Who’d have thought a book on pizza would start a culinary discussion that could lead to a verbal battle between pizza lovers of two major American cities, Chicago and New York?

Well, “Pizza, A Slice of Heaven” by New York Times culinary journalist, Ed Levine did just that. Ed Levine’s placing Chicago’s deep-dish pizza among casseroles raised the hairs on many Midwesterners. To be on the safe side and not to get on the nerves of my Midwestern friends, I’ll admit to eating my best pizza in Montreal, and no, I am not a Canadian but a New Yorker displaced in Florida.

I’ll have to say, in the universe of the pizzas, the more the merrier, and there is nothing wrong with any deep-dish pizza. Call it a pizza or casserole, a deep-dish pizza is another mouth-watering choice. Even though the author says the very best American Pizza is made in Phoenix, Arizona, at Pizzeria Bianco by Chris Bianco, New York Pizza–so far–is the one with the fame and the one ahead of the game.

The book “Pizza: A Slice of Heaven : The Ultimate Pizza Guide and Companion” by Ed Levine (ASIN: 0789312050) has a list price of $24.95 and it sells in Amazon for $15.72.

Ed Levine is a radio and television personality. He has regularly contributed to the New York Times’ Dining section. His other books are: New York Eats, New York Eats More, Tom’s big Dinners. He also keeps a blogspot in edlevineeats.com.

“Pizza: A Slice of Heaven” is not a poetry book, but to a pizza lover like me it reads like poetry. It’s a book good for entertainment, light reading, and salivating, since it contains delightful personal anecdotes and pizza trivia from the history of pizza to the pizza makers in Naples. In addition, there are a few recipes, photos, and a pizza glossary at the end of the book. The author says he ate pizza for twelve months for research.

The book is divided into seventeen chapters, each chapter truly enchanting and with contributions by celebrities. The chapters are: The Perfect Pizza, Pizza in Italy, Old Pizza, New York Pizza, Long Island Pizza (my favorite), New Jersey Pizza, Connecticut Pizza, Philadelphia Boston D.C. and Baltimore Pizza, Pizza in the South and Southwest, Pizza in the Midwest, California and West Coast Pizza, Bar Pizza, Chain Frozen and Internet Pizza, Chefs and Pizza, Planet Pizza, The Pizza Police, and The Keepers of the Flame.

Everything about the book is enjoyable, but from my biased point of view, the chapter on the Long Island pizza, and also, Nora Ephron’s piece on eating pizza on a first date during 1950’s are spectacular pieces in culinary literature.

The book is in soft cover, 8½ ” by 8½ ” in dimensions. The print and the bone color of the pages are easy on the eyes, although some pages are green. This book would be even more fantastic, if it had contained more colored photos.

Pizza is a cultural force and Ed Levine’s book would make a wonderful gift to any pizza lover. “Pizza: A Slice of Heaven” is a book to enjoy anytime, anywhere.

From time to time the one thing that home pizza makers want to accomplish when baking pizza is a nice crispy, crunchy pizza crust.

It’s quite difficult for a pizza lover to resist the crispy texture of flavorful pizza crust layered with a blend of savory toppings.

A common question asked by newbies and veteran home pizza makers alike, is simply this, “How can I make my pizza crust crispy”? Today is your lucky day because I’m going to give you a couple of ways to achieve crispier pizza crust.

One of the most important aspects of making good pizza at home relates to oven temperatures. Oven temperatures vary when using typical home ovens. Though some home pizza makers have access to brick ovens or more elaborate forms of home ovens, many pizza lovers do not. These types of ovens are fantastic for pizza baking but the typical conventional oven found in most home kitchens require a slightly different approach.

Generally, typical conventional ovens do not compare, in terms of temperature generation with commercial ovens found in professional pizza parlors. Don’t worry pizza lovers, there’s still hope for home pizza makers.

Due to the “temperature factor”, there are a number of things you must consider when preparing your pizza dough and baking your pizza pies at home, especially if you want a pie that’s delightfully crispy, crunchy and irresistible.

The first consideration is water content when mixing the pizza dough. If you use olive oil as a fundamental ingredient for your pizza dough, consider using slightly less olive oil and replace this with a little more warm water. Adding a little more water to your mix of pizza dough will contribute to a crispier and flaky crust.

