Hello folks.

[yebeni]

I am joining your community from Istanbul Turkey.  My boss owns a little bistro and he asked me to help him out with his menu. We were paying around with the idea of American style pizza and beleive me when I say this Pizza Hut or any other so called American pizza places we have down here who claim they are making American pizzas are fooling themselves along with the rest of my country. I spent 8 years in the states so I am quite confident in my ability to differentiate between what they make versus the real deal.

So I searched some stuff from the internet decided to go with Papa Johns recipe. High Gluten flour is not something that is well known around these parts. My search on that came up with information on flour our pastry shops use for making Baklavas. I am not sure if it is the same exact flour that is the reason why I was wondering if someone from here can list the ingredients of the High Gluten flour you guys use in U.S?

Also the mozerall cheese I used comes out lot browner and burned lot less elastic and melty than what I was used to seeing in the states. I was wondering if I should use provolone cheese or is there a special kind of mozeralla I should look into. Ofcourse it could just be the oven settings heat being too high or something. I followed Papa Johns dough recipe that was given here by Randy(if I am not mistaken) on these forums.

Finally the pj sauce we make  comes out pinkish. The sauce I remember is red. Can anyone help me out with that as well?

Thanx in advance for all the possible replies.

[Pete-zza]

yebeni,

I have made baklava many times and have several Greek cookbooks, and the flour that is used is generally all-purpose flour. High-gluten flour will have a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, by about 2.7% for most U.S. brands.

Two of the most popular high-gluten flours used in the U.S. are the General Mills All Trumps flour and the King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour. To see the characteristics of the two flours, you may want to take a look here: http://www.gmiflour.com/gmflour/Flour_SpecSheet/AllTrumpsUnbl%20Brom50121.doc, and
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/4a1eb4311b0be08b2b590b39ac3f2c77/download/Primary%20sell%20sheet.pdf. The General Mills product is bromated (and bleached) so I suspect you may want to look for something that is non-bromated because of local or EC regulations. But at least the above specs will tell you what you should generally be looking for.

On the cheese matter, you can use provolone cheese but unless you mix it with something else, it may be overpowering. U.S. pizza operators often blend the provolone cheese with mozzarella cheese, with the mozzarella dominating percentagewise (e.g., 75% mozzarella and 25% provolone). You might consider muenster cheese as an alternative to the mozzarella if muenster is available in Istanbul. I think Little Caesar's uses, or once used, muenster.

Peter

[Ronzo]

Havarti cheese melts well too, IMO. I've used it mixed with Mozzarella and it blends great, for my taste anyway.

Not sure if you're able to find Havarti in Turkey or not, though.

[Randy]

I am curious having never visited your most intersting country.  What would be your most popular item on your menu?

Randy

[yebeni]

I am curious having never visited your most intersting country.  What would be your most popular item on your menu?

Randy

Definitely the pizza if we could get it right. All the places we have around here with a semi-exception of Little Ceasers (they have the best cheese) are not any where near what the taste should be but our people flock em. It is sad really. It really kills me when they come up to me and say "This is the best American Pizza I ever had".

[scott r]

After just visiting Amsterdam, I wonder how gouda would taste on a pizza.  I am pretty sure that it is what most of the pizzerias were using but, gasp, I actually did not try any pizza there.  I had the gouda with bread and it sure was gooda.  The food there was crazy.  A very popular item was huge hot dogs in a bun topped with what looked like a pound of melted gouda and pizza toppings.  I saw some with peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc.  I was afraid to try one, but it looked like some of them also had tomato sauce under the cheese.  Pizza dogs were everywhere!

[eric r]

Pat had never had pizza in all his life, but when Dave Brown ordered the
chicken and smoked gouda in Nick's dressing room, he finally caved.  Now
he's hooked on (gasp) Pizza Hut buffalo style.  All this from a person who
doesn't like cheese...

[Rene]

I am joining your community from Istanbul Turkey.  My boss owns a little bistro and he asked me to help him out with his menu. We were paying around with the idea of American style pizza and beleive me when I say this Pizza Hut or any other so called American pizza places we have down here who claim they are making American pizzas are fooling themselves along with the rest of my country. I spent 8 years in the states so I am quite confident in my ability to differentiate between what they make versus the real deal.

So I searched some stuff from the internet decided to go with Papa Johns recipe. High Gluten flour is not something that is well known around these parts. My search on that came up with information on flour our pastry shops use for making Baklavas. I am not sure if it is the same exact flour that is the reason why I was wondering if someone from here can list the ingredients of the High Gluten flour you guys use in U.S?

Also the mozerall cheese I used comes out lot browner and burned lot less elastic and melty than what I was used to seeing in the states. I was wondering if I should use provolone cheese or is there a special kind of mozeralla I should look into. Ofcourse it could just be the oven settings heat being too high or something. I followed Papa Johns dough recipe that was given here by Randy(if I am not mistaken) on these forums.

Finally the pj sauce we make  comes out pinkish. The sauce I remember is red. Can anyone help me out with that as well?

Thanx in advance for all the possible replies.

I like the balls of Mozerella, Tre stelle makes a good mozerella, and mixed with Provolone and Jack or even a bit of Asiago makes a nice blend of flavors and texture for your pizza