September 5th is National Cheese Pizza Day. How about going beyond mozzarella with this Detroit Pizza recipe?

The classic Detroit pizza uses mozzarella plus brick cheese.
 
 
WHAT IS BRICK CHEESE?

Brick cheese is a specialty of Wisconsin, made in a brick-shaped form, a medium-hard cheese like Cheddar or Limburger. The mild and earthy flavor of the young cheese matures into a strong, ripe cheese with nutty, tangy flavors.

The color of brick cheese ranges from pale yellow (achieved with the addition of annatto vegetable dye) to white (the color of the milk used to make it). The rind is pale orange (photo #2).

Brick cheese is a good melter and slices well: perfect for pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches.

If there’s no brick cheese in your area, just substitute Cheddar or Limburger.

Food Trivia: Why is brick cheese spelled in all lower case but Cheddar, Limburger, and Parmesan begin with capital letters?

Because the latter three reflect the proper names of the towns where they originated (Cheddar, England; Limburg, The Netherlands; and Parma, Italy). Brick, like cream cheese, blue cheese, mozzarella, and others, are generic terms.
 
 
A SPECIAL PAN IS NEEDED

Another feature of Detroit Pizza is that it’s made in a rectangular pan with high sides.

The standard Detroit pizza pan is 8 x 10 x 2.25 inches. The depth enables the special crust (photos #3 and #4). You can get one on Amazon.

While you might demur at purchasing a specialty pan, the pan is equally good for baking, casseroles, roasting, etc.

In this recipe from Colavita, the brick cheese goes between the dough and the sides of the pan, so you get a crispy, cheesy outer pizza crust.

> The history of Detroit Pizza.

> The history of pizza.

> Another Detroit Pizza recipe with provolone and brick cheeses.
 
 
RECIPE: DETROIT PIZZA

See photo #1. You can add as many other toppings as you like.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 450°F. Allow the pizza dough to come to room temperature (if it’s been in the refrigerator, this will take about an hour).

2. DRIZZLE the pizza pan with olive oil, spreading it over the bottom and sides. Place the pizza dough into the pan and stretch it to the outer corners of the pan, creating a rectangle. If the dough stretches back, let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes and stretch again. Once you’ve stretched the dough, allow it to rest for 10 minutes until slightly puffed.

3. DRIZZLE the top of the dough with a little olive oil and place the pan with the dough in the oven. Bake for 6 minutes. This is called par-baking and will ensure a non-soggy pizza crust.

4. REMOVE the pan from the oven. Place the brick cheese in between the sides of the pizza and the sides of the pan. Don’t be afraid to really fill the spaces with cheese. This will give your pizza a truly crispy and cheesy edge. Sprinkle any remaining cheese over the top of the pizza.

5. SPRINKLE the mozzarella cheese on top of the pizza. Put the pan back in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking process. The cheese should be bubbling and golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven.

6. SPOON the crushed tomatoes over the top of the cheese. Sprinkle the Pecorino Romano cheese and the oregano over the top of the tomatoes. Return the pan to the oven and bake for just 2 more minutes

7. REMOVE the pan from the oven and allow it to rest for 2-5 minutes. Chisel the pizza from the pan using a spatula, and slide it onto a cutting board.

8. DRIZZLE with garlic EVOO, if desired, cut into squares and serve.

 
THE YEAR IN PIZZA HOLIDAYS

Whether you get takeout pizza or make your own, mark your calendars for:

[1] Detroit Pizza. The recipe is below (photo © Colavita).

[2] Brick cheese (photo © Wisconsin Dairy).

[3] A key feature of Detroit Pizza is the high, crunchy crust (photo © Joyride Pizza).

[4] Detroit Pizza with bacon and onions (photo © Detroit Style Pizza Co.).

[5] Detroit Pizza with lots of veggies (photos #5 and #6 © Joyride Pizza).

[6] Peppadews, fennel, red onion, and lots of grated Parmesan?

[7] America’s most popular pizza topping: pepperoni (photo © Jet’s Detroit Style Pizza)

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[1] Easy-to-make chocolate macadamia fudge (photo © Taste of Home).

[2] Macadamia nuts shelled.

[3] Macadamia nuts in the shell.

[4] Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate. This sweeter variety of baking chocolate was created in 1852 by Sam German, an Englishman who worked in the U.S. for Walter Baker & Company. The sweet chocolate gave its name to German Chocolate Cake. German’s Sweet Chocolate has nothing to do with Germany (photo © Kraft Heinz Foods).

We just whipped up an easy batch of macadamia nut fudge for National Macadamia Nut Day, September 4th. The recipe is from Vicki Fioranelli of Cleveland, Mississippi, with thanks to Taste Of Home which shared the recipe with us.

