eating pizza is a very rare thing for me. neither body nor mind appreciate the kind of greasiness and lack of long-lasting satisfaction a pizza in general brings.
but today the body felt like trying a new place. and pizza. turned out to be the largest pizza i've ever seen. a pizza ufo.
alas it wasn't very good. thin crust but too greasy, too much cheese and the vegetables from a jar. it did its best to keep me from having a pizza again in a long long long time.
best thing about the ufo pizza was that the boxes were immediately claimed by self-appointed guardians. go guardians.
I have a very similar photo of a cat warming his behind on a pizza box. Home made pizza can be a treat. The commercial ones? Rarely. Very rarely.
ReplyDeleteCute photos! I would really recommend baking your own pizza and doing simple toppings. It's much nicer, really easy and not at all greasy (depending on what you top it with of course!)
ReplyDeleteI wish I could send you a real Italian pizza (I have a nice pizzeria near home)... but you can try baking your own pizza, it's easy. I can send you my recipe if you want
ReplyDeletePia, I couldn't help my Italian-self and I wanted to spread the love. :)
ReplyDeletePIZZA DOUGH
(*Extremely* close to my New York Italian grandmother's recipe)
1/2 Teaspoon active dry yeast (one small package, here in the US)
2 Cups Water (110-115 degrees F/43.6-46.1 degrees C)
2 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
4 1/2 cups “OO” flour (or All Purpose, but Italian style "OO" is best)
1 Tablespoons Kosher Salt (my cousins use 2 Tablespoons)
Combine yeast and warm water in Food Processor and pulse for a second or two. You *can* let it stand for a few minutes until small bubbles appear (yeast is working), but I don't bother.
Add and pulse Sugar, Olive oil and Salt.
Add flour and process until dough forms and comes together. Work dough into a smooth ball on a lightly floured surface. Just get it there. Don't worry about kneading it too much. If you've made it in the food processor, it will practically turn itself into a ball. It may be slightly sticky, and that's ok-- Makes for a thinner, stretchier crust.
Lightly oil a large mixing bowl and turn dough ball in the oil to coat. Place coated dough seam-side-down in bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a towel to rise (I turn my oven on for a minute-- just a minute!-- and allow my dough to rise in the slightly warmed oven). Allow to rise until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours).
Punch down dough (a second rise here, would make it even better...) and divide into quarters. Shape each quarter into a smooth ball by wrapping the sides to the back. Place each ball seam-side-down, brush lightly with Olive Oil and allow to rest for at least ten minutes.
I usually wrap and freeze two of the balls of dough at this point. Also, it can be refrigerated for a day or two.
Preheat oven to 475F/246C.
Make the sauce while the dough balls are resting and oven is pre-heating:
PIZZA SAUCE
1 (14ounce) can of Crushed Tomatoes (San Marzano's are best)
2 or 3 cloves crushed garlic (whatever your pleasure)
1 Tablespoons Dried Basil (or 2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh Basil)
2 nice pinches Sea Salt
Combine in a small saucepan and simmer while preparing the dough. Many people go crazy with the sauce and add sugar or red pepper, oregano, red wine vinegar, etc, etc, but I truly think simplicity is best here.
NOW THE SECRET... Are you ready???
After the balls of dough are rested, pat and roll, toss or whatever into pizza rounds, stretching as thinly as possible. Place on cookie sheet or pizza pan.
Here comes the SECRET... Yeah?
Cook the dough almost to done before you add the sauce.
NO KIDDING!
If you cook the dough until it is lightly browned and slightly crispy on the bottom, it will stay that way after you top it with the the sauce! Bye-bye soggy, made-in-a-residential-oven pizza crust! This takes only 5-7 minutes.
Remove mostly-cooked dough from the oven and quickly top with sauce and the best mozzarella you can find. Sprinkle with a little more chopped, fresh basil and whatever else you please.
Cook pizzas just until the cheese is nicely melted and you will be in pizza heaven.
Promise.