enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

introducing 40 pizzas.

40pizzas

My original plan after the 40 loaves was to embark on 40 soup recipes. I was so set to go. But Paul wasn't that into it. He made the argument that we hardly ever eat soup (to which I responded, "well, we didn't used to eat homemade bread.")

But he was right and a project like this could be so much more fun if Paul was on board and just as excited as me. Other than bread baking, we usually tackle everything in the kitchen together.

And so I suggested we build 40 pizzas. We make a homemade pizza almost every week and it would be so fun to try for 40 different topping & sauce combinations. Our stand-bys will probably get us through the first five, but then the real food adventure will begin.

Paul agreed this would be a fun plan.

So here we go. 40 different homemade pizzas. I'll be back this afternoon with our first one.

*For the record, this is our go to pizza dough recipe and we use a pizza peel and baking stone to build and bake.

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53 responses to “introducing 40 pizzas.”

  1. Johanna Avatar
    Johanna

    Ah, this sounds fantastic! What a great follow-up series. In case you’re up for some favorite topping ideas of your readers, I’d have some to share 🙂

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  2. Marian Avatar
    Marian

    That’s going to be so much fun! You can put almost anything on a pizza. 🙂

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  3. atouchofdomesticity Avatar
    atouchofdomesticity

    I’ll be reading these posts for inspiration as we’re also starting a bit of a pizza quest. I wrote a post about the best one we’ve had so far, with links to the Jamie Oliver recipe. Try it if you can, it’s so yummy! http://atouchofdomesticity.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/pizza-quest.html

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  4. Janelle Avatar
    Janelle

    Oh my gosh Elise, this just made my Monday morning a heck of a lot better! My husband and I also make a homemade pizza almost once a week (although I still haven’t tried homemade dough again after having issues with that, one of these days I’ll get the courage!). We’ve started to come up with some pretty crazy creations…I can’t wait to follow along and see what you guys create!

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  5. carrie Avatar
    carrie

    oooh delish!! i just made a pizza last night with spinach, goat cheese, and sliced apple. SO GOOD. excited to follow along with you!
    carrie

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  6. Jessica at Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping! Avatar
    Jessica at Kids Napping? I’m Scrapping!

    Love this project idea. It’s going to be fun to see what you come up with.

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  7. Val Avatar
    Val

    Try cauliflower crust pizza, it’s sooooo delicious! Can’t wait to see your 40 pies 🙂

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  8. martha Avatar
    martha

    Don’t forget dessert pizza!

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  9. Her Sunday Avatar
    Her Sunday

    Excellent idea! We love homemade pizza at our house- sometimes it’s just a fun and easy way for me to get rid of a bunch of produce from our fridge. Most interested in checking out the different sauces you decide to make.

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  10. Stacy Avatar
    Stacy

    I can’t wait to see what you come up with! My husband and I just started experimenting with different pizzas lately and it has been a blast.

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  11. emily Avatar
    emily

    I’m dying! Pizza is the ultimate for me. We’ve also never grilled pizza before, so I’m hoping you will finally inspire us to do so! Hope to see that method as well!

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  12. Ali @ Gimme Some Oven Avatar
    Ali @ Gimme Some Oven

    Love it!! Look forward to following along. 🙂

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  13. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    LOVE THIS!!! Just got a pizza stone and will be trying your recipes. Should you decide to do 40 soups down the road I’d follow along to that too 🙂

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  14. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    Your 40 loaves inspired me to create a 26 soups challenge (for my 26th year) and it is definitely a struggle. We’re not huge soup eaters and it’s really just become more challenge than fun. But I’m still trucking along and will hopefully hit 26 soups at some point! 🙂 Can’t wait to see the 40 pizzas!

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  15. Kate Avatar
    Kate

    oh what fun. When my kitchen is remodeled I might have to embark on a similar conquest.

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  16. alice Avatar
    alice

    My favorite homemade pizza is grilled chicken and red onions on bbq sauce. It’s super yummy and easy to make ! I first read this recipe on Alisa Burke’s blog.

