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Pepperoni, pineapple and a whey-dough experiment

Pepperoni pizza with melted cheese and a browned raised rim on a white cutting board.
The pepperoni pizza on the board. Photo shared by Mariana Cary.

Mariana called pizza night a success, and her photos make a strong case: a pepperoni pizza on the cutting board, a second pie covered with pineapple and ham-looking slices, and the family already eating at the table. My own assessment in the comments was less generous: “Could of been better..”

The most interesting experiment is one the photos cannot show. I explained in a reply that I had made cheese and used the leftover whey instead of water in the pizza dough. That puts this dinner a step beyond choosing toppings: the cheese-making carried over into the crust.

One pizza had pepperoni spread right across the cheese. The other took the sweet-and-savory route, with yellow pineapple chunks and broad pink slices over red sauce. In the serving photo it is still on a mesh pizza screen, held with an oven glove; in the next, it is on the table with slices missing.

The conversation was already reaching for dessert. After an apple-pizza suggestion, I floated a s’mores version with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. That was an idea for another night. This one was the pepperoni-and-pineapple dinner, with homemade cheese, whey in the dough, and a cook still working on it.

Pizza topped with pineapple chunks and slices that appear to be ham, held on a mesh screen with an oven glove.
Pineapple and ham-looking slices over cheese and red sauce. Photo shared by Mariana Cary.
Family eating pizza at the table, with the partially sliced pineapple pizza on a cutting board.
Pizza night reaches the table. Photo shared by Mariana Cary.

From my Facebook pizza archive. Based on Mariana Cary’s original Facebook post and photographs, Dan Cary’s cooking comments, and observations from the photos.

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