In addition, it’s a good idea to roll your dough to a “paper thin” thickness. You can do this by “rolling out” your pizza dough directly onto the pizza peel. Of course before doing this, sprinkle cornmeal on the pizza peel to insure an easy transfer to the baking surface you plan to use.

Next, you’ll want to use one of two techniques for baking your pizza to make sure your completed pizza boasts that delicious crispy pizza crust that we all crave. You’ll want to choose a suitable “baking platform” or “baking surface”.

Try one of the two techniques below for baking your pizza pies:

1- Use a “pizza stone”

or

2 – Use a “pizza screen”

If you decide to use a pizza stone, make sure you give the stone plenty of time to heat before transferring the pizza from the pizza peel to the stone. You’ll want to follow the instructions provided with the pizza stone very accurately.

The transfer from pizza peel to pizza stone will be much easier if you lightly cover your pizza peel with cornmeal. This makes the transfer process from pizza peel to pizza stone a breeze.

When using a pizza stone, the goal is to have the ingredients of the pizza complete the cooking process about the same time the crust “completely” browns. Depending on your specific oven, temperatures, 425 to 450 should suffice. Of course you’ll have to experiment with cooking times for your specific oven.

Be careful not to remove the pizza to early, as this is a common mistake. Allow plenty of time for the crust to brown, without burning the cheese. If need be, CAREFULLY take a peak underneath the pie to check your crust if you like. Remember, ovens are extremely hot!

The second way to achieve a nice crispy crust is to use a pizza screen. Though this can be a bit messy, this baking platform produces wonderful crispy pizza crust. The porous nature of a pizza screen allows heat to pass through the screen directly to the bottom of the pizza.

This helps with the moisture absorption process. Direct heat helps reduce the moisture content within the pizza dough and adds to the crispy nature and texture of pizza crust. Mmmm…I’m getting hungry just thinking about it…

Pizza screens are fairly cheap, and that’s great because they get a bit “clogged” with toasted cheese and ingredients after several uses. Clean them thoroughly after each use to extend the life of your screen. Besides, you’ll forget about the mess when you slide that first slice of crispy pizza into your mouth, I promise.

Try these techniques to improve your pizza making adventures and remember to save me a slice!

Building a backyard chicken coop is advantageous in many ways. It will be an entertainment to kill time in the form of hobby; you reap fresh organic eggs and can maintain the backyard as clean and free from worms or bugs. Chicken is domestic and susceptible animal that needs human care treatment. Therefore, to raise your chickens as healthy and productive, you need to build a complete and thorough chicken coop to cater to the needs of your chickens and your convenience.

Building the chicken coop is essential to safeguard your chickens from predators and harsh weathers. Chickens are fragile in born and easily affected by the climate changes. Therefore, heavy rains, scorching heat of sun and frigid cold may be harmful to your favorite chickens. Hence, a chicken house is not just an abode for the retreat of the chickens, but a safer place to withstand the changing weather conditions.

Predator is another harmful element for your chickens. Foxes, wolves, raccoons, dogs and cats always roam near about the chickens and the predators are in search of the chance to jump over and prey upon them. Therefore, as a caretaker of the chickens, it is your duty to thwart the predators and protect your chickens from the fatal attacks of the predators. However, you cannot keep a 24 hours/7days constant watch to shoo the predators away. You need to fence the chicken house with a chicken wire.

To raise healthy chickens you need a robust and perfect chicken coop plan. Internet is a valuable source of information where you will find numerous chicken coop plans. Some of them are free plans, but they are incomplete and following such free plans would waste your hardware unnecessarily. On the other hand, the professional plans, although paid ones, can provide you an in depth and detailed chicken house plans, which will cater to your needs of a perfect hen house plan. Therefore, don’t get lured to the free plan option. Rather, choose the professional one and build a robust and perfect chicken coop of your own choice.

To build a chicken coop on your own, you need complete step by step chicken coop guide, which will not only avoid your extra spending on hardware material, but also keep you away from heavy waste material.

A pizza is the sum of its parts; namely, the pizza crust, the pizza toppings and the pizza sauce. Make each one as wonderful as you can make it and you’ll be assured of turning out the best homemade pizza possible. Try out the following secrets when you make your homemade pizza.

Pizza Crust Secrets

Bake your pizza crust separately: It would be best if you can bake your pizza crust first before you add on the toppings and sauce. There’s one good reason for doing this. If you bake the lot at one and the same time, you may end up with a pizza that has overcooked toppings, burnt cheese and an undercooked, flat crust. Of course, you should not bake your crust fully the first time so that you won’t end up with a pizza that has a burnt crust after your final baking stage.

