Double Pepper, Double Pepperoni Pizza

The pizza pie is a staple in most households. It’s so easy to order up cheesy, doughy delight – hell, they’ll even bring it to you. But there’s a satisfaction when you do it yourself. Even when you fail (which you’ll see today). I bought a ‘dough kit’ and after watching a YouTube video, thought I could throw the dough and make a pie easy-peasy. Not the case. Let’s get rolling with my attempt at a RecTeq, pizza stone pizza.

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Recipe

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I mean, I’ll post the recipe, but it’s a pizza pie. Add ingredients, heat & eat. I didn’t do anything extra special to highlight a specific recipe note – but what I do differently than maybe some – a double pepperoni layer. Keep on reading to see what I did, why I did it, what happened I failed, and how I overcame it.

And hey, hope y’all have a happy 4th of July weekend. Tomorrow (July 2) is actually when America declared independence, but hell.. let’s celebrate all weekend! While allegedly Norway eats more pizza per-person, America still consumes 350 slices per second. Didn’t come here for a history lesson – let’s get at it.

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The Prep Table

I love me a Detroit-style pizza. I love me a thin crust pizza. I just really love pizza in general. What I would love even more is to be able to make a restaurant quality pie that even MrsForensicBBQ would eat. (Stay tuned, we gotta try a Detroit-style deep dish soon). The Mrs loves the Chicago-style deep dish, but after having spent about 2 months in Chicago – it’s over-rated. Unpopular opinion – but honest.

Enough of my Chicago-style trash talk, let’s get these veggies sliced. Another unpopular opinion – Pineapple is good on a pizza. I didn’t do it for this one, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t appropriate. It works. Thinly sliced my green peppers, jalapenos, and onions and we’re about ready to go. The pepperoni is already sliced, so we just have to whip up the dough.

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The Process

Dough kit, so add water and knead. Did my best and covered it up for the rest. This part ain’t anything special, so we’ll get right on moving.

We’re firing up the RecTeq for 500 degrees. I never really do “FUL” or just full-blown maxxed out, but 500 on the stone is just fine. Coated it with a thin layer of olive oil and let it roll. The stone needs to get hot, so when your RecTeq says 500, give it a little bit of time afterward to make sure we’re rolling hot. I let it sit at 500 for another half hour or so – you know, just burning pellets.

Let’s see how I top a pie.

That’s my method. I put a pepperoni layer atop the sauce then add the cheese to give it a little meatier of a pie. That Cup n’ Crisp pepperoni on top has always been my style. A local joint calls it “old-world style” pepperoni, but that’s what makes it pizza in my mind. Grease pooling in the meat cup, super crispy, that’s what I want. Is that what I got on the first go-around? Not even close.

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The Result

Y’all get honesty on this site. I failed so miserably on this transfer. I whipped up a pretty good sized dough, topped it nicely on a pie tin – and then it was time to slide it over to the pizza stone. It did not slide AT ALL. I took a spatula to it – no love whatsoever. Half of it was willing to work with me, the other half told me to f@#*! off. Yeah? I told it to F$*! off right back, we’ll do a calzone then. Don’t rain on my parade.

This move is the patent-pending “unintended calzone”. Sure, I wanted a pizza, but I’ll settle for a calzone. Once half of it made it’s way on the stone, the other half got folded over and I just let it cook. Let it get nice and crispy on one side and then flip it and get it crispy on the next.

After a couple flips for consistency, it was ready to pull off. It was damn tasty. I had no regrets for the flavor, just the presentation. That being said, I had only used half the dough at this time. I floured the shit out of the pie pan this time to assist in the transfer. I did read from a follower on Instagram that “Semolina Flour” is the go-to for this move, but I didn’t have it. Using the same ingredients, the same process – we tried again for round two.

I’ll admit, I gotta work on the even application of the dough, but we actually have a pizza this time. I love me a crust, but even this crust was a little too doughy. It wasn’t a calzone, so we’re making some progress.

MrsForensicBBQ would be upset that she missed her husband literally tossing the pizza dough in the kitchen like he owns a pizzeria. If you can’t make it, fake it. Had music playing in the background, I’m tossing the pie like I know what I’m doing – it was fun. This might be the next joint post from us – we’ll see who can make a better pie.

I didn’t eat this one the day I made it. I ate most of the calzone, and it was delicious. This one was cooked, sliced, and refrigerated for the week. But I was happy with the result, especially knowing I can do better. MrsForensicBBQ and I made pizzas back when she was just Ms.VegetarianNoBBQ and I had to convince her to marry me. I tried pizzas, and I failed similarly back then as I did today. She was smitten by my imperfection.

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Late Extra!

One of the benefits to scheduling out my posts, is I can do some last minute changes/additions as things pop up. As I update this on Wednesday (6/29), I’ll share with you today’s pizza cook real quick! This main post featured a shitty hand-tossed pie. I tried, I know I can do better. This time, I made my own pizza sauce. Relatively simple, except I decided to add my super hot pepper blend to it – made a mess of it, inhaled it.. rubbed my eyes. It was a hilarious disaster. Since I whipped up that sauce, I had to do a pie. Here ya go!

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The Recipe