Crust

MOM, making that brown bag lunch just got easier. The Sara Lee Corp. has found a way to bake crustless bread. That's right, a slice of bread without the crust that doesn't lose its shape and packs a more nutritious punch than a slice of white bread. For decades, kids have eaten around the crust, torn it off or convinced the lunch-makers at home to do away with those brown edges on their peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And moms usually complied. All it took was a few quick strokes of a knife.

The name alone, Egyptian Pizza , might conjure up any number of curious images, or shut down imagining altogether as you try to get a grip on the juxtaposition. Wait till you see the dining room. The Belvedere Square pizzeria-cum-Middle-Eastern-restaurant at 542 E. Belvedere Ave. presents diners with a striking interior that's part obvious to the point of parody and part mysteriously jarring. But don't let that get between you and Egyptian's Giza pie. The lighting's a few watts too low. The music track is limp easy listening: think Seals and Croft on Valium.

"Oh, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and a crust to endear them that will go to cream in your mouth, and both passing down with such a taste that will make you close your eyes and wish you might live forever in the wideness of that rich moment."Just reading the words of Welsh-born writer Richard Llewellyn makes the mouth water and memories of ripe fruit in sweet crusts come alive.Summer fruits may be the stars of our seasonal dessertstoday, but their supporting cast of crisp and buttery, spicy and nutty crusts brings out the best in their incredibly varied flavors.

I can't say that Zella's Pizzeria is the hippest restaurant in Baltimore. I won't say, as has at least one reviewer, that Zella's has the best pizza in Baltimore, at least in 2007. I would, however, be astounded to learn it doesn't have the largest calzones in North America. But applying terms like "hippest" and "best" to Zella's seems a waste of critical energy. Nevertheless, there may be one thing Zella's does do best: It's uncannily adept at shrugging off superlatives. The first one-word review that comes to mind is "unpretentious.

* Item: Croissant Pockets * What you get: 2 sandwiches * Cost: About $2.75 * Preparation time: 2 1/2 minutes in microwave, 20 to 25 minutes in toaster or conventional oven * Review: Croissant Pockets has upgraded the crust of its quick-to-make frozen sandwiches with fine results. The new crust is flakier and offers a more buttery flavor -- just like a real croissant. The sandwich fillings remain as popular as ever. The Turkey and Ham With Swiss blended perfectly inside the tender crust.

It has been said that man does not live by bread alone. Maybe. But if you add a dab of butter or drop of olive oil to the equation, then not only are you living, you are lapping up the good life.After years of being a boring bread town, Baltimore has recently been blessed with an influx of new, well-made loafs. The best -- or at least my favorites -- are made by Stone Mill and Marvelous Market bakeries.My favorite Stone Mill breads are the couronne, the focaccia and the brioche. From Marvelous Market I like the loaves of olive and the rustic.

An advantage of making your own pizza is the crust. It is thinner, crisper, and immensely more flavorful than the store-bought variety. A drawback of making your pizza is the fight among family members as to what goes on top of the crust. Last Sunday night, for instance, the predinner dialogue between me and my 15-year-old son and went something like this: Dad: You want olives on the pizza? Kid: No. Dad: How about peppers? Kid: No. Dad: How do you feel about roasted onions? Kid: No thanks.

Around the house* Deodorize plastic food containers. Soak overnight in a solution of one part baking soda to three parts water. Rinse with clear water and wash.* Find wall studs easily when hanging pictures. Slide a compass along the wall -- the needle will jump when a stud is present. Or an electric razor will change its tone as it crosses a stud.* Remove gum from carpet or fabric. Place a piece of wax paper over gum and run a hot iron over area until gum adheres to paper. Be sure to test fabric for heat resistance in an inconspicuous spot.

Think blueberries, and you think pie. But these blue beauties, at the height of their season in Maryland right now, are ready to break out of that familiar lattice-topped role. Home cooks and professional chefs alike have found the berry's not-too-tart, not-too-sweet flavor lends itself to many savory uses. At Clementine restaurant in Hamilton, chef and co-owner Winston Blick uses the fruit in a blueberry-basil salad vinaigrette, in a jammy compound butter served on pork chops and in a side dish of sauteed greens and house-cured bacon.

