Thursday Night Pizza

saw him making these recipes on tv. so simple. got the book and does not disappoint.all are yummy and so easy to make. much better than going out

The recipes revolve a few basic ingredients, are easy to follow, and produce great results. The bread book is also a winner.

How typical that this Italian girl would find a book like this! I gave it five stars because it really beats out any other pizza book I've seen. From the moment I received Thursday Night Pizza—Father Dominic's Favorite Pizza Recipes, I was putting on my Italian flag apron and getting out my pizza stones. Written by Father Dominic Garramone, O.S.B., of public television's "Breaking Bread" show, this monk certainly knows his way around the kitchen. After all, he's been in charge of making pizzas for his fellow monks for twenty years. Ask them, and they'll tell you that nobody makes pizza like Father Dom.Why Thursday, you ask? After all, isn't Friday night usually pizza night? Not at the Saint Bede Abbey in Peru, IL, because Friday is a fasting day year 'round. This makes Thursday nights at the abbey haustus night. Haustus is derived from the Latin hausere, meanig "to be filled. " And fill up these monks do on Thursdays, with relaxing community time and recreation, music, rousing games of Uno and Scrabble, lots of yummy snacks and drinks, and, of course, Father Dom's incredible pizzas. With this 115-page book of Father Dom's from Reedy Press (2010), we can be there on haustus night with the priests...well, sort of!I was a little skeptical at first. I mean, I already had my own versions of homemade pizza dough and sauce, and my family and I liked them just fine, thank you very much. But I was intrigued. And I love cookbooks. And to top it off, Father Dom seemed funny with a good sense of humor. And a paisan, to be sure! But deep down, I just knew my dough and sauce would win out over Father Dom's! Off to the confessional to confess the sin of pride...but first: time to make the dough!After studying Father Dom's instructions and techniques, I shooed everyone out of the kitchen. It was time to get to work and I didn't want any distractions. It was my own version of Bobby Flay's smackdown...except Father Dom wasn't in my kitchen. It would have to be an imaginary culinary smackdown!I opted for the Basic American-Style Pizza Crust from page 30, since it was closest to the one I usually make.Doing an inventory of the recipes included in the book, I found that Father Dom offers 19 pizza options and two dessert-style pizzas. He also includes five tasty appetizers. But I wanted dinner. I did a quick check of what I already had on hand, and decided on the Broccoli Chicken Pizza. It called for preparing his white veloute sauce, not your basic tomato sauce, but it sounded delicious, so I forged ahead.I made the dough, and liked what I saw as it rose. It was rising beautifully. I was impressed by the texture. Okay, chalk one up for Father Dom.Next, I started the veloute sauce, which is a white sauce made with chicken stock, butter, flour and milk. I seasoned with salt and pepper and sneaked a taste. Yum! Velvety and creamy. Father Dom's 2 for 0.I chopped broccoli and some leftover cooked chicken. I opened a can of black olives and sliced those.It was finally time to assemble the pizza...and bake it at a whopping 500 degrees on my pizza stone. The temperature seemed a little high, but I wanted to follow Father Dom's recipe exactly.As it baked and I smelled the delicious aroma, I knew I'd be a goner. And when it came out? As I bit into it, I heard angels singing. The sun burst through the clouds. Yes, it was that incredible. The crust was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, just like Father Dom had promised. I promise to always, always use bread flour in my pizza crust, Father Dom. The white sauce was creamy and the perfect complement to the chicken, mozzarella, broccoli, and olives. We were hooked.But what about the red sauce? I had to test that as well. The book offers ten different pizza sauces, but on another night I chose the quick and easy 8-Minute Pizza Sauce. This winner calls for a 1/4 cup of red wine. Oh my. As it was simmering on the stove, I knew I had been beaten. It beats my old pizza sauce by a country mile. It had the perfect consistency and amount of zing. How long had I been searching for the perfect pizza sauce? Too long!I give up, Father Dom. You win!Now can my family and I please get an invitation to haustus one of these Thursdays? We play a mean game of Scrabble...

We are trying new ideas for making our own pizza. This is a great book to learn the basics. Worth every penny.

I almost gave up on finding the perfect crust. Our family pizza night is Wednesday, so every Wednesday afternoon I would start the pizza dough. I was on a quest to make a pizza crust that outshined the pizza my children wanted me to order: that soft, chewy crust from Pizza Hut or Dominos. I tried so many recipes, followed so many elaborate instructions, conducted so many experiments: substituting bread recipes, trying no kneading recipes, adding cornmeal, using milk, changing up the fat, adding butter, toying with the temperature, buying special equipment (pizza stones, pizza peels, etc.), and I just couldn’t reproduce the pizza franchise crust. I was ready to give up and resign myself to dropping forty bucks on Pizza Hut once a week, until I found this book, Thursday Night Pizza by Father Dominic Garramone.I now make a pie that not only rivals the pizza chains, but is unquestionably better, and if I ever decide I would rather make a thinner “more authentic” crust, instructions are included for that as well. If you are interested in learning the techniques and ingredient combinations to master your pizza results, this is your cookbook. Good luck.

Great easy to follow recipes

What an inspiring person. He makes pizza and is very good at it. He relates his secrets to making authentic pizza pie. And by the way, he’s a monk who got lots of experience perfecting the pies for his brethren at the monastery.

I like watching him on PBS and this is a continuation for me. I am satisfied with the book.