We make "school lunch pizza" all the time at my house.
That's just how you make pizza in a baking tray. Sometimes we use premade dough from the store for it, or sometimes I whip one up with the kitchenaid.
Either way it turns out quite well. It's kind of a bready pizza, since you can't make it thin and crispy with this method, but I like it.
3 tips I have:
Try putting extra sauce on the pizza and then baking it for a few minutes before putting the cheese on. This drys out the sauce a little and helps keep the pizza from being soggy.
Sometimes it's better to turn the over down and cook it for longer (like 325-350f). This makes the pizza tougher, which makes it hold together better while you're eating it.
The part where you spread the dough out onto the baking sheet can be intimidating, but just remember you can totally fuck it up and it will still look perfect after it's baked. Just spread it out as even as you can and don't worry if it's getting mangled.
looking back, I think I actually cooked the sauce a bit longer than necessary by mistake, which had roughly the same effect (normally when I make pizza, i just straight up use tomato paste and sprinkle the seasonings over the top, which amounts to about the same effect as well, lol). also, I'm thinking next time I make it, I'm gonna either use lard in place of the veggie oil or just do what I normally do and use extra flour in place of the fat altogether.
the dough is 'supposed' to be pourable, ie: semi-liquid, but for some reason it didn't come out that way for me, so yeah I had a bit of trouble. hmm...maybe i could try the jim lahey method... that stuff is pretty liquidity...
that being said, use a bread dough if you're using premade dough (and bake at the temp for the bread either way). those premade "pizza doughs" are just...wrong... pizza dough should be soft and pliable, not preformed and solid...
love to talk about cooking btw, especially baking.
the recipe has an optional "pourable" dough in the USDA cook book. the guy who made this smaller volume recipe used that. it flows okay-ish? not great, but well enough, i suppose. gotta let it rest a bit on the pan before you try to spread it out, though, else it's an iron bitch to stretch without tearing.
a decent french or italian bread recipe works well for a crust, too.
tomato paste
Mom used to work for a convenience store chain in the midwest, called casey's general store (made the best pizza i ever had from a franchise). I think that's where she got the idea, though I couldn't swear by it. it's a little tricky to spread, but no worse than the sauce here. gives you a nice, thin layer of tomato. try to resist to urge to eat the tomato paste if you can help it. surprisingly sweet with no sugar added to it, and just a little bit tart (especially since every brand seems to want to add citric acid these days for some reason...)
We make "school lunch pizza" all the time at my house.
That's just how you make pizza in a baking tray. Sometimes we use premade dough from the store for it, or sometimes I whip one up with the kitchenaid.
Either way it turns out quite well. It's kind of a bready pizza, since you can't make it thin and crispy with this method, but I like it.
3 tips I have:
Try putting extra sauce on the pizza and then baking it for a few minutes before putting the cheese on. This drys out the sauce a little and helps keep the pizza from being soggy.
Sometimes it's better to turn the over down and cook it for longer (like 325-350f). This makes the pizza tougher, which makes it hold together better while you're eating it.
The part where you spread the dough out onto the baking sheet can be intimidating, but just remember you can totally fuck it up and it will still look perfect after it's baked. Just spread it out as even as you can and don't worry if it's getting mangled.
looking back, I think I actually cooked the sauce a bit longer than necessary by mistake, which had roughly the same effect (normally when I make pizza, i just straight up use tomato paste and sprinkle the seasonings over the top, which amounts to about the same effect as well, lol). also, I'm thinking next time I make it, I'm gonna either use lard in place of the veggie oil or just do what I normally do and use extra flour in place of the fat altogether.
the dough is 'supposed' to be pourable, ie: semi-liquid, but for some reason it didn't come out that way for me, so yeah I had a bit of trouble. hmm...maybe i could try the jim lahey method... that stuff is pretty liquidity...
that being said, use a bread dough if you're using premade dough (and bake at the temp for the bread either way). those premade "pizza doughs" are just...wrong... pizza dough should be soft and pliable, not preformed and solid...
love to talk about cooking btw, especially baking.
I meant the premade dough that comes as a ball. Not the pre cook bread disk ones. I hate those too.
Pourable dough? I've never heard of that. I always just make regular dough that you have to swuish out into a rectangle. Interesting.
I like idea of using tomato paste as sauce, since its already really dry and strong. I add spices to mine too! I'm going to try that next time.
the recipe has an optional "pourable" dough in the USDA cook book. the guy who made this smaller volume recipe used that. it flows okay-ish? not great, but well enough, i suppose. gotta let it rest a bit on the pan before you try to spread it out, though, else it's an iron bitch to stretch without tearing.
a decent french or italian bread recipe works well for a crust, too.
Mom used to work for a convenience store chain in the midwest, called casey's general store (made the best pizza i ever had from a franchise). I think that's where she got the idea, though I couldn't swear by it. it's a little tricky to spread, but no worse than the sauce here. gives you a nice, thin layer of tomato. try to resist to urge to eat the tomato paste if you can help it. surprisingly sweet with no sugar added to it, and just a little bit tart (especially since every brand seems to want to add citric acid these days for some reason...)
The citric acid makes it last longer AFAIK.