Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The only chain pizza I eat is Uno's deep dish and that's on business trips since the chain is nowhere near me. In New England, deep dish pretty much doesn't exist so having a pizza Jon Stewart would loathe is a real treat once in a while. Chicago Classic with the sausage is what I order.
Why would you buy pizza that tastes like cardboard from a chain when there are many family owned pizzerias in the same vicinity?
It's your money to do as you wish though
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,329 posts, read 54,358,694 times
Reputation: 40731
Quote:
Originally Posted by joee5
Why would you buy pizza that tastes like cardboard from a chain when there are many family owned pizzerias in the same vicinity?
It's your money to do as you wish though
Apparently there are 10 plus types of pizza crust types.
To make it simple for myself and others, I will categorize them as thin, original or thick (this last one includes Chicago and deep dish styles). You are free to change the categories as you wish.
Do you prefer thin, original or thick crust pizzas when ordering takeout pizza?
-- I love Pizza Hut thin crust far more than their other crusts.
-- However, for Papa Johns, I prefer their original crust (but will only try their thick/pan crust for the first time today). Did not like their thin crust.
-- Have not ordered Domino's or Little Caesars lately.
it Italy there is only one type of crust, thin and with only 4 ingredients: yeast, water, salt and flour. the rest is an american invention, not necessarily better. All the dough that is used by pizza chains is bought frozen and it contains preservatives. so it really doesn't matter what the thickness of the crust: the dough is the same.
I'm another snob, haven't had chain pizza in decades (since renting a room from a guy who had 5 Papa Johns). Given that I live REALLY rural, if I want pizza, I'm making it myself. Have a NY/Lehmann style doughball cold-proofing in the fridge right now for this weekend (takes about 4 days). If I'm traveling, I'll seek out single-establishment places to eat, hopefully well out of the tourist circle.
As for crust, I tend to eat mostly the "hand tossed" middle ground. Since building a wood fired oven (and a trip to Naples, Italy), I've been eating more Neapolitan style (very thin) pizzas though. I do *NOT* like "pizza casseroles", AKA Deep Dish. Working at Pizza hut as a teen, many decades ago, completely turned me off from ever eating that type of pizza again (or anything Pizza Hut ~ wanna take all your interest in eating out, go work in a kitchen of one of those places... yuck!).
Why would you buy pizza that tastes like cardboard from a chain when there are many family owned pizzerias in the same vicinity?
It's your money to do as you wish though
I tend to like Pizza Hut thin crust and it fits my budget. To a lesser extent, I also like Papa John's original crust. Last time I tried Domino's a while back, I did not like it.
But in general, of course chain pizza is going to be inferior to family owned restaurant pizza....barring some exceptions. Not all family owned pizza places have great pizza. In fact some in my past locality were caught using cheap and expired ingredients and making the pizzas in very bad sanitary conditions...something chains can not risk usually.
However, the main point of this thread (which I should have elaborated) was so that we all have similar frames of comparison.
Your local family joint most likely has no local branch in my vicinity for comparison purposes. If it did, it would become a chain anyway.
I do like reading about your local joints, but am even more interested in recommendations from the menus of large chains.
And most chain pizzas do not taste like cardboard to me even though that is a very common stereotype.
Disclaimer: I might have tasted cardboard several decades ago, but am not sure of the exact taste so guessing :-))
Last edited by usernametaken; 06-08-2018 at 09:07 AM..
What’s worth doing is worth doing badly. I like pizza so much I like almost any pizza, even a Tombstone (actually I think Tombstones are pretty good, especially in a Midwestern tavern with a glass of Old Style). Sure, I prefer the “old neighborhood” Chicago thin crust cut in squares I had most of my life but I’m not a snob about it.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,329 posts, read 54,358,694 times
Reputation: 40731
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M
I'm another snob, haven't had chain pizza in decades (since renting a room from a guy who had 5 Papa Johns). Given that I live REALLY rural, if I want pizza, I'm making it myself. Have a NY/Lehmann style doughball cold-proofing in the fridge right now for this weekend (takes about 4 days). If I'm traveling, I'll seek out single-establishment places to eat, hopefully well out of the tourist circle.
As for crust, I tend to eat mostly the "hand tossed" middle ground. Since building a wood fired oven (and a trip to Naples, Italy), I've been eating more Neapolitan style (very thin) pizzas though. I do *NOT* like "pizza casseroles", AKA Deep Dish. Working at Pizza hut as a teen, many decades ago, completely turned me off from ever eating that type of pizza again (or anything Pizza Hut ~ wanna take all your interest in eating out, go work in a kitchen of one of those places... yuck!).
Tom Lehmann is generally known as the "Dough Doctor", pretty well known for that in fact. Started down the pizza perfection path in the late 1960's. Here's his basic recipe (and his website, more info there and on pizza forums if you want to go down the rabbit hole):
I took a foodie NYC vacation to sample as many different pizzas as possible within 5 days, what I make at home rivals the best I had in NYC and beats the worst (oddly, the most hyped too ~ or maybe not odd at all). Takes time, but I only do it every 6~8 weeks so no big deal.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,329 posts, read 54,358,694 times
Reputation: 40731
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M
Tom Lehmann is generally known as the "Dough Doctor", pretty well known for that in fact. Started down the pizza perfection path in the late 1960's. Here's his basic recipe (and his website, more info there and on pizza forums if you want to go down the rabbit hole):
I took a foodie NYC vacation to sample as many different pizzas as possible within 5 days, what I make at home rivals the best I had in NYC and beats the worst (oddly, the most hyped too ~ or maybe not odd at all). Takes time, but I only do it every 6~8 weeks so no big deal.
Thanks for this, I occasionally get the urge to bounce dough off the ceiling! I visited Montreal some years ago and while we didn't go for pizza we ate at a number of places. What stuck in my mind more than anything was wherever we went, the bread was simply OUTSTANDING! It truly amazes me what flour, yeast, salt, and water can produce in the right hands! Pizza dough the same way, there's a number of places near me that are decent but my favorite, the crust is thin without being cracker-like and has a bit of a chew to it, between the crust, sauce, cheese, and I usually get sausage topping, there's a balance with nothing overwhelming anything else. Simple food I would choose over many far more complicated dishes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
