From Mundane to Really Good

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Pizza is just good stuff, even if you purchase one of the Wal Mart three meat specials for five bucks. I took that pizza and sprinkled on dried oregano and dried basil, added another complete layer of pepperoni, 1/2 of a raw onion sliced and separated, and finally, some good, water buffalo mozzarella. Bake it at 400' for 15 minutes. It was delicious. The crust is thin and mildly crispy. I ate it New York City style. I folded my piece in half and munched it down with an ice cold glass of milk. The sweetness of the milk cut the intense flavor of the pizza perfectly.

The sad part of this story is that I have never been successful making pizza from scratch, though my bread, and other similar things come out really good. I had to cheat to get a really good home-made pizza, except for that one time that I made one on the grill. Oh well. We all have to have some weakness, our very own kryptonite.

Seeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[buckytom]

lol, gw, we really are brothers. pizza-making is kryptonite to me as well.

recently, i bought some dough from a renowned pizza joint near me, made what i thought was a perfectly sweet and savory sauce, and also picked up the best low moisture mozarella i could find.

and then i tried to make a pizza. all i made was a mess.

i tried and tried and tried to get the dough to stretch properly, but no matter what i did it would retract into a misshapen blob. i didn't realize at the time that you need to let it come to room temp to stretch.

when it did finally stretch a bit, i covered it in the other ingredients and plopped it onto my brand new pizza stone, and in it went into the oven.

10 minutes later, i had an unevenly cooked, bubbling pile of something that should have been delicious. without the use of a peel, i tried to slide the thing onto a platter to cut it, but in the transfer half if it folded and spilled everywhere. and believe me, hot sauce and cheese is like napalm.

i'll never try to make pizza in shorts ever again!

so, i envy those who can toss a dough, deftly ladle the sauce in concentric circles, and have that touch when sprinkling the cheese that looks like an artist at work.

 

[ChefJune]

lol, gw, we really are brothers. pizza-making is kryptonite to me as well.

recently, i bought some dough from a renowned pizza joint near me, made what i thought was a perfectly sweet and savory sauce, and also picked up the best low moisture mozarella i could find.

and then i tried to make a pizza. all i made was a mess.

i tried and tried and tried to get the dough to stretch properly, but no matter what i did it would retract into a misshapen blob. i didn't realize at the time that you need to let it come to room temp to stretch.

when it did finally stretch a bit, i covered it in the other ingredients and plopped it onto my brand new pizza stone, and in it went into the oven.

10 minutes later, i had an unevenly cooked, bubbling pile of something that should have been delicious. without the use of a peel, i tried to slide the thing onto a platter to cut it, but in the transfer half if it folded and spilled everywhere. and believe me, hot sauce and cheese is like napalm.

i'll never try to make pizza in shorts ever again!

so, i envy those who can toss a dough, deftly ladle the sauce in concentric circles, and have that touch when sprinkling the cheese that looks like an artist at work.

You want to come over for a Pizza Lesson? I used to teach Pizza and Calzones every 2 months for 10 years at the Boston Center for Adult Education.

OF COURSE you can master pizza making!

 

[buckytom]

do you still teach, june? i woulda thunk you were more of a teacher of french cuisine. i would love to know the next time that you give classes, if you're still in the biz.

 

[Alix]

OMG! Pizza explosion in shorts would be terrible!

I got the best dough recipe off the site here. Now whose recipe was it? Mudbug's maybe? I'll have to search for it. But its easy as pie. I precook mine a bit before saucing and loading it up. I don't have a peel either (its been on my Wish list for about 3 years now!) but cornmeal on the stone itself has worked well for me, and I just spread the dough on the stone. Once its cooked it slides off slick as you please.

Once you master the dough, the rest is a cinch guys. Don't over think the sauce, keep it as simple as you can.

 

[ChefJune]

do you still teach, june? i woulda thunk you were more of a teacher of french cuisine. i would love to know the next time that you give classes, if you're still in the biz.

Lately I'm only doing private classes.

Yes, I teach French, but also a whole host of other things, too. I taught at the BCAE for 10 years, every Tuesday night, plus the pizza classes 1 Friday night a term. Here's the list copied from my resume:

Specialties: French - Provençal, Classic, Regional; Chocolate; Pastry; Desserts; Fish & Seafood; Jewish Holiday; Professional Techniques; Food Processor Techniques, Enjoyment of Wine. Additional Curriculae: Cajun/Creole; Chicken; Lamb; Beef & Veal; Pork; Breads; Italian; Greek; Hors d'Oeuvre; Party; Christmas; Grilling; Breakfast; Vegetarian; Spa Cuisine; Soups; etc.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Lately I'm only doing private classes.

Yes, I teach French, but also a whole host of other things, too. I taught at the BCAE for 10 years, every Tuesday night, plus the pizza classes 1 Friday night a term. Here's the list copied from my resume:

What a resume! If you, me, BT, and a few others from this site got together, and had the time, I bet we could develop an exceptionally well rounded on-line cooking school, that would turn out some students who could really cook up a storm. That would be fun.

Alas, I've been time challenged most of my life. Ah well, it's still a great dream. I still think that a few of us should put our heads together and create the ultimate cookbook, get it published, and make millions (Ok, so maybe we wouldn't make millions, but it would still be fun.)

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[DaveSoMD]

GW - if you have a Walmart with the ready-made pizza, check and see if they also sell pizza dough in the deli area, mine does. That is what I use. It is a decent dough and inexpensive.

 

[joesfolk]

Just wondering if you folks know that most pizzarias will sell you their dough. The one near us makes the best dough. Every once in a while I run up there and for a buck get a large dough ball. It's worth every penny. I don't even have to defrost it. Now I love to make bread. I love to make pizza but it is just worlds cheaper and easier to buy it ( the dough that is) and make my own pizza or calzones or just crazy bread.