

Shows you how much of a baker I am. I figured self-rising flour had that instant yeast in it. Still, seems like self-rising flour wouldn't give you the right kind of rise for pizza dough.

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:58 am I don't bother making my own dough. For $2 I can get 20 oz of frozen pizza dough from the North End. The brand I buy is better than what I could make, and $2 isn't a big splurge. Achievement unlocked.

I started making dough as part of "make your own pizza night" for the family. Part of the fun for the kids is ruining the dough as they try to form it into weird shapes!

Honestly, the best thing about homemade pizza is that it kids the kids into the kitchen, because Pizza.

We got them started on it early, and now one of them is an expert at many cooking tasks.

It's awesome to wake up your kid on Saturday morning and order him to go make everyone eggs and pancakes.

Holman wrote: ↑Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:07 pm Honestly, the best thing about homemade pizza is that it kids the kids into the kitchen, because Pizza.

We got them started on it early, and now one of them is an expert at many cooking tasks.

It's awesome to wake up your kid on Saturday morning and order him to go make everyone eggs and pancakes.

My 4 year old has mastered Jello. My son can't stand hot food so there's approximately no chance of ever getting him involved in the kitchen.

How does that work? Does all his food have to be room temperature or cooler?

Kids are so weird.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:30 pm How does that work? Does all his food have to be room temperature or cooler?

Kids are so weird.

My 11 year old daughter is just starting to find the pleasure of warm food. Up to this point, yes, all the food had to be either out of the fridge, or they would let any freshly cooked food cool to room temperature before eating.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:30 pm How does that work? Does all his food have to be room temperature or cooler?

Yes. He'll sit there and wait until it's cool. If he's really hungry he'll bitch the entire time. He's getting a little better and will handle lukewarm now. He's never had hot breakfast cereal because it turns to concrete when it gets cold. One of his common breakfasts is rice and eggs, which he won't touch for 30 minutes after setting the plate in front of him. Because of this, I have to roust his ass out of bed at 6 am even though school doesn't start until 8:35.

My daughter is 3 years younger and has more common sense. She'll test the heat of something with her finger, and if it's too hot will wait a few minutes, or ask for a paper towel to fan it with. She's never endlessly complained though like her brother.

The Smithsonian takes a deep dive into Neapolitan pizza. This is way more than you wanted to know about the origin and evolution of pizza, and why your favorite sucks in comparison.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:50 am The Smithsonian takes a deep dive into Neapolitan pizza. This is way more than you wanted to know about the origin and evolution of pizza, and why your favorite sucks in comparison.

Thanks, loved this article! But it made me hungry!

Trying out the local wood fired pizza for my Bday next week.

What does everybody think?
https://www.pizzeriaroma.ca/

Thanks to OO I picked up a frozen pizza I would have never tried..Home Run.....Ill get around to it one day.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:50 am The Smithsonian takes a deep dive into Neapolitan pizza. This is way more than you wanted to know about the origin and evolution of pizza, and why your favorite sucks in comparison.

One of the first places I'll be eating again when the pandemic is over is In Riva, a high-end classic Neapolitan pizzeria near my house. It's always considered among the best pizza in Philadelphia, and everything in the article above reminded me of it. I haven't been there in more than a year. I had my last restaurant meal with my dad (RIP) there.

Holman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:49 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:50 am The Smithsonian takes a deep dive into Neapolitan pizza. This is way more than you wanted to know about the origin and evolution of pizza, and why your favorite sucks in comparison.

One of the first places I'll be eating again when the pandemic is over is In Riva, a high-end classic Neapolitan pizzeria near my house. It's always considered among the best pizza in Philadelphia, and everything in the article above reminded me of it. I haven't been there in more than a year. I had my last restaurant meal with my dad (RIP) there.

That looks very good. While there's no Boston pizza style (except maybe bar pizza, a South Shore specialty that's more of a flatbread), the North End is chock full of Italian restaurants that pride themselves on authentic pizza in the various Italian styles. We don't go there often because the prices are uniformly high and there's no parking. With its European-style narrow streets and alleys, there's basically no driving, either. Since the only practical way to get there is public transportation, it's a pilgrimage for us suburbanites.

Two restaurants in the Berkshires make pizza that's better than mine: Baba Louie's, with its unmatched sourdough crust, and Hot Tomatoes, which is classic Neapolitan. I hope we can go back to the Berks this fall.

I meant to post about this last week when it happened, but I happened to find myself in the possession of a gift card to Pizza Hut. Now, I haven't had Pizza Hut in at least 25 years, but I was quite familiar with it in my youth. There was a Pizza Hut within walking distance of my house, so my friends and I would often find ourselves there after they had been dropped off at my house. After we had licenses, the Hut was within driving distance of high school, so Fridays were often the 10 minute guaranteed personal pan pizza deal (with breadsticks, of course). As a Chicago area resident, I knew that Pizza Hut wasn't the peak of the pizza world, but it was fine and something I ate regularly.

