Pizza #5 – Lasagna Pizza(s)

This pizza has required a lot of thinking. What gives a pizza the name? Does a pizza have to have cheese? Is it a pizza if you cannot pick it up and eat it with your hands? And what about lasagna – does lasagna pizza require lasagna noodles?

First thing I did was call my mom. Lasagna is my favorite food of all time and we only have it for my birthday and Christmas, and that is it. It is a special calorie-packed dish that takes some time to make. I love my grandma’s secret recipe for lasagna so much. I would never bother trying anyone else’s layered noodle dish because it can’t get anymore more perfect than this. I wouldn’t even take the chance. If you don’t like lasagna, then you need to keep trying different recipes because you most likely just had one with the wrong ingredients.

After determining a plan with my mom, then modifying it and rethinking the process, I searched the web for ideas and to see if this has been done. If you find a recipe for what I am about to explain below, please share it with me! I could not find (in my 20-minute search) exactly what I am trying to accomplish.

The 5 Goals for Pizza #5:

1. Keeping in mind it is PIZZA month, the priority here is pizza. This dish needs to be true to the definition.
   • Our dear friends at Merriam-Webster claim “Pizza [is] a dish made typically of flattened bread dough spread with a savory mixture usually including tomatoes and cheese and often other toppings and baked. — called also pizza pie.”
   • The rest of the definitions are basically the same, all involving some kind of bread and something savory.
2. The last few pizzas we made have been rectangular. Let’s go back to the classic round shape for this one.
3. Personally, I think a pizza needs to at least give the option of picking it up and eating it with your hands. This might be a challenge with the layers, but we will give it a go.
4. The taste needs to reflect lasagna (casserole) and make the consumer think of lasagna.
5. There needs to be layers. We are trying to get 3, but require at least 2.

Plan of attack:

My initial thought is to make 2 pies. I have 2 spring form tins that I will form the dough in, then in Pie_N I will layer noodles, and in Pie_D I will layer more dough. The challenge with Pie_D will be to get the lasagna senses tingling without the noodles.

Let’s take a traditional lasagna recipe and compare it to a classic cheese pizza. After perusing several food blogs and recipes and learning a great deal what people think a pizza and lasagna require, this is the takeaway:

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There are a couple of ingredients we see on both lists: tomato sauce, mozzarella, garlic and salt. Of course everyone feels differently, if not passionately about what a pizza or a lasagna should entail. Generally, most of the recipes I saw repeated these essential ingredients.

My initial thoughts lead me to question if a thin crust could hold up to layers of pizza on top. It is unlikely. We will have to save the thin crust for the middle layers of Pie_D. In which case we need two different dough recipes. For these monthly food challenge recipes, I am intentionally using simple ingredients without too much spice or flavor so that they incorporate well, nothing overpowers the taste of anything else, and each element is well balanced and given the respect it deserves. Considering that, I will opt for beef over sausage. The closest I found in my internet search, was a blog called The Food in my Beard. I will be borrowing and modifying the deep dish pizza dough recipe he used from Macheesemo.

Reflection:

What really made Pie_N (‘N’ for Noodles) mimic lasagna so well was the noodles. If the crust was lower and it was cut right out of the oven, my husband said it would take a second to realize there was dough on the bottom and it was actually a pizza. The aspect that brought out the pizza sense was the traditional round pie shape, and consequently the triangular slices. The thick sauce mixture helped convince me of both pasta and pizza. When we went to eat leftovers, it reheated really well and was much easier to pick up and eat by hand.

Take-Home Tips: The flavors were cheesy, but honestly could have incorporated more spice. You might add another onion, 2 more cloves of garlic and some basil, or the hot Italian sausage could do the trick. If you aren’t a fan of too much spice, then it will be ideal as described. The top edge of the crust was too crispy, as it was not covered by the layers. To fluff the layers some, try adding shredded mozzarella with each cheese step. Alternatively, cut the crust, don’t pull it to the top of the pie dish, or use a shorter dish. Although we baked ours at 425F for 30 minutes, after the 7 minutes of blind bake, I went ahead and modified the recipe below to reduce the crispy crust along the edge. We are accomplishing this by baking the crust at a lower temperature for a longer period of time (3 additional minutes), then adding the layers and continuing to bake 5 more minutes than the original 30. Both instances have 2-3 minutes of broil. To reduce the time it takes to prepare day of, make the meat sauce, cheese mixture, and doughs the night before. For the doughs, use active dry yeast rather than fast acting if you make ahead.

Scoring: Giving a 9 out of 10 for accomplishing a lasagna pizza. We accomplished 4 of the 5 goals. Although I was stubborn enough to eat mine with my hands, no one else would, therefore it did not quite tick the box. We accomplished two full layers, with an extra layer of cheese and meat sauce on each. As an overall pizza, it is unfair to give a novelty pizza higher than a 7 of 10. This could deserve a 6 or 7. One slice is enough to fill the stomach, it is very cheesy which is really why we eat pizza, and it holds up for days of left overs.

Other requirements: For the 26 unique ingredients I incorporated into these pies, it took about 4.5 hours from the first brew of yeast, to the final cool down and cut. I don’t think it should have taken that long, but be prepared your first time. You either need two 8×8 pie dishes, casserole dishes, or spring form rounds. I successfully utilized the spring form option and recommend it if you have the ability because its is easier to get the pizzas out and cut them. You will also need a rolling pin (wine or 2 liter bottles also work if you wash them beforehand).

Alright, here it goes.