Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Mini Stuffed Pizza Cryogenics

Sometimes I miss convenience foods.  I really loved Red Baron personal-sized microwave pizzas.  So quick and easy ... and, yet, even though they were hard-core industrial food, I still enjoyed them. 

Freezing Procedure

I'd made a couple extra mini stuffed pizzas, so I put them in the freezer.  I wrapped them in aluminum foil and let them cool.  Then, I put them into a zip-top bag and put them into the deep freeze for two weeks (these were part of my experimental batch of sourdough crust mini stuffed pizzas, I normally work on a recipe a little before I embarrass myself and post a blog entry on it).

Being the retentive sort that I am, I even included a laser-printed label inside the zip-top bag.  I'm a big fan of labeling things.  It makes life so much easier a few hectic weeks later when you look at a generic bag of food in the freezer and think "Ano?" (What?).


Re-Heating Procedure


This weekend I pulled them out and tried to bring them back to some sort of life.  One went into the oven.  300F (150C).  After 10 minutes it was still solid in the center.  This was not convenient.  Oven re-heating was out.


The other I'd tossed into my 1200 Watt microwave.  Three minutes later and it was back to as good as it was going to get.  Very hot on the outside, but the inside was ready-to-go.  After a minute of cooldown, the pizza was ready to eat.  Freezer-to-plate in under five minutes. 

After part of the Primary Test Team and I got impatient waiting for the oven test ... we just pulled it out and stuffed it into the microwave for a couple minutes.  When it comes to convenience, patience is not a virtue.

Only one problem with the whole process: the aluminum foil got stuck on the cheese.  Next time, I will let the pizzas cool and then just put them into a zip-top bag.  No alumninum foil.

Conclusions

Freezing these pizzas works fairly well.  Into the microwave for three minutes (presuming a 1000+ Watt microwave).  Let it cool a bit or it's going to burn your mouth badly.

Of course, these were nowhere near as good as the fresh pizzas.  I had no illusions that they would be.  These were good enough and very quick.

For frozen and then microwaved ... definite winner.

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