Dean & Deluca

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Homemade Pizza Tricks

:: Disclaimer: Do not try some of these moves at home without a drop cloth ::


I recently baked my own pizza with no more training than occasionally watching Giada De Laurentiis operate a rolling pin. Using my guess-and-check-and-make-do method, I navigated my way through raw pizza dough – and a slight altercation with moldy mozzarella cheese – rather successfully.

First – a quick foreign language lesson. Kraft does not mislabel their packaging. If your bag of mozzarella has blue pieces in it, it is not bleu cheese. The blue chunks do not make your food gourmet, but rather they make you run to the bathroom. Aah, why is it that the French pronunciation always sounds so much better?

As my cheese proved insubordinate and unusable, I moved onto the dough, where I managed to tear a hole within minutes of rolling. 
Fine. I simply divided the dough into two pizzas (which soon turned into three after a similar incident) and I was back in business!

The key is in knowing when to stop rolling and start stretching the edges of the dough with your fingertips.
However, there are always those select few who refuse to just put the pin down…

Then came the dangerous part – the attempts at pizza-dough-spinning. I’m not sure as to how much this risky act impacted the overall appeal of the dough, but it truly was beautiful to watch. 
Just look at that determination.






I’d like to take a moment to direct your attention back to the photograph above so that you can fully take in what you’re seeing. Superb.

I dusted the first pie with oregano before adding the sauce, new bag of cheese, and pepperonis. As simple as it may be, this pizza won everyone over.



On the second pizza, I spread barbeque sauce, mozzarella, lightly sautéed red onions, and filet mignon that had been tossed with a little more barbeque sauce.

Out of respect for my mother, I decided it just wouldn't be right to show a photo or even discuss the contents and results of her pizza, but two pizzas were more than enough for us!

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