So last week I ordered Pizza Hut for Saturday lunch for me and the twins. I wanted to recreate my youth as much as possible, so I went with the traditional Pizza Hut pan pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon. The bacon was an accommodation for boy twin, who was very excited every time Craig Robinson mentioned bacon on his Pizza Hut pizza in commercials during the Super Bowl pregame. Normally I like to get sausage, but I don't trust Pizza Hut (or any national chain) to have decent sausage. I also got an order of breadsticks.

So, as I mentioned, it's been 25+ years since I last had Pizza Hut, and . . . I'm OK with going another 25+ years until I have it again. The toppings were fine, although I thought it could use a bit more cheese. The sauce was meh. The crust was just bad. There was a scant bit of caramelization on the edge, but otherwise the crust was like Wonder bread. This is the kind of crust that I imagine those who claim to hate Chicago deep dish pizza think is Chicago deep dish pizza. In a side note, girl twin loved the crust, but that was because she is missing all four front teeth and it was easy for her to bite through. I was also disappointed in the breadsticks. While there was a bit more texture there, they were still too fluffy. The accompanying marinara sauce was cold. I seem to recall it being warm back in the day, but it's been a while. Regardless, it might have been better warmed.

Bottom line, it's still pizza. If I were out somewhere and they had Pizza Hut pizza, I'd happily consume it. I don't see myself ordering it for myself or my family any time soon, though.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:18 am it's been 25+ years since I last had Pizza Hut, and . . . I'm OK with going another 25+ years until I have it again.

/me checks watch, sets alarm for 2046.

I haven't had PH since I thought pitchers of Coke were cool. That's gotta be 50 years. If there were any PHs within striking distance of me today and I had a coupon? How good is the coupon? Because Bertucci's and The Chateau both have coupons and very good pizza.

Oh wait. You said gift card. That changes everything. Yes, I would try PH if it were free or stupid cheap. Wouldn't get a pitcher of Coke, though.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:18 am I wanted to recreate my youth as much as possible, so I went with the traditional Pizza Hut pan pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon.

So, as I mentioned, it's been 25+ years since I last had Pizza Hut, and . . . I'm OK with going another 25+ years until I have it again. The toppings were fine, although I thought it could use a bit more cheese. The sauce was meh. The crust was just bad. There was a scant bit of caramelization on the edge, but otherwise the crust was like Wonder bread. This is the kind of crust that I imagine those who claim to hate Chicago deep dish pizza think is Chicago deep dish pizza. In a side note, girl twin loved the crust, but that was because she is missing all four front teeth and it was easy for her to bite through. I was also disappointed in the breadsticks. While there was a bit more texture there, they were still too fluffy. The accompanying marinara sauce was cold. I seem to recall it being warm back in the day, but it's been a while. Regardless, it might have been better warmed.

Pepperoni, Bacon and Mushroom used to be my favorite topping combo in college and later, til I discovered I really like vegetables.

The marinara has been given cold for the last few years at least (around here anyhow). I like the white sauce. Double mushrooms, onions, sometimes tomatoes, spinach, rarely banana peppers, and lately - ham. I like stuffed crust and extra cheese when I feel like splurging (the stuff crust bottom of the pizza is too floppy but I like stuffed crust).

Wife still loves their breadsticks. I like soft (like Little Caesers). Wife likes Pizza Hut, likes theirs being crispier.

My favorite is Chicago style Deep Dish!

The only thing I find "OK" at Pizza Hut are the boneless wings each year when they have the 50% promotion, specifically garlic parmesan. The BBQ are sickly sweet, but not bad when you need to de-sodium your palate.

The marinara dipping sauce is too sweet, but I kind of like it... warm or cold. The pizza on the other hand is horrible, but when Mrs. Nym makes me eat it I tolerate some kind of sausage-veg mix. The supreme/super supreme are fine, but their site won't let you remove the red onion, which is a frustration for me. It does reheat well, which is odd. Probably due to the fat/grease content.

I presume the Canadian recipies are quite similar to the U.S. I've had it in the U.S., but not for some time.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:18 am Bottom line, it's still pizza. If I were out somewhere and they had Pizza Hut pizza, I'd happily consume it. I don't see myself ordering it for myself or my family any time soon, though.

I don't know how they stay in business around here. I remember loving them as a kid. They were a treat and we pretty much only had Pizza Hut or Little Caesar's to choose from and PH was a sit down fancy place. LC was just carry out. Mountain Dew by the pitcher and a deep dish unlike anything else I had eaten and they had video games. By my teens the game had changed and pizza places were ubiquitous. That or I was aware of pizza places everywhere. Not sure which. I had PH somewhere in my early 20s in Toronto because they were convenient and I hadn't eaten there since I was a kid and it was first time I ever had heartburn. I pretty much stopped and forgot about them at that point until the one near my work did $7 lunch buffets with salad bar and drink for a while. Then, it was calories, so I didn't think about it. It was still pizza and I needed food. I had one a few years back and it was inferior to just about every place around here.

Pizza Hut was the first place that I ever played a head to head tabletop arcade game. The competition, Godfather's, never got them. That's pretty much my only fond memories of Pizza Hut. We have two within five minutes of our house, but the kids never want PH. They're spoiled for choices.