Food from Childhood

This is our last pizza post for a while.  We’re pizza’d out.  Today it’s Oli’s pizza pie.  Yeah, we know pizza is otherwise known as pizza pie, but Oli’s pizza pie is just that – a pie.  Bottom crust, top crust, filing.  I think of it as Oli’s riff on scacciata.

As a kid when walking home from school, sometimes the timing was right.  We passed Jackson’s pizza just as a huge tray of piping hot scacciata was being slid out of the pizza oven.  That was cause to pause and snack.  Ska-cha-ta is an Italian meat pie.  The word comes from scacco, meaning square.  The pie at Jackson’s was filled with ground beef and onions, seasoned with oregano and other Italian spices.  This succulent filling was sandwiched between pizza dough that had a just right bready consistency and a crunchy crust.  This generous, savory meat square was a fine after school snack that we munched on the walk home. 

Getting back to Oli’s pie, he used his own favorites for the filling: pizza sauce, cheese, ham, bell peppers and of course a chili pepper.

With this post our pizza series comes to a close.  We’ve made dough and tomato sauce from scratch.  Then we did the classic thin crust pizza, a Swedish pizza (under a salad), a calzone and a true pizza pie all from the basic recipes for dough and sauce.  Have some fun, be creative and let us know what you add to the basics to make it your own.

I understand that there are several pizzerias within walking distance of where I’ll be staying in Rzeszow.  Maybe we’ll check one out.  But I am really looking forward to the traditional Polish fare that I grew up with.  Food that grammy used to make.  Dishes like bigos (hunter’s stew), gołąbki (stuffed cabbage), barszcz (beat soup), placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes), pierogi  (dumplings with either a savory or sweet filling), makowiec (poppy seed cake), sernik (Polish cheese cake), naleśniki ( crepes savory or sweet). . .

 OMG, family, friends, food. . . I can’t wait!

Do widzenia!

 Oli’s Pizza Pie

This recipe makes three pizza pies.

1 recipe Thin Crust Pizza Daugh
1 1/2 cups Pizza Sauce
3 cups grated cheese of your choice (not less then 25% fat, I used a Gouda 31% fat)
Additional toppings of your choice, all thinly sliced.

(Oli used ham, tomatoes, green and yellow bell peppers and one chili.  If you use a chili, finely chop it.)

2 cloves garlic, grated
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

While the pies are baking mix garlic with olive oil in a small bow.  Reserve.

Preheat the oven to 450 F

Divide the dough into six equal pieces.

1.  Place one portion of dough on a floured surface and sprinkle dough with more flour.
2.  Make about 1/4 inch borders by pressing the dough with your fingers all the way around. This will give you higher sides and no risk the sauce and the cheese will slip out while baking and also gives you crunchy crust on the sides.

3.   Now press the middle to even it out and start stretching the dough  with your fingers, stay  inside the built up edge that you made.

4.   Turn the dough over and do exactly the same thing.  (Make sides and stretch the dough.)  This time carefully stretch the dough to about a 11-inch round.  Dust off as much of the flour that you can and place it on a lightly floured baking tray.

5.   Spread pizza sauce evenly over the surface keeping away from the sides.  Top with cheese and then the other toppings you are using.

6. Make the top crust by either rolling out the second dough with a rolling pin or stretching it out as you did with the bottom. This time though, don’t build up the sides.  Keep it flat all around.  Stretch the top to at least 11-inches as well.

7.   Dust off as much flour as you can from the dough and position it on top of the filling.  Seal the edges by pressing them together with your fingers.  Cut a small hole (air vent) in the middle of the pie to allow the steam to escape.

8.   Bake in preheated oven about 10 minutes or until golden.
9.   As soon as you take the pies out of the oven, give the garlic oil a stir then brush the tops with your garlic infused oil.

Enjoy !

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