> The history of macadamia nuts.

> The history of fudge.
 
 
RECIPE: EASY MACADAMIA NUT FUDGE RECIPE

 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. LINE two 9-inch-square pans with foil; drape some of the foil over two opposite sides to use as “handles” later. Butter the foil with 2 teaspoons of butter. Set aside.

2. COMBINE the sugar, milk, and remaining butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. REMOVE from the heat; stir in 2 cups of the nuts, the chopped chocolate, chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, vanilla extract, and, if desired, the salt.

4. POUR the fudge into the prepared pans. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top and press in lightly. Refrigerate until firm.

5. TO REMOVE: Using the foil, lift the fudge out of the pans. Discard the foil. Cut the fudge into 1-inch squares. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts For 1 Piece: 72 calories, 4g fat (1g saturated fat), 2mg cholesterol, 14mg sodium, 10g carbohydrate (9g sugars, 0 fiber), 1g protein.
 
 
20 MORE MACADAMIA NUT RECIPES

Savory Recipes

 
 
Sweet Recipes

*Salt accentuates sweetness and suppresses bitterness. Just a touch brings out the flavor of chocolate and other foods.

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We love bacon, but not the nitrates and nitrates*, salts commonly used to cure meat. So we tried vegan bacon, which doesn’t include either.

We’ve enjoyed some tasty vegan bacon like Hooray Bacon, which is based on shiitake mushrooms.

But our colleague Hannah Kaminsky created her own recipe for shiitake-based bacon and has shared it with us.

“Crispy, caramelized shiitake caps retain a hearty, chewy bite after slowly roasting the oven,” she says. “Infused with richly savory, smoky flavors, shiitake mushrooms make even better bacon than meat.”

“Unlike conventional options, there’s no cholesterol, very little fat, plenty of fiber, and zero cruelty.”

The first Saturday in September is International Bacon Day, and we spent just 10 minutes prepping the ingredients.

Then comes the soak: The dehydrated shiitakes soak in the broth for 8 hours to 24 hours or longer (the longer the soak, the better the flavor).

So if you want shiitake bacon and eggs or a lunch of SBLT (shiitake bacon, lettuce, and tomato) or a “bacon cheeseburger,” start the night before.

> The different types of mushrooms.

> The history of mushrooms.
 
 
RECIPE: VEGAN SHIITAKE MUSHROOM BACON

Hannah prefers the Sugimoto brand of dried shiitake mushrooms, which are naturally grown in Japan’s forests (you can see a video on the website). You can find the brand in Asian markets or online.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together the water, soy sauce, olive oil, liquid smoke, maple syrup, paprika, instant coffee, and black pepper in a medium bowl. Add the dried shiitakes and stir thoroughly to combine.

2. TAMP down a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface, to cover and keep all the mushrooms submerged in the liquid. Refrigerate and let them soak for at least 8 hours. Longer is better; 24 hours would be ideal.

3. REMOVE the plastic and transfer the contents—mushrooms and liquid together—to a small saucepan (photo #3). Warm over medium heat until just boiling. Let rest until cool. Once the mushrooms are fully hydrated and cool enough to handle…

4. PREHEAT the oven to 300°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Remove the shiitakes from the brine, remove the stems and save them for another recipe. You can also save the brine as a poaching liquid. Or heat it as hot broth.

5. SLICE the caps into 1-cm wide strips. Spread them into as even a layer as possible on the baking sheet, without any pieces overlapping. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, carefully flipping the strips every 15 minutes or so to keep the entire batch cooking evenly.

6. COOK until the mushrooms are dry to the touch and highly aromatic. Straight out of the oven, the mushrooms will still be slightly soft to the touch but will crisp up nicely once cool. Let cool completely.

7. STORE at room temperature in an airtight container, for up to two weeks.
 
 
HOW TO USE SHIITAKE BACON

You can keep them in short strips, roughly chop them into bacon bits, or grind them into a fine powder to use as a savory sprinkle. Just a few of Hannah’s favorite ways to use shiitake bacon include:

[1] (recipe and photos #1 through #4 © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[2] Toss on a salad, top a burger or sandwich..

[3] The dried mushrooms are reconstituted in a flavorful broth that imparts the taste of bacon.

[4] Right out of the oven.

[5] Sugimoto brand dried shiitake mushrooms. You can find them on Amazon (photo © Sugimoto).

*While nitrates and nitrites are not themselves carcinogenic, they have the potential to react with other compounds to form carcinogens, during the processing of food [source].

†This particular shiitake mushroom is called “koshin” and is picked after the cap of the mushroom blooms into the umbrella.
 
 

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