Mixing pizza dough ingredients: Begin by putting in a bowl at least one-tenth of the warm water specified in your homemade pizza recipe. Add yeast gradually to the water, stir and let it stand for a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, put the remaining warm water, stir in the sugar and salt (if your recipe calls for these ingredients) and the other dry ingredients except the flour, add the water and yeast mixture, stir the lot then immediately add the rest of the ingredients.

Kneading the pizza mixture: Kneading will let air mix with your pizza dough mixture. You should knead the pizza dough only until it reaches the proper consistency: the dough doesn’t stick to the container and individual portions can be stretched without breaking. Over-kneading will result in brittle pizza dough. While kneading the dough, use flour to prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands and the bowl, but use as little flour as possible.

Let your pizza dough rise before using it: After kneading your pizza dough, you must give it enough time to rise to your desired thickness. Generally, the longer the fermentation time you allow your pizza, the better the taste of the pizza crust. However, be careful not to use too much yeast if you are going to let the dough rise for hours (say you prepared the dough in the morning and let it relax for the rest of the day in preparation for baking by day end).

If speed is of the essence: If you need the pizza dough as quickly as possible, you can let it rise faster by adding more yeast to the mixture or by increasing the temperature of the dough. To do the latter, you can heat your oven for a few minutes, turn it off, cool the oven off a bit by leaving the oven door open for a few seconds, put the dough in a covered bowl, put the bowl in the oven and close the door. Let the mixture stay in the warm oven for at least 30 minutes, take it out, softly press the dough down then repeat the “rising” exercise for another 30 minutes. Another technique that you can apply for a faster fermentation period is to use warm water. The higher the water temperature, the faster yeast action will be. Just a note of caution, however, the pizza dough which has been allowed to ferment longer using minimum amount of yeast generally results into a better-tasting pizza crust so it’s best that you mix and knead your dough hours before you actually need it.

Frozen homemade pizza dough preparation: If you have prepared pizza dough the night before and left it in the refrigerator for next day’s baking, take it out in the morning and let it rise for at least several hours before you use it. Again, the less the yeast used, the longer the rising period required.

To make a thin pizza crust: If you are aiming for a thin crust pizza, you will want to use less dough per pan. You can also just stretch your pizza dough more on the pan. Doing this will naturally reduce the crust thickness.

To get a thick pizza crust: For a thicker crust, you need to use a pizza pan with a smaller circumference, use more pizza dough per pan or stretch out the dough less. The result would be increased crust thickness.

To get a crispy pizza crust: For a crispy pizza crust, it would be best if you reduce the amount of water. Drier pizza dough usually means a crispier pizza crust. Stiffer pizza dough also means crispier crust so it would be best to use flour with high gluten content if you want a crispy crust.

For a soft and gooey crust: To get a soft and chewy crust, you need to add more water to your dough mixture or use less flour. More moist pizza dough means softer pizza crust. To achieve better results, use flour with low gluten content. You may make gluten-free pizza dough by using gluten-free flour

If you live in a high-altitude location: Be mindful of the effect of high altitude on pizza dough. A higher altitude means less air pressure so the dough will rise faster, and it means a faster rate of evaporation so the dough will dry out faster. Thus, if you are in a high-altitude location, it is generally advisable to use more water and less yeast in your pizza dough mixture than you would normally use if you were in a low-altitude location.

Pizza Toppings

Simply speaking, the pizza toppings you should use depend on the type of pizza that you want. Fresh mozzarella cheese is necessary if you want to make a New York pizza. New York style pizza is typically minimalist; that is to say, they use as few toppings as possible. On the other hand, a Chicago deep dish pizza is usually loaded with meaty toppings: pepperoni, beef sausage, pork sausage, ground beef, bacon, ham, etc. You will also see bell peppers, mushrooms, and different kinds of cheese on a typical Chicago pizza. Tomatoes, cheese, anchovies, garlic, and herbs like basil and oregano, on the other hand, are typical of Italian pizza. California pizza, on the other hand, is characterized by seasonal vegetable toppings, fruit toppings, chicken pizza toppings, smoked salmon toppings, and other unusual toppings.

For great economy: Use pizza toppings that you already have on hand. Bacon, ham and sausages left over from breakfast, for instance, will make great toppings. Innovate depending on what ingredients you have. Naturally, cooked toppings will require less time in the oven so be sure to take this into account when baking your pizza.

