ComputerGuy Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Every so often, I buy CostCo's pre-made XLarge pizza. Good price (99.9p) although very boring in terms of flavour. Some months ago, Walmart started selling the same kind of boxed pizzed under the name "MarketPlace", but not as big, and for more money, $169. I avoided it until last week, because of the price, but finally thought I would give it a try. The all-cheese had two surprises: one, it went through at $99p, not so bad. Two, it was just awful. One of the worst I've had. I don't think they use the same dough that you can buy at the bakery counter; doughy and tasteless, no sweetness. Almost no sauce to speak of, and low-rent mozz. Yech. Even over-cooking couldn't get the dough to finish properly under the ingredients (all I added: green olives). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 19 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said: Every so often, I buy CostCo's pre-made XLarge pizza. Good price (99.9p) although very boring in terms of flavour. Some months ago, Walmart started selling the same kind of boxed pizzed under the name "MarketPlace", but not as big, and for more money, $169. I avoided it until last week, because of the price, but finally thought I would give it a try. The all-cheese had two surprises: one, it went through at $99p, not so bad. Two, it was just awful. One of the worst I've had. I don't think they use the same dough that you can buy at the bakery counter; doughy and tasteless, no sweetness. Almost no sauce to speak of, and low-rent mozz. Yech. Even over-cooking couldn't get the dough to finish properly under the ingredients (all I added: green olives). Thank you for the warning, it sounds disgusting. My frequent experience of pizza--in the interest of investigation and a long unfulfilled yearning for real honest-to-god New York pizza--in Mexico is that tomato sauce is generally non-existent, which makes no sense to me. Dough, sauce, toppings, cheese=pizza IMHO. The last time I ordered a pizza from who-knows-where here in CDMX, I specified EXTRA SAUCE, because there rarely is any at all. The pizza arrived with no sauce. *sigh* A question: sweetness in pizza dough? I hear this a lot on a Mexican professional baker's FB group I belong to: that pizza dough requires sugar. The recipe I use (and I believe I sent it to you) requires one teaspoon of sugar, added to the yeast to help it activate. The recipe calls for four cups of flour. It doesn't come out sweet, but it comes out the way pizza dough should be. Excuse me for the "should", but pizza dough ought not be sweet unless you are making a dessert pizza, which IMHO is not really a pizza. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappysmarket Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 My very unscientific pizza research consists of watching many, many Mexicans eat pizza at Costco. Almost without fail they slather ketchup on top and then eagerly consume said pizza slice. My question has always been: do they add ketchup because so little tomato sauce is provided or does the baker know their audience and knows they don't like regular tomato sauce but love ketchup? If they started to prepare it with ketchup in the first place I could probably (even me) figure out the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 I guess it's all a matter of what you're used to or what you grew up with. I remember ordering a pizza with green peppers on it when in Detroit as a teen. Wow. They looked at me like I was from Mars. In the opinion of my humble taste buds, the only frozen pizza that's any good is Red Baron. Dress it up as you like. Even better than Costco which is not frozen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 My favorite is DiGiorno's from Sam's Club. Specially when re-heated on a hot pizza stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 50 minutes ago, More Liana said: A question: sweetness in pizza dough? I hear this a lot on a Mexican professional baker's FB group I belong to: that pizza dough requires sugar. The recipe I use (and I believe I sent it to you) requires one teaspoon of sugar, added to the yeast to help it activate. The recipe calls for four cups of flour. It doesn't come out sweet, but it comes out the way pizza dough should be. Excuse me for the "should", but pizza dough ought not be sweet unless you are making a dessert pizza, which IMHO is not really a pizza. Oh, I agree. The thing is, when it is lacking any sugar, you really notice the difference. You don't notice that proper dough doesn't taste "sweet" at all until it tastes flat. Trying to think of something to compare it to. It's like the umame is missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 32 minutes ago, pappysmarket said: My very unscientific pizza research consists of watching many, many Mexicans eat pizza at Costco. Almost without fail they slather ketchup on top and then eagerly consume said pizza slice. My question has always been: do they add ketchup because so little tomato sauce is provided or does the baker know their audience and knows they don't like regular tomato sauce but love ketchup? If they started to prepare it with ketchup in the first place I could probably (even me) figure out the answer. I think it's the same reason they put ketchup and/or hot sauce on popcorn at the movies. Yikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 No pizza stone? Re-heated pizza in oven, then crisp crust in frying pan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 13 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said: I think it's the same reason they put ketchup and/or hot sauce on popcorn at the movies. Yikes. Don't forget hot sauce and lime on potato chips. Never seen ketchup, hot sauce yes, on popcorn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappysmarket Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 23 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said: I think it's the same reason they put ketchup and/or hot sauce on popcorn at the movies. Yikes. ......And potato chips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 For a different sauce on pizza, try spicey mustard, specially on pizza with a lot of meat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Concerning the ketchup on pizza, according to my in-laws it is like the saying "Monkey sees, Monkey do". Just like hot sauce, they learn from watching others. After trying it, they decide if they like it or not. I guess they don't know that they need to follow the rules from NOB. Also, there are other countries where ketchup is used on pizza. