Yo Tom! This one's for you...
This episode is entitled "My Pie My Mouth"
I love to eat pizza, obviously. I also obviously like to write about it. I love to photograph it, smell it, look at it, and I also like to make it. Now, I'm not claiming that mine is the best, it's not even my favorite. But the process is completely a pleasure.
The inspiration for this came from the fantastically amazing Ottoboni family. Dear friends of mine from Switzerland (they are Italians, NOT Swiss!) who were living in San Diego for a few years. They would have Hannah and I over for dinner occasionally and the first meal was their homemade pizza. Dough, sauce, everything from scratch. It was wonderful. Not just the pizza but the whole experience. The smell of the food, the taste of the wine, the children running around yelling at each other in Italian. And these kids, there were only 3 at the time and they were young, like 1, 4, 6 maybe??? Now there is a fourth and they are all super cute. Great kids, great parents. Most of my visits to Switzerland include a dinner at the Ottoboni's, and I'm always snapping photos of the food, they are amazing cooks. I promise that on my next visit I'll fully document the occasion and let you all have a peek.
My point with all of that was Luigi, the dude, and Letizia, the Mrs. dude, inspired me to make my own pizza. They showed me the process, in and out, and sent me on my way.
Here is my pie.
It starts with the dough
Yes, I made it. The problem I have with this batch is that there isn't much pull to it. And the error lies in the fact that I normall substitue about a 1/2 cup of the 5 cups of all purpose Bob's RedMill flour with a high gluten flour, and this time I was out. The development of the guten is what gives you the pull. But, too much and it will be too tight and won't relax so that you can stretch it and flatten it into a pizza.
Cornmeal, love it
Sauce
No, I didn't make this one, but it's fairly simple. Tomatoes and salt.
2 types of cheese. Mozzarella and parmesan.
If this was a Neapolitan pie I'd use fresh Mozzarella, but I find that the fresh makes the top kinda soupy, which I really don't like.
Drizzle of Red Pepper Olive Oil
And into the oven and onto the pizza stone
500 degrees or more
A couple of minutes later, out comes my pie...
My friendly helper
Bada-boom
Bada-bing
Just cheese
Yummm
Nice and crispy on the bottom and warm and soft on the inside.
Pie.
Go find one and eat it.
DVA