Fresh toppings: It is recommended that you use fresh ingredients for your pizza toppings. Use fresh mozzarella cheese, if possible.

Finger crush herbs: To release the flavor of dried herbs, it is best to finger crush them before you add them to your pizza.

Drain and dry toppings: To avoid getting a soggy pizza, especially if you are using lots of canned and moist ingredients, you should drain your toppings of excess moisture before you arrange them on your pizza base.

Pizza Sauce

Your pizza sauce will give your pizza its distinctive flavor. In the web, you can find a lot of easy pizza sauce recipes to follow. You can even try making your own trademark pizza sauce.

Easy pizza sauce recipe: There should be canned, pre-mixed pizza sauces available in your local supermarket. On the other hand, you can use spaghetti sauce as your pizza sauce. Another easy alternative would be to sauté some onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil, add tomato sauce (chunky tomato sauce is fine or tomato paste/puree diluted with some water), add salt (and crushed pepper if preferred), let the sauce simmer then add basil and oregano. You can even add some balsamic vinegar if you wish. You can also add some cooked ground meat to your sauce if you prefer.

Thicker sauce is better: Use thick pizza sauce on your pizza. Too watery pizza sauce means a soggy pizza. If you are using canned pizza sauce, evaluate the thickness. If too thin, let the sauce simmer before using it on your pizza.

If you are setting out to look for a right chicken coop plan, then you must consider some key elements that are essential and basic while constructing a perfect chicken coop. If you overlook those key elements, then it would result in number of problems for the chickens and even for you to maintain cleanliness of the chicken house. The key elements are proper size and enough ventilation.

The size matters much while constructing a healthy and perfect hen coop plan. The small and cramped size will make the coop overcrowded and it may invite diseases, bad odor and make the chicken cannibal. Moreover, the overcrowded chickens will not lay eggs properly at all. Therefore, choose the chicken house plan at the initial stage that has spacious area. The plan will help you to decide how many chickens you are going to raise in your chicken house.

Enough ventilation is necessary for your chickens. Your chickens are not inanimate objects. That is why they require fresh air. The fresh air supply throughout the coop will ensure healthy chickens. Install windows and vents to keep the coop airy. This will help to sweep away the bad smell of the chicken dung and chicken sweat with the flow of the air.

Selecting the right chicken coop plan is your first need to carry on the task towards success of a perfect chicken house built. Internet is the medium where you will find numerous guide plans. Some plans are available for free of cost. However, the flip side of these free guides is that they are incomplete, and many times they possess information which is not useful for your desired chicken coop plan.

That is why seek for the professional guide plans, because they are made by the experts out of the years of experience and experiments. Besides this, they are tested as well as approved. The professional guide show you the various chicken coop plans until you get satisfied or select the right chicken coop for your chickens. The ideal chicken coop guide plan costs you for $30. The given content of the professional chicken house plan with video instructions is sufficient to make you succeed to build a perfect chicken house, even though you have no prior experience of building or construction.

Beer Can Chicken on the Barbecue – it’s an awesome way to wow your guests and have some real fun, too! I mean, come on. What’s more fun – or funny – than a dancing chicken! You’ve seen it on TV with rubber chickens, now you get to taste it too!

This recipe blends an easy beer can chicken BBQ preparation with a secondary spice rub on the outside of the chicken. The beer will give off a good amount of moisture and flavor, with the rub following up from the outside for that one -two flavor punch!

Time Requirements and Basic Materials List

Time Required to Prepare the Chicken: About 15 minutes

Cooking Time: Roughly 1 hour and 30 min.

The Hardware – What You’ll Need

One 4-5 lb. roaster chicken
Weber Kettle or other charcoal grill with some head room at the top – domed lids work best
One medium sized bag of natural lump charcoal
Chimney coal starter – optional, but lets you get those coals going faster

Ingredients and Measures for the Chicken

1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)
1 12 ounce can of your favorite beer – play with flavored beers if you like! (room temperature)
2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
2 fresh rosemary sprigs – you can use dried rosemary if you like (about 1 teaspoon of the dried stuff)
2 teaspoons olive oil – medium grade is fine – no need to go Extra Virgin
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
The juice of one lemon – translates to a little less than 1/4 cup

Ingredients and Measures for the Rub

1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped (again, you can substitute dry if you don’t have the fresh stuff)
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest (I use one of those micro files – be sure not to zest off more than just the yellow color – the white stuff is bitter)

Now – Time to Pull it All Together

Start by getting your coals nice and hot using the chimney starter. Get them into your BBQ grill or smoker and crank the heat to about 225 Degrees F. (You can find grill thermometers online at Amazon.)