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Tiny said: No pizza stone? Re-heated pizza in oven, then crisp crust in frying pan. Yep, I have it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Berca Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Ferret said: I guess it's all a matter of what you're used to or what you grew up with. I remember ordering a pizza with green peppers on it when in Detroit as a teen. Wow. They looked at me like I was from Mars. In the opinion of my humble taste buds, the only frozen pizza that's any good is Red Baron. Dress it up as you like. Even better than Costco which is not frozen. Nothing comes remotely close to Buddy's Pizza in Detroit, but I agree completely with you about Red Baron's frozen pizza, my favorite, which has plenty of sauce and real mozzarella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 3 hours ago, Tiny said: No pizza stone? Re-heated pizza in oven, then crisp crust in frying pan. I use a 14" clay comal. I put it in the oven when I turn the oven on to bake the pizza, the clay comal heats up and the unbaked pizza goes on a piece of parchment paper and then onto the bottom of the preheated clay comal. No dough goes up the sides of the comal. The clay comal was a 35 peso perfect solution to a more expensive pizza stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 4 hours ago, pappysmarket said: My very unscientific pizza research consists of watching many, many Mexicans eat pizza at Costco. Almost without fail they slather ketchup on top and then eagerly consume said pizza slice. My question has always been: do they add ketchup because so little tomato sauce is provided or does the baker know their audience and knows they don't like regular tomato sauce but love ketchup? If they started to prepare it with ketchup in the first place I could probably (even me) figure out the answer. My experience of Costco pizza is that it always has the right amount of tomato sauce on it, as opposed to Mexican pizza in general which definitely does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 12 minutes ago, More Liana said: I use a 14" clay comal. I put it in the oven when I turn the oven on to bake the pizza, the clay comal heats up and the unbaked pizza goes on a piece of parchment paper and then onto the bottom of the preheated clay comal. No dough goes up the sides of the comal. The clay comal was a 35 peso perfect solution to a more expensive pizza stone. Make sure you test the clay for lead. Parchment paper should not go over a certain temperature, I think it is 400F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bisbee Gal Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 The best way to either reheat leftover pizza or to "bake" the pre-baked store-bought ones is to throw it on the grill. My gas grill is well-seasoned (which means I rarely clean it). Preheat with all the burners on high to around 400 degrees (5 minutes for mine), then turn the burners to their lowest setting and grill the pizza (lid closed) until the cheese is melted (for reheats at room temperature usually 4 or 5 minutes). It gives the pizza a quasi wood-fired taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Ironically, my Breville toaster oven... which has a PIZZA setting... reheats pizza best on the TOAST setting. Because it has burners top and bottom, both giving off the same heat, thus ensuring never-burned crust and melted cheese. (The Pizza setting itself is great for fresh or frozen pizza.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 20 hours ago, Tiny said: Make sure you test the clay for lead. Parchment paper should not go over a certain temperature, I think it is 400F. Tiny, I appreciate your advice. Clear-glazed terra cotta pottery isn't the problem, though. Nor is the clay itself. The possible danger from leached lead comes from colorful glazed terra cotta pottery, particularly the pottery that is painted with orange, yellow, and red. Lead is generally leached out of colored glazes by their prolonged contact with acidic fruits and vegetables, like pineapple and tomatoes. If you're making caprese salad in a highly colorful talavera plate, you might want to think about that. Otherwise, my comal isn't going to cause any problems. You're welcome to come on over for pizza. Here's an article about using parchment paper at higher temperatures. https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5858-parchment-that-wont-get-parched As often as I make pizza, I'm not going to worry about either of these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 This is one article I read about glazed pots that had lead. I didn't see anything about "colorful glazed". It said several marked "lead free" had lead. Why assume? https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2014/474176/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusMactavish Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 I have never seen a clay comal NOB and assume they are made for domestic use. I doubt that they contain lead and anyway, they are not "glazed pots" as tested in the report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 I guess I need my eyes checked because I swear it said "cook pots" somewhere in the article. My last words are, "If you want to assume your clay pots are lead free, best wishes to your's and your family's health.". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusMactavish Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 2 minutes ago, Tiny said: "If you want to assume your clay pots are lead free, best wishes to your health.". 1 False Equivalency: a comal is not a pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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