Read on for musings on bread and it's fancy cousin, pizza. Both favorites in the food world, they're widely-loved across the world.
Bread is such an amazing food. There are so many different kinds of bread: fluffy,
flaky, French, rye, wheat, honey wheat, you name it, there is a kind of bread. And it is so filling. Some of the best bread concoctions are when there is a topping involved. Simple bread and butter can be delicious, but also bread that has been baked with a kind of cheese on top and spices in the bread itself. Focaccia bread can be delicious with fancy cheese melted on top of it. There is something about bread with baked cheese on top that makes people go wild.
Taking that a step further gets you to grilled cheeses. So in this case, there is melted cheese in between two slices of bread, also known as heaven. Put in some tomato, butter and Cajun spices and you kick it up a notch. Even further, if you make it a sandwich with melted cheese on top instead of inside and some toasted ham in the middle of the bread, you get a croque monsieur, another delight of the palate.
But who made the leap to flatten the dough of the bread out in a circle, put pasta sauce on it, put cheese on it, and then put more toppings on it, bake it all up, and cut into triangular slices? This individual or group of people would be regarded by many as a genius for creating such a popular and delicious food.
These pies can be made with the traditional red sauce, but also with other sauces, such as alfredo. This sauce is particularly good with lighter toppings such as spinach, garlic, and artichoke hearts. It can even taste great with only cheese and Italian spices, forgoing additional toppings altogether. Another good thing is to have a mix of cheeses, not just mozzarella. I like to have some parmesan in the mix as well as the mozzarella. Red sauce can be amazing with meat toppings, but an addition of veggies can really make a pie taste great. Many people leave the veggies off and go for all meat toppings like sausage, pepperoni, and ham. Other traditional and popular toppings include green peppers, onions, olives, and an array of other complimentary vegetables.
Another favorite preparatory techniques is making a stuffed crust with cheese. Imagine if you took a mozzarella stick and wrapped the crust around it at the edges, you will get a crust with a gooey, delicious center of cheese. This method is for the serious cheese lovers only. When stuffed crust is involved, it's like having an appetizer attached to your main course! Tear off the crust and dip it in marinara or just leave it on the slice for a bonus snack at the end of the delicious journey each piece takes you on, from first bite to last.