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  17. Jill Avatar
    Jill

    Can’t wait to see what you and Paul come up with! I need some inspo in this area. I’ve found my fave pre-made “crust” is the plain frozen naan from Trader Joe’s. Perfectly portioned for one – ha! I bought some pesto yesterday and literally thought of you is I put it in my shopping cart 😉

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  18. krugthethinker Avatar
    krugthethinker

    Awesome! I’m excited to read about the new project!

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  19. Nat Avatar
    Nat

    That’s awesome, we just had homemade pizza on Saturday and I sometimes forget how great it is.
    Try olive oil, goat cheese and roasted asparagus, maybe with some lemon zest on top. We’ve done this on top of naan, but I bet it would work great as a pizza.

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  20. Annette Avatar
    Annette

    YES! : )
    This will be fun!

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  21. jessica o'brien | jessohbee Avatar
    jessica o’brien | jessohbee

    i KNEW soups were the plan when you were pinning all those awesome looking versions on Pinterest! stoked to see pizzas as i’m not a big soup maker or eater either!

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  22. Heather Warren Avatar
    Heather Warren

    Elise, I have been silently enjoying your blog for the past couple of months and I finally wanted to take the time to tell you how wonderful you are and I love reading your blog. I loved your 40 loaves project and recently after a marathon baking day with a friend making some new cookie recipes, I decided to embark on my on “40” project and attempt to bake 40 cookies. I love that you start these projects and I wanted to let you know that you have inspired me! I will eagerly be returning to see how your pizzas turn out and I have to say I might try a pizza project of my own. I love baking my own pizzas and experimenting with toppings and crusts. Will you be using homemade or store-bought crust?

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  23. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    homemade. 🙂

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  24. Kara Avatar
    Kara

    I am so excited to hear this…I have been planning on playing with some pizza toppings of my own. Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with.

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  25. Lindsay Avatar
    Lindsay

    I can’t wait to see! Best of luck. I may be joining you for a few of them…

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  26. Karina k Avatar
    Karina k

    We make pizza at least once a week, last week twice! But we buy the dough at trader joe’s. Our favorite is to use olive oil and garlic as the sauce with spicy pork sausage and banana peppers. It’s our favorite! We have also tried BBQ pizza and Putting leftover chili on top of a regular cheese pizza.

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  27. indigorchid Avatar
    indigorchid

    Of course I can’t help myself, and have to make a suggestion: mushroom pizza with a “white” style base instead of tomato sauce – cream or creme fraiche. Yum!

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  28. Jojo A. Avatar
    Jojo A.

    Such a fun idea, can’t wait to see what you come up with 🙂

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  29. Claire Avatar
    Claire

    Great idea. I make my own bread and pizzas too and know all too well how easy it is to fall into the routine of making the same ones. Look forward to following your journey.

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  30. kristen Avatar
    kristen

    Ohh, what an awesome idea!! You guys are already the pizza-making masters, so it will be so fun to see some of your new creations! Yay!

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  31. mel Avatar
    mel

    Yay. Pizza is our favourite food.
    I was going to try 30 soups this year inspired by your 40 loaves but I only made it to two! My other half isn’t that into soup either…..
    Looking forward to your sauces and toppings.

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  32. Ashley Avatar
    Ashley

    This is a fabulous idea! We love homemade pizza in our house, so excited to see what you come up with! 🙂

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  33. Erin B Avatar
    Erin B

    love this new project! I’m a big pizza fan and make my own every other week or so. my current go to pizza creation is asparagus, mushroom and blue cheese. I’m embarking on a kitchen remodel (116 pieces delivered from IKEA last week) and think I may need my own food challenge/adventure to inaugurate my new functional, so much better kitchen once its complete. thanks for the constant inspiration!

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  34. sarah starr Avatar
    sarah starr

    awesome project! one of our (recent) favorites is bbq bacon apple – we just mix some of our favorite bottled bbq sauce with regular marinara then top with thinly sliced apples, onions & crumbled bacon. so good! 🙂

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  35. F. Avatar
    F.

