This blog is about bread. There shall be no posts on raspberry meringues nor recipes for choco-licious biscuits. It will be a cold day in hell before I bake a tiramisu or post pretty pictures of fairy cakes with frosted pink icing.
That being said I do occasionally compromise these principles in some vain attempt to win over the wife. This week I’ve attempted to impress her with home made pizza. We share happy memories of Italy and only last year passed through Naples and Sicily on our honeymoon. An educated palate however is not the same as a discerning palate. Her favourite purvayor of pizza remains the pizza delivery guy from our local Pizza Hut.
Here’s my attempt at New York style pizza following a recipe from American Pie by Peter Reinhart.
[An excellent book. I recommend it highly]
Pizza No. 1
My review
A very tasty pizza. It’s about the standard of a decent independent pizzeria. However, it’s miles away from being an outstanding pizza.
Pizza No. 2
This attempt didn’t turn out quite so well.
I spent too much time pulling and dragging at the dough. In the end I achieved a thin base but also squeezed out most of the gas. But my really big mistake was in not waiting for the oven to fully reheat. I tried to compensate with a little extra cooking time but this just turned the crust to cardboard.
I gave this pizza to the wife. I’m not always Mr Nice Guy.
Wife’s review
When you’ve got nothing nice to say it’s better to say nothing at all. I think she had a hard time chewing the ‘cardboard’ base and an even worse time swallowing the $20 I’d spent on cheese. A regular pan from Pizza Hut only costs $14 bucks so I’d lost the battle before I even began.
[Kneadyguy's two cents on pizza: For me, the difference between good pizza and awesome pizza is the crust. Great pizza is bread-like at the rim with charred, cracking skin and big pockets of air. It has a mild, rustic taste and a sweet, smoky aroma.
Or, in the case of Pizza Hut it's stuffed with processed cheese. Either type is great]