Mix together each of the ingredients for the chicken rub in a small mixing bowl and put the bowl off to the side.

WARNING: You are going to get your hands messy. Consider using some latex or rubber gloves!

Your chicken will most likely come with a little gift bag inside – including the giblets and the neck. Take this out.

Cover the outside of the chicken with rub, also rubbing some of it inside the chicken body.

Open the full can of beer… and drink a couple of gulps straight away! (Can’t pour it out… it’s beer, after all!)

Then, take a can opener and remove the top of the beer can. Some folks will say to just punch a few holes in the top, but I feel that removing it allows for more moisture and flavor to move up through the chicken while it cooks.

Drop the rosemary, minced garlic, thyme, lemon juice, and pepper flakes into the beer can, and set the chicken down on top of it’s beer can throne!

Placing the Beer Can Chicken on the Grill

The key to not burning your dancing BBQ Beer Can Chicken to a cinder is to grill it on one side of your grill – keeping the coals on the other side. This way of cooking is called “indirect grilling” – as you are allowing the heat from your barbecue to to reach your protein (the chicken) on the sly, rather than straight on.

With your grill at about 225 degrees F, you’ll cook your dancing chicken for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Your target internal temperature for the chicken is 180 degrees F. I like to check this using my instant read digital probe style thermometer placed into one of the thighs.

When you’ve reached the 180 degree F mark inside the chicken thigh, pull the chicken off the grill – beer can and all. Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes so the juices can redistribute back through the meat

Pizza is a universal food. Originally confined to Italian neighborhoods, pizza has now become mainstream. Travel anywhere in the world and you will be able to find some type of pizza.

As noted bread baker Peter Reinhart explained to me: “Pizza is the perfect flavor delivery system.” Pizza is the ultimate comfort food.

With a little practice, you can easily make your own delicious home made pizza.

Here are four reasons why you should make your own pizza.

1) Making pizza is easy. With the basic tools found in any kitchen, you will be able to make pizza dough. All pizza dough follows the same basic pattern. Mix flour with yeast, water and salt. Some pizza dough recipes call for oil, however this may be omitted. (I use olive oil in my recipe, but this is a matter of preference.) There are many wonderful dough recipes available to you. You need to find one that you like and will satisfy your own taste.

2) Making pizza is healthy. Since you are making your own pizza, you have total control over the ingredients used. I encourage you to use the freshest ingredients available. The old standards, pepperoni, sausage, tomato sauce, and various cheeses, like mozzarella, make excellent toppings for pizza. There are many vegetables that can be used for pizza as well, including fresh garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, mushrooms and zucchini. Fresh seafood such as shrimp and clams can also compliment your pizza. Experiment. You will create new taste sensations. You are only limited to your imagination when deciding what to put on your pizza.

3) You will save lots of money. You will be amazed at how economical it is to make your own pizza. The actual price of putting together a quality pizza at home is much cheaper than buying at a pizzeria. One way to save money is by purchasing ingredients on sale. You can multiply your savings by obtaining items in bulk at a food discount warehouse. For example some items like mozzarella cheese can be purchased in bulk. Use what you need, and freeze the rest to be used the next time you make pizza. The savings of buying your ingredients in bulk is substantial.

4) Making pizza is fun. Pizza can be a wonderful group activity. When you make pizza, you can get everyone around you involved in some part of the process. Pizza is also an enjoyable family activity. All kids love making pizza. Pizza is a fun activity which can be enjoyed not only by families but by singles as well. When you make pizza, you make magic happen.

Still not convinced you can make your own pizza? Here are some steps you can take to painlessly, create your own pizza. Start with a frozen shell purchased at a supermarket. This is a good way to begin to learn how to make your own pizza. You are in complete control of what toppings you will use.

The next step is to purchase fresh pizza dough from a bakery or pizzeria. This will give you good experience in working with dough and shaping your pizza. Making pizza like this will allow you invaluable experience.

Finally, you can try making your own dough from scratch. Making dough may seem difficult at first, but will get easier and easier over time. Without much effort, you will be making healthy pizza, saving money and having a lot of fun. The hardest part of making pizza is the clean-up.

