The Grinder

Back in the day, I had a college professor who took our Greek class to The OP (aka: The Other Place) for our final class for pizza and refreshments.  My end of the table was graced with this delicious pizza called "The Grinder."  It was a beautiful combination of sausage, ground beef, sauce, mozzarella and cheddar, topped with pickled jalapenos.  Pure deliciousness.

Last weekend, I was craving this pizza.  The only problem: The OP (and every other OP restaurant) is a good 1200 miles away from my apartment.  It wasn't going to happen.  So, this pretty and fresh substitute was created...

I started with this crust recipe adapted from Alton Brown's recipe on allrecipes.com. 

· 2 tablespoons honey
· 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic salt
· 2 tbsp olive oil
· 3/4 cup: about half water (hot) half milk (cold)
· 1 & 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup wheat flour
· 1 teaspoon instant yeast

· Some semolina flour for dusting dough.

Combine hot water and cold milk in med-lg measuring cup.  Add honey, and yeast.  Let the mix do it's thang for 15 minutes or so.  Then combine with all other ingredients.  Let rise for an hour.  Knead.  Let rise for 1-3 more hours.  Roll out, dust both sides with semolina flour and bake at 325* on heated pizza stone for 2 minutes.

Move to cool pan and add sauce and toppings.  Slide back onto hot stone and bake until cheese is golden.

Toppings for my version of The Grinder:

· Sauce: 1/2 can of tomato sauce with some generic Italian Seasoning blend.

· 1/2 lb ground beef browned with a bit of fresh jalepeno diced small and 1/2 a white onion

· 1 chicken breast ground up (or processed in a Magic Bullet) with a bit of sage, fennel, red pepper flake, ground black pepper.  Browned with olive oil.

· 3-4 sliced button mushrooms

· Kroger "pizza blend" cheese--about 1 & 1/2 cups, Kroger "mexican blend" cheese--about 1/2 cup

· 1 sliced fresh jalapeno

Verdict: It's not my college-days pizza, but it was pretty darn good.  The wheat flour gave the crust a nice crunch and nutty taste.  Having had no sausage on hand, the chicken was a decent substitute.  With the current price of pork products, the next pizza we make will likely include another sausage experiment.  The peppers on this puppy were HOT.  Good, but hot.  I'd use pickled jalapenos for a more 'authentic' replica, but the fresh were good enough to feed my need for pizza.

This is pizza has a nice combination of crunch, chew, and cheese.  This is for someone with appetite and adventure as it is hearty and spicy.

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