I want to bring a homemade pizza over to a friend

[wildeyed]

who just had a baby. What is the best way to do this? Cook the entire thing and have them reheat, cook the crust lightly and let them bake enough to melt the cheese, etc, or just bring the entire thing over raw. I don't think my friend has a peel, so it might be difficult getting a raw pizza into the oven.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. You could bake the naked crust and make the pizza there

Just bake the crust enough to get it nice and 'structurally sound'. Then cart the ingredients over there, top it and bake it.

Think Boboli .....


http://boboli.gwbakeries.com/

[wildeyed]

2. I am going to drop it by in the AM,

let them heat it for dinner. But I may not use sauce. I have some sundried tomatoes, so I might put those on top of the cheese, wrap with plastic wrap, and let them heat it up when they get around to dinner. That way the crust won't get soggy while it waits to get heated.

[NMDemDist2]

3. make them Chicago style, deep dish and they can pour the sauce

over the top right before heating :shrug: here's emeril's recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 cups thinly sliced green bell peppers
1 pound Italian sausage links, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 recipe of Basic Pizza Dough
12 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the peppers. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to saute for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. In a large saute pan, over medium heat, add the sausage and render for 4 to 6 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Divide the dough in half and roll into a 14-inch circle, about 1/2-inch thick. Press the dough into 2 greased 12-inch deep-dish pizza pans. Sprinkle each pizza with 6 ounces of the grated cheese. Spoon 1/2 of the onion and pepper mixture over each pizza. Sprinkle 1/2 of the sausage over the onion mixture on each pizza. Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce over the top of each pizza. Sprinkle each pizza with 1 tablespoon of oregano. Bake the pizzas for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pizza from the oven and cut into individual servings.

[wildeyed]

4. I have no deep dish pizza pan.

Maybe a regular pie pan? At any rate, I baked the dough already a la H2S's Boboli suggestion, so that ship may have sailed already. But maybe I can tweak the recipe a little and still use it. I made a pizza for the family and it was a bit bland without the sauce. Maybe I will cut up a few canned tomatoes and put them on top of the cheese :shrug:

Honestly, these people are so sleep deprived, they probably wouldn't notice if I topped the pizza with library paste, as long it had calories :rofl: I don't mean to be nasty, but damn I am glad I don't have a newborn, cause boy do I remember that sleep deprivation pain.

[NMDemDist2]

5. i think emeril's called for a pie plate--that's what I use I have a couple

9" glass pie plates that work fine. BTW I have gone thrifting 4 times and haven't found any molds for you, but i'm still looking!

[wildeyed]

6. Don't worry about the molds.

If you see one great, if not, that is fine, too. I could give it a try myself, but I so hate shopping with the kids and I never have time on my own.