Tag: Pizza
How to Use Different Cheeses as Pizza Toppings
After our recipe for great pizza, we decided to show you different ways to use cheese as a pizza topping. Whilst you might always put the same cheese on your pizza, there are so many different ones to try. You can combine them with other toppings to create endless possibilities.
It’s the absolute classic pizza topping. Serve mozzarella simply with tomato sauce and fresh basil. Make sure that you grate it evenly to create the delicious, cheesy effect. If you want to create a really special pizza, drizzle pesto over the top and add some arugula after baking.
Gruyère originated in the Alpine region between Switzerland and France in the eleventh century. Pop gruyère cheese on a pizza with ham and garlic. It’s like the croque monsieur of pizza toppings! You could even try gruyère on a white pizza, using bechamel or a creamy garlic sauce instead of tomato. If you haven’t tried this before then we urge you to give it a go. It works especially well with green vegetables like spinach and asparagus. You could even go Florentine style and add an egg on top!
Blue cheese is a perfect salty pizza topping. Pair it with bacon or red onions for an exciting pairing. Our Danish blue cheese would also be delicious with other cheeses too. Find your perfect four cheese pizza and let us know what it is in the comments. This is certainly a grown-up pizza idea, so serve it with a bold glass of red wine.
Spicy Cheese
Try our super hot ghost pepper cheese to add an extra kick to your pizza. Try it with fresh chilies and pepperoni if you’re feeling spicy. You could cool it down with some vegetables or a sour cream dressing. You could even try adding ground beef with spices to create a taco flavored pizza!
Manchego is a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese with a rich, tangy taste. Try it as a pizza topping with olives or sundried tomatoes. Add lots of herbs for extra flavor – try oregano, rosemary or basil.
Lucerne Cheese has a light and smooth flavor, but is low in sodium and fat. We recommend pairing it with your favorite vegetables. You might not always think of putting vegetables on a pizza but it’s a great option and a way to create a fresher pizza than the average toppings. Our favorites are peppers, courgettes and sweetcorn. You can even try something more unusual like roasted eggplant, artichokes or broccoli.
Next time you have a pizza party, make your own dough, put out some unusual cheeses, and you are sure to impress your guests. Even if you’re not having a party – this is sure to make for a fun Friday night in!
We hope that you have enjoyed these pizza topping ideas and that you’ll love trying something new. Let us know what you’ve tried in the comments.
How To Make Pizza From Scratch
It’s one of America’s most loved dishes: pizza.
The perfect combination of dough, sauce, cheese and your favorite toppings comes together to create a taste explosion. But do you know how to make it from scratch? Read on to find out how.
Make your dough
Whilst the toppings become the star of the show, the dough is arguably the most important part of pizza. Without it, the dish literally falls apart.
You will need:
35oz white bread flour
1tsp sea salt
0.5oz dried yeast (2 sachets)
1tbsp sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
A mixing bowl
A jug
Start with the white bread flour. Sieve it into a bowl and mix in the salt.
In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and oil with 22 fl oz of lukewarm water. Leave it for a few minutes. It may foam slightly, this is normal.
Mix the water, yeast, sugar and oil into the flour gradually, pulling in more of the flour each time you mix.
Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes, until it is soft and springy.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it with cling wrap and leave it to double in size. This should take about an hour.
After the proving time, take the dough out and knock the air out of it. Knead it again.
Divide the dough into enough balls to make your pizzas. This should make 6 to 8 medium pizzas.
If you are saving them for later, cover them with cling film and keep them in the fridge. Otherwise, go ahead and move onto the cooking stage.
Baking your pizzas
One of the best ways to get restaurant quality pizza at home is with a pizza stone. This allows the top of the pizza to cook whilst keeping the base of the dough crisp.
If you have one of these then first you will heat it in the oven until it is very hot. Do this by placing the stone into a cold oven and then switching the oven on to let it come up to temperature. Be very careful when moving it in and out of the oven.
Roll your pizza dough balls out to make flat rounds of dough.
Whilst the stone is warming, you can get on with the fun part – topping your pizzas!
First add your sauce, then your toppings, then your cheese. Experiment with variations on all 3 to find your favorite pizza. This is such a fun activity for a party because everyone gets to try out their own ideas.
Do not grease or oil the stone, but you can add some cornmeal to stop your pizzas from sticking. When the pizza stone is hot, add your pizza to bake. You can do this using a pizza paddle but it is not necessary if you don’t have one. Wait for your pizza to be lovely and golden before taking it out of the oven.
Let it cool slightly, slice it and dig in.
We hope you enjoy making your own pizzas at home. Let us know what your favorite toppings are in the comments!
What is the Perfect Cheese For Pizza?
September 5th marked a day of celebration for America, and perhaps, even much of the world… because who doesn’t like pizza and cheese or both? Unknown to many is that September 5th is National Cheese Pizza Day. You know with the birth of smartphones and mobile apps came the phrase “…there’s an app for that”, well in similar light, if you love a food or, in this case, a combination of foods, a new axiom may take shape here, “…there might just be ‘National’ day for that”. A day that puts the focus of pizza and cheese, two delicious foods in and of themselves, but when together, spark a whole new revelation of culinary marvel… who would not love a day just to celebrate such a marvel? The answer should be simple… no one.
There has been an age-old question that continues to make the mind wonder and wander, that is… “Is there a perfect cheese to put on pizza?” Dr. Bryony James, a scientist whose research centers on food microstructure and food material science in New Zealand at the University of Auckland dove right in to find an answer the this question. Dr. James’ team of scientists study the building blocks of food and even experiment with structural composition of various foods that can influence its functionality. Ideally, their line of scientific research would allow them to develop a potential hypothesis for such an experiment. As the team began initial studies of the “best cheese for pizza”, they already knew that, historically, Mozzarella was highly favored and the most commonly used cheese for pizza topping.
Among countless scientific trials and experiments, the team researched cheese based on browning and blistering. These variable were designated as focuses of research as they were found to be the most looked upon features by consumers. Examining the properties, features and characteristics of cheese could potentially lead to further discoveries of the ideal cheese or in some cases, the ideal combination of cheeses to use on pizza. Other cheeses the group extended their research to was Cheddar, Colby, Emmental, Gruyere and Provolone. The actual experimentation itself was conducted by state-of-the-art technology, as opposed to human hands. As human judgment would have been idea over the work of a machine, it would have been far more time-consuming and brought the idea of a “bias” trial or opinions when bringing human emotion and interaction into the picture.
Of the properties of cheese that were measured for this experiment, smell, texture, melting properties and color were at the forefront. Researched revealed that some cheeses like Cheddar did not produce a favorable level of blistering while the likes of Gruyere did not properly brown after melting, which can be attributed to the oil content within the cheese. The results clearly indicated that although Mozzarella might be the traditional favorite cheese topper for pizzas, there might not be that “perfect” cheese or combination of cheeses, as each cheese’s characteristics and properties, when undergoing melting, might be desirable for one consumer, but desirable for another.
