Pizza Burger! Make it a double!
Way back when, long before the gourmet burger craze began, the only option for an out of the ordinary burger was the classic pizza burger or a BBQ burger. Before the mid 1970's, people were not really into fancy toppings on burgers. Bleu cheese was about the only option for a fancy cheeseburger. Combinations of ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise were the only choice of sauce unless a restaurant had BBQ sauce on the menu. Grilled onions, mushrooms and bacon were practically the only cooked burger toppings back then. Many Italian restaurants offered a pizza burger as a lunch menu item back in the 1970's. The first Italian restaurant that I apprenticed in actually had a pizza burger on the lunch menu. The owner of that Italian restaurant was Sicilian and he liked pizza burgers made with his perfection tomato sauces and hand crafted Italian bread burger rolls. The Sicilian chef drew the line with french fries. We offered no french fries on the menu, because they were French! The Sicilian owner would go through the comical act of blowing a fuse. every time that a customer asked for french fries. He would stand in the dining room and scold the waiter, so the conversation about a french fry request could be overheard by the customers. He used every hand gesture in the book, while saying to the waiter "What do you think this is? Some kind of a French fast food restaurant or something? If they want potatoes, offer them gnocchi!" Back in the 1960's through the 1980's, a fast food style chain restaurant called Gino's featured the pizza burger as its marquis entree. At first, the pizza burgers at that fast food chain were great, but later, the quality of their pizza burgers became unappealing and the chain of pizza burger restaurants ended up being a place to avoid. Marriott Corporation was once aggressive in the restaurant real estate business. Marriott was in the habit of buying restaurant chains and then closing the restaurants down, no matter how how successful the restaurant chain was. Marriott would sit on the property till real estate prices more than doubled, then the property would be marketed at an inflated price. Country Kitchen, Roy Rogers, Wags and Gino's were just a few of the chain restaurants that Marriott purchased and shut down. Recently, Gino's has been reopened under a new corporate structure by popular demand in a few select locations. Pizza were offered on bar and grill restaurant menus through the 1980's, then it seemed like pizza burgers disappeared from the face of this planet. People liked pizza burgers! The pizza burger did survive, because it was popular for a family meal in home kitchens nationwide. The flavors of tomato sauce and mozzarella on a burger are very appealing and pizza burgers were a meal that nearly every burger loving family enjoyed. A good juicy pizza burger is like biting into a tasty sloppy meatball sub! Cheese, tomato sauce and burger juices dripped over the chin and everything in sight! A pizza burger is not a neat tidy meal. It is a true munch crazed burger lovers wet dream! Good accompaniments for a pizza burger are grilled mushrooms, grilled onions or grilled sweet peppers. A little bit a good Italian fine grating cheese adds to the pizza flavor. For those of my readers that really miss the good old days of pizza burgers, this double pizza burger recipe should put a smile on your face! Yes, I think so highly of the Italian pizza burger that I made it a double!
Shiny Hamburger and Slider Rolls Recipe: This recipe makes 3 large hamburger rolls for 6 to 8 ounce burger patties and 6 slider rolls! You can scale the dough for any size burger roll that you want, but for extra large burger rolls, more yeast should be added to the recipe, so the center of the roll does not become too dense. A 25% to 50% increase of the yeast proportion may be needed for rolls that are larger than 5" wide. Bread flour is used in this recipe. All purpose flour will not produce the same texture. All measurements in this recipe are volume measurements and not weight measurements. This recipe requires no proofing of the dough! The yeast is accelerated by the sugar during the activation time. This recipe is written for an electric mixer with a dough hook attachment! Mixing: Place 1 tablespoon of dry yeast or 2 tablespoons of fresh yeast in an electric mixer bowl. Add 1 cup of lukewarm water. (115 degrees is good for this recipe) Just dissolve the yeast in the water! Add 1/3 cup of vegetable oil. Add 1/4 cup of sugar. Let the yeast activate, undisturbed, for 5 minutes. Add 1 egg. Add 3 cups of sifted bread flour. Let the flour float like an island! Place 1 teaspoon of sea salt on top of the island of floating flour. Place the mixer bowl on an electric mixer. Attach the dough hook. Turn the mixer on and use a medium low speed to start mixing. Scrap the bowl while the mixer is turned off occasionally. When the ingredients form a loose wet dough, start adding a little bit of bread flour at a time, till the dough just starts to gather on the hook and pull away from the mixing bowl. Add only enough flour to form a soft dough and not a firm dough! Bench the dough on a lightly floured countertop. Portions: This recipe works well for regular size hamburger rolls and slider rolls. Cut the benched dough into portions. (Golf ball size portions are slider bun portions. Hamburger bun portions can range from tennis ball size to baseball size.) Shaping: Roll each portion with one hand, on a flour dusted counter top, till a ball shape is formed. Place the tip of the index finger of your hand against the thumb to form a round hole shape. Use the thumb of the other hand to press each portion of dough through the hole formed by the thumb and index finger of the other hand. Press the dough through the hole and stuff the dough into the smooth ball that is formed, so smooth dough ball expands like a balloon. When you get to the last bit of dough on each smooth ball, twist the dough ball to seal the dough ball shut. Place each dough ball with the sealed side facing down, on a parchment paper lined baking pan. Space the larger rolls 3" apart and space the sliders rolls 2" apart. Resting and Egg Washing: Let the dough rest for 10 minutes at room temperature. Do not proof the shaped dough portions over an oven or in a proofing box! After 10 minutes, gently brush each dough ball with plain egg wash.