Q: What is castor sugar?A: Castor sugar is a British term for an especially fine granulated sugar. It's also sometimes referred to as superfine sugar.It dissolves very quickly so is perfect for cold liquids. It can be exchanged in equal amounts for regular granulated sugar.Q: How does one get the hard backing off coconuts without breaking your fingers?A: Removing the backing from a fresh coconut isn't easy even after you have conquered the shell. The easiest method I have found is to first cut the coconut meat into smaller manageable pieces.

Think blueberries, and you think pie. But these blue beauties, at the height of their season in Maryland right now, are ready to break out of that familiar lattice-topped role. Home cooks and professional chefs alike have found the berry's not-too-tart, not-too-sweet flavor lends itself to many savory uses. At Clementine restaurant in Hamilton, chef and co-owner Winston Blick uses the fruit in a blueberry-basil salad vinaigrette, in a jammy compound butter served on pork chops and in a side dish of sauteed greens and house-cured bacon.

The line between subtle and bland can be small. As I ate pizza from Maxie's in Charles Village, my mind kept jumping back and forth between the two adjectives. The pizzas have thin, well-made crusts, but it was the toppings that gave me pause. Sometimes they had delicate flavors, while other times they were dull. The white eggplant pizza ($18.95 for a large), with baked eggplant, spinach, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, plus garlic and seasoning, had distinct spinach and garlic notes.

Something's eating me, folks. At the risk of offending almost every teenager in the greater Baltimore area (and many of the adults as well), I now offer up for public consumption a critique of the one food item most likely to show up at birthday parties, to be delivered to office drones working late, or to be requested by high school students stranded on desert islands everywhere. Yes, I am here to beat up on pizza. And in so doing, I solemnly promise not to make any cheesy jokes.

Most people think of Thanksgiving as Turkey Day. Maybe it's my Midwestern roots, but no matter how succulent the bird, I have room in my heart for only one love on the fourth Thursday in November: pie. I divide the year into two seasons, pie and no pie, with the pie season running from the first strawberries and rhubarb in the spring through cherries, blueberries and peaches in the summer and finally, to the fall, when the true glories of American...

On Thanksgiving, the pies are plural, and that reason alone makes the day the best holiday of the year. If we had any sense of restraint, or caloric guilt, we would defer dessert on this day. But on Thanksgiving, almost no one says no to pie. Instead, most of us - me included - profess to have "just a little sliver, of each." The all-hallowed pumpkin pie, whose mild flavor and bland spicing are welcome at the end of such a rich meal, almost qualifies, I would argue, as a vegetable. Moreover, children - the torch-carriers of tradition - insist on its presence.

"One of the prettiest sights in this pretty world is the privileged classes enjoying their privileges," says journalist Mike Connor in The Philadelphia Story, now at Colonial Players in Annapolis. The show is a visual feast, with well-dressed, attractive characters and elegant furnishings illustrating the lifestyle of a Philadelphia Main Line family engaging in drawing-room repartee. The most requested show by Colonial Players subscribers, The Philadelphia Story was chosen to open the 60th-anniversary season.

Underneath every 12-topping deep-dish is the same simple foundation: cheese pizza. If the tomato sauce, cheese and crust don't come together, the whole pie doesn't taste right -- no matter how much is piled on top. Here's a sampling of cheese pizza from four local restaurants. Fortunato Brothers 6374 York Road -- 410-377-7300 Hours --10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 10 a.m. to midnight Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday On a slice of cheese pizza, $1.60, Fortunato Brothers nails the crust.

Joseph Victor Corbi, whose name and pizza kits have become synonymous with fund-raising efforts throughout the Baltimore area, died Thursday of cancer at his Lisbon, Howard County, residence. He was 54.Mr. Corbi worked in the pizza business all his life and was founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Joe Corbi's Wholesale Pizza Inc. located on DeSoto Road in Southwest Baltimore.Born and reared in Edmondson Village, Mr. Corbi began selling pizza crusts at 14 in his father's Dundalk bakery.

There is no debate about Thanksgiving dessert. It is pie. Not one pie either; our annual feast calls for at least two or three. And that is the dish that can cause high anxiety for even experienced bakers. You can't blame the easygoing pie fillings; they usually only need to be stirred together or require some fruit to be peeled. It's the crust that inspires fear, and there is no getting around it - every pie must have at least one crust. For years, I was a member of the fearful pie-bakers group, until I took the proverbial bull by the horns or, in this case, by the pie pan. I reasoned that if thousands of good pies and their crusts could be made every Thanksgiving, I could bake them, too. Crumb crusts were one option, and these worked well for my cream pies.