Pizza Do’s and Pizza Dont’s


Over Thanksgiving break I did a little underground border crossing to visit my old roommates from Rome, John and Abby.


In tribute to all or good times cooking together in Italia, we decided to bake up a couple of pizzas. Toppings were cut, wine was drunk and we were ready to go.





Abby started with a very ambitious white pizza with potato and zucchini. Fabulous idea, but tough to execute. The end result was as hard as a Michelangelo fresco and the toppings were all shrunk and shriveled. What we learned: When making white pizza, create craters in the crust with your finger tips and drown it in a shameful amount of olive oil. Pre-bake a bit and then add toppings.




I played it safe and made a half margherita/ half zucchini with red peppers and Abby’s homemade pizza sauce. Out of the oven my pizza had a nice presentation and anything topped with fresh mozzarella is gonna taste alright, but the crust on mine was a tooth chipping brick. What we learned: Don’t stretch your dough too thin and give it a chance to rise a bit before adding toppings.



And then in saunters John. He had spent his time in front of the television, watching a football game and playing with their baby daughter, Cora. He picked up where Abby left off on a puffed piece dough, then went completely traditional with a ton of sauce ( I was convinced that was a mistake), mushrooms and prosciutto. I’m telling you he did this all nonchalant and wouldn’t you know his pizza came out best. What he got right: work the sauce, don’t hesitate with the cheese, give the dough a rest and chillax.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Devon,
    John hasn't seen you post yet....
    but it's guaranteed to boost his ego.
    Although my pizza didn't turn out, I'm happy to see you found some sort of comparison to an artist...good or bad.

    ReplyDelete

FOOD IS ONE OF THE MOST VISCERAL ASPECTS OF A CULTURE; IT CAN BE EXPERIENCED WITH NO LANGUAGE SKILLS, NO GUIDE, AND MOST TIMES WITH VERY LITTLE MONEY.