Baking: It takes just about the same amount of time to bake slider portions as it does to bake large hamburger roll portions. The larger hamburger rolls do need an extra couple minutes of baking time. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. (Quickly check at 8 or 9 minutes.) When the burger and slider rolls are cooked to a light brown shiny color, then they are ready. Allow the rolls to cool and stale for 2 hours. The burger and slider rolls can be reheated in an oven for about 1 minute before being used. Handle the finished shiny burger rolls gently, because the shiny finish is easy to damage.
Marinara Sauce Recipe: The proportion of olive oil in a marinara sauce is about 20%. Olive oil is the key to cooking this classic tomato sauce. Without enough olive oil, a marinara will turn out to be "flat" like stewed tomatoes. Only the best imported Italian tomatoes should be used to make marinara sauce! Marinara sauce has evolved from being a quickly made tomato sauce that prevented scurvy on a seagoing Italian boat, to becoming a signature tomato sauce that features the very best tomatoes in the house. The finest Italian restaurants that I worked in always featured San Marzano tomatoes from Italy in their marinara sauces. Imported canned Italian San Marzano tomatoes are the very best and they do command a higher price. San Marzano tomatoes are a special breed of plum tomatoes that originated in Peru. There are also good imported Italian regular plum (Roma) tomato products that make good marinara sauces. Always seek a bright red imported Italian tomato product that is packed in its own juices. The juices should be bright red, rich and not watery. It is best to choose imported Italian tomatoes for marinara that also say "Con Basilico" on the label. Tomatoes that are packed with basil leaves are perfect for making marinara. Place a 28 ounce can of imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes or Roma plum tomato filets that are packed in their own juices with basil leaves into a mixing bowl. (The can label should read "Filetti di pomodoro con basilico." Crush and squeeze the tomatoes in their own juices by hand. Set the tomatoes aside. Heat 7 ounces of olive oil in a sauce pot over medium/medium low heat. Add 8 thin sliced garlic cloves. Fry the garlic in the oil, till it cooks to a light golden brown color. Immediately add the tomatoes to the garlic and oil. Add 1 handful of whole fresh basil leaves. Add sea salt and black pepper. Bring the sauce to a very gentle boil, while stirring often. (Do not over heat this sauce!) Reduce the temperature to medium low heat. Gently simmer the sauce. Stir the oil into the sauce once every five minutes. The oil must be stirred into the sauce regularly so the olive combines with the tomatoes. Cook the marinara for almost 45 minutes, till the tomato juices have reduced and till the sauce becomes a medium thin tomato sauce consistency. Add 2 tablespoons of very finely chopped Italian parsley. Remove the marinara sauce from the heat. (Marinara is never kept warm on a stove top! Marinara is made to order or reheated to order.) Place a 3 to 4 ounce portion of the marinara in a small sauce pot and reheat the sauce when the burgers are being cooked.
Peperoni: Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat. Add 1 splash of olive oil. Add 1 handful of mixed yellow, orange and red sweet bell pepper that is cut into 1/4" wide strips. Add sea salt. Saute till the sweet peppers become tender, but not caramelized. Keep the peperoni warm on a stove top. Double Pizza Burger with Sweet Peppers: Place 8 ounces of ground beef in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of fine bread crumbs. Add 3 pinches of oregano. Add 1 pinch of garlic powder. Add 1 pinch of basil. Add 2 pinches of sea salt and black pepper. Add 2 pinches of minced Italian parsley. Mix the ingredients together. Form 2 equal size burger patties that are slightly wider than the burger roll. Note: Always allow for shrinkage when making burger patties. A patty that shrinks smaller than the burger roll after cooking, looks like a rip off! Split the shiny burger roll and warm it in an oven, while the burger cooks. Heat a cast iron grill, a char grill or a cast iron griddle over medium/medium high heat. Grill the burger patties, till they are cooked to the temperature of your preference. Note: Always cook burger patties for children to a temperature of 160 degrees. This is 5 degrees over the 155 degree Servesafe minimum temperature for killing any e coli pathogens. The extra 5 degrees is the Le Cordon Bleu standard for food safety concerning burgers for children. Place 1 slice of provolone cheese on each hot burger patty. (The provolone will soften as it sets on the hot burger. Provolone easily melts! Place about 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of the warm marinara sauce on each burger. Sprinkle a little bit of finely grated piave vecchio or parmigiano cheese over the warm marinara. Stack the pizza burger patties on the bottom half of a burger roll. Place the sauteed sweet peppers on top of the pizza burger stack. Set the topped pizza burger on a plate. Lean the top half of the shiny burger roll against the double pizza burger. Serve with Italian giardiniera.
A big double pizza with sweet peppers dripping with sauce and oozing melted provolone cheese! This is pizza burger munch time to the max. French fries? Forget about it. They are too French! Ciao Baby! ... Shawna
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