    This is too funny, my boyfriend and I decided not to eat any frozen pizza this year (because it usually leaves us with an icky stomach), so we made our own pizza more regularly. Just yesterday we improvised a reeaaly tasty one:
    Instead of the usual tomato sauce we took a tomato-feta-garlic puree-dip we had leftover. Because that was pretty salty/acidy (in a good way^^) I spread a can of crème fraiche over it and then vegetables and basil. My boyfriend covered his part in cheese, but I liked mine like that to keep all the flavours (and not drown them in cheese-taste :).
    I am looking forward to your fresh turn on pizza (especially since I enjoy your natural asthaetic, when photographing food : ) – I just hope it doesn’t lead to Paul and you eating cold food because you have to shoot it first^^
    Dear greetings,
    F.

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  36. shannon b Avatar
    shannon b

    This put a smile on my face! 🙂 Love that you’re embarking into yet another culinary challenge. Pizza sounds perfect. Can’t wait to see what you two whip up!
    p.s. Do you ever cook your pizza on the BBQ grill? I’ve heard about this, but have never been brave enough to try. Would you consider throwing the method into the mix? It’s so much nicer to learn from others’ experience than my own trial and error. 😉
    Good luck!

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  37. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    we will be grilling FOR SURE. 🙂

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  38. sherried Avatar
    sherried

    Can’t wait to see what you come up with this one. Love your blog.

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  39. Jadee Avatar
    Jadee

    OMG!! This is incredible!! I’m so excited and can’t wait to see what you come up with!! YUM!
    enJOY it for sure!!

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  40. MandeeJ Avatar
    MandeeJ

    This is great! My husband & I are in the kitchen together most of the time, too! This will be so fun for you & for all of us following along! =)

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  41. Lindsay Overbey Avatar
    Lindsay Overbey

    Oh fun! So excited about this ♥

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  42. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    I’ve been following your blog for a few months and LOVING IT! very inspirational 🙂 (I’m also project lifer)
    SO now I’m going to have to do this pizza challenge with you. I’ve been wanting to make homemade dough and have not tried yet.
    LOVE this and will be trying some of your recipes 🙂

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  43. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    BTW…just curious, why 40 pizzas? how did you come up with that number?

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  44. megan c. Avatar
    megan c.

    I LOVE, love, LOVE your blog! When I saw this project I knew I had to tell you a combination to try! This is from a pizza place in Okoboji, Iowa that is no longer in business. The pizza is their Hawaiian. It has normal red sauce, then fresh pinapple pieces, canadian bacon (but prosciutto is really great), then top with mozzerella cheese. Sprinkle slivered almonds on top and a little bit of cinnamon!!! Greatest combo ever!!!! Can’t wait to read more pizza combos!

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  45. kendall Avatar
    kendall

    I’m excited to read about your pizza adventures and get a chance to try them out in my own kitchen! Can’t wait to read more!

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  46. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    When I set my 40 loaves goal at the beginning of 2011, I thought it would be a realistic number. It ended up taking me much longer, but for some reason the 40 just stuck. 🙂

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  47. Linn Avatar
    Linn

    What a fun idea! I love these “games” you play that really force you to be creative and come up with new things. And how could you possibly go wrong with pizza? It’s always good and everybody loves it. I’m looking forward to get some new ideas. One of my favorite “weird pizzas” that you might like and you might not, is the combination curry, ham and banana. And yes, the banana is warm and the pizza is slightly weird but strangely delicious.

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  48. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2012/01/artichoke-spinach-pizza-with-white-beans.html
    thanks for the reply! 🙂 I tried this white bean sauce pizza from goodlifeeats and was pleasantly surprised (I’m not a tomato sauce eater so always looking for white sauces)
    have a great day!

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  49. Heather V Avatar
    Heather V

    I love you for doing this! My boyfriend and I make all our pizza from scratch, and are always looking for new combinations. Thank you!

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  50. J3SS1c4 Avatar
    J3SS1c4

    I’m so looking forward to following along with this! I love pizza, and homemade is the best ever! I do like soup, and have a couple I make each winter, but for me, I only eat soup in winter, so it would be hard to come up with 40 different ones in a few months. Pizza is way more achieveable! Goodluck with it!!! 🙂

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