Reading Quiz 4.4

 Most people have had red pizza, or pizza covered with red sauce, but have you ever had white pizza?  White pizza is made in almost the same way as red pizza: the dough rises and is rolled out, toppings are applied, and it is cooked in an oven—but the key difference is that white pizza does not have any tomato sauce on it.  Instead, a white pizza may have olive oil or no sauce at all.  I like white pizza more than red pizza because you can really taste the ingredients.  Adding some fresh tomatoes to a white pizza will give it that tomato flavor without the completely overwhelming taste of the red sauce that covers most pizzas.  If you have not had a white pizza, I recommend that you order or make one today.

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The foundation of every pizza is the crust, and good crust comes from good dough.  You might be surprised to learn that pizza dough is made from nothing more than flour, water, yeast, olive oil, salt, and sometimes sugar.  Start by adding your yeast packet to a cup of warm water.  Let the yeast activate, and then add two cups of flour, two tablespoons of olive oil, two teaspoons of sugar, and a teaspoon of salt.  Mix all of that together and wait half an hour for the dough to rise.  Now you’re ready to roll it out!

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Cooking the perfect pizza at home can be quite a challenge.  You may find that it’s difficult to get your oven to the right temperature.  If the oven is too hot the crust will burn, become hard, and taste bad.  If your oven isn’t hot enough, the crust may get soggy.  Even at the perfect temperature, extra moisture from your ingredients may prevent the bottom of the crust from fully cooking, but don’t let oven temperature stop you from building the pizza of your dreams.  Get yourself a pizza stone.  A pizza stone will get very hot when preheated and will allow your crust to fully cook without burning it.  Then you can pile the ingredients on your pizza and have a crispy crust that isn’t burned.  That’s the way to go.

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Pizza is often viewed as a junk food, and it is true that some pizzas are high in salt, fat, and calories, but there may also be some benefit to eating pizza.  Some studies have found that lycopene, an antioxidant that exists in tomato products that are often used in pizza, may prevent some forms of cancer.  Dr. Silvano Gallus, of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan, studied the eating habits of people who developed cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and colon.  He concluded that people who ate pizza at least once a week had significantly less chance of developing these cancers.  Here’s to your health.

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Jimmy’s pizzeria is my favorite pizza place in the city, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that just by looking at the outside.  It is an inconspicuous brown brick building.   It doesn’t even have a sign, just the name of the establishment in three-inch letters on the storefront window.  The inside isn’t much to speak of either.  There are some chrome swivel stools along a laminate countertop that makes an L shape, separating the register and kitchen area from the dining area.  Booth seating lines the eating area of the restaurant area and a few favorable reviews from local publications are framed and displayed on the walls.  Yeah, the aesthetics of the place are a little underwhelming, but forget the scenery.  I go to Jimmy’s for the pizza.

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