Pizza on Earth.

When throwing together a picnic basket or sandwich platter it’s always good to have a range of options that suit everyone’s taste and preferences. Here are a few ideas:

• Country Ham Sandwich with potato chips

-Smoked ham
-Organic Roma Tomatoes
-Vintage cheddar
-Old English Mustard
-1 packet of plain potato chips
-1 loaf of sour dough

I don’t need to tell you how to throw this together do I? This sandwich is as easy as well, making a sandwich but the fresh ingredients along with the saltiness and crunchy texture of the chips make this one a favourite with all the family and put a new spin on the old ham, cheese and tomato sandwich.

For best results cut the tomatoes in half the night before and sprinkle with a little thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper and Olive oil.

• Smoked Salmon and Crisp Apple

-Smoked salmon
-Dill
-Capers
-Crème Fraiche
-And finely sliced crisp apple served on a long doughy roll.

Just be sure to toss the apple through a little lemon water so that it doesn’t brown and stays nice and fresh.

• Free range chicken, guacamole and bacon

-Grilled chicken breast
-Mesculin Lettuce
-Sliced cucumber
-Grilled Bacon
-Aioli
-Guacamole
-Soft white bread is best for this recipe

For the Guacamole remove the stone from a ripe avocado, peel and roughly mash. Add some diced Spanish onion a splash of Tabasco sauce, 2 tablespoons of lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to mix in some sour cream if that’s to your liking.

• The Gourmet Vegetarian

-Grilled Capsicum
-Roast eggplant
-Semi dried tomato
-Grilled Zucchini
-Persian Feta
-Basil pesto
-Aioli

I like to serve this one on Turkish bread. You can either grill your own vegetables or buy them grilled and marinated from most supermarkets.

We all grew up eating grilled cheese sandwiches. They’re easy to make and just about every kid and adult enjoys the taste of them. The problem is, as we grow up into our more adult-size bodies, a grilled cheese sandwich really isn’t very fulfilling anymore. Instead of eating multiple old-style versions of this sandwich, let’s discuss how to make a pumped up version that tastes better and fills your belly.

Here’s what’s needed:

3 pieces of bread. Yes, three.
4 slices of cheese
Mayo
Honey
Butter

That’s it in terms of food. Now you just need a pan and an oven and we can get busy with the steps outlined below:

1) Put 2 slices of cheese on 1 slice of bread
2) Spread some mayonnaise on the cheese
3) Put another slice of bread on top of the cheese
4) Add some butter to the pan and get some heat building under it
5) Apply butter to the outside of both slices of bread
6) Once the pan gets hot, spread the butter around and set your sandwich in the pan
7) Flip the sandwich every minute or so until it is lightly brown
Take the sandwich out of the pan
9) Apply 2 more slices of cheese to one side
10) Add honey on top of the cheese
11) Put your last slice of bread on top of the cheese and butter the outside of it
12) Place the non-toasted side of your three-decker sandwich in the pan and let it sit until it is brown
13) Take it out and enjoy

There you have it. A 3-decker grilled cheese sandwich that tastes outstanding!

For people who already own a toasted sandwich maker, this article will be of little relevance. Rather this FAQ is aimed at people who do not currently own one. It may be useful in helping them decide whether this sort of kitchenware will be useful or not.

What is a toasted sandwich maker?

Toasted sandwich makers are a kind of hot sandwich making machine. They are not the same thing as a panini press. Panini sandwich making equipment is typically more expensive and at the same time more versatile. These sorts of toasters can be used to make things other than hot sandwiches. However the sorts of machines that this article is discussing are designed solely to make toasties. A toastie is a hot toasted sandwich.

How are they powered?

There are typically two kinds of hot sandwich machines. One is stove top varieties and the other are electrically powered models. Those powered by electricity are more common. All you have to do is connect the power cable to an electrical wall socket in the kitchen and the unit will automatically start to warm up.

What kind of bread do they use?

This is a good question. Instead of being able to use almost any kind of bread, like you can with panini presses (mentioned above), one of these toasters can only use square slices of bread. This means that their use is more limited than the more versatile panini makers.

Are they safe?

They are pieces of cooking equipment and do get quite hot. They are safe as long as you do not do anything silly like putting your hand in and closing the lid. It may be best to supervise children when they use this kind of device.