G Said: I hate my oven. This fact must be thoroughly understood. With that being said, on with the show!
I come from a land where pizza runs wild and free like herds of African animals...where thin crusts are un-adulterated by such "modernist" and "fusion" toppings such as buffalo chicken, carnitas, or, the worst offense of all, pineapple and ham. I'm a hard-line traditionalist who appreciates the beauty and the simplicity of what, essentially, is peasant-food (and there's a lot of pride behind that). California Pizza Kitchen, I'm officially putting you on blast. Behold perfection.
Another point of pride is being able to make it at home--you know, the real way. From the ground up. Growing up, the typical Saturday saw my father starting the dough around 2 while watching golf. Now, I've taken what I've learned and run with it--I've got my own plan and my own routine, but the love is the same. And now I got to share it with She, who was a champ! What impressed me the most was how quickly she picked up "the move" (keep it clean, this is a family show)--fold, press, quarter-turn, repeat. Dough-kneading at its finest. Seeing her so willing to get her hands dirty is, of course, a huge bonus! She sure makes it look good. Oh, and she may worry about her yeast rising, but I taught her to keep the water warm and to throw some sugar in there to rehydrate...works every time.
Back to the oven--I set it on broil, but it seems as if it won't go above 450 F...not cool when you need 550/600 for a good crust, so we needed to make do with what we had. And if you suggest a stone, I'm way ahead of you. Even have a peel. Booyeah. But even a nice slab won't make it hotter in there...definitely need to build that outdoor coal-burning oven...then need to buy a house to have a back yard to put it in.
I come from a land where pizza runs wild and free like herds of African animals...where thin crusts are un-adulterated by such "modernist" and "fusion" toppings such as buffalo chicken, carnitas, or, the worst offense of all, pineapple and ham. I'm a hard-line traditionalist who appreciates the beauty and the simplicity of what, essentially, is peasant-food (and there's a lot of pride behind that). California Pizza Kitchen, I'm officially putting you on blast. Behold perfection.
Another point of pride is being able to make it at home--you know, the real way. From the ground up. Growing up, the typical Saturday saw my father starting the dough around 2 while watching golf. Now, I've taken what I've learned and run with it--I've got my own plan and my own routine, but the love is the same. And now I got to share it with She, who was a champ! What impressed me the most was how quickly she picked up "the move" (keep it clean, this is a family show)--fold, press, quarter-turn, repeat. Dough-kneading at its finest. Seeing her so willing to get her hands dirty is, of course, a huge bonus! She sure makes it look good. Oh, and she may worry about her yeast rising, but I taught her to keep the water warm and to throw some sugar in there to rehydrate...works every time.
Back to the oven--I set it on broil, but it seems as if it won't go above 450 F...not cool when you need 550/600 for a good crust, so we needed to make do with what we had. And if you suggest a stone, I'm way ahead of you. Even have a peel. Booyeah. But even a nice slab won't make it hotter in there...definitely need to build that outdoor coal-burning oven...then need to buy a house to have a back yard to put it in.
She Said: I have never made pizza from scratch before, but when growing up, this was a regular family tradition for G. When he suggested a pizza making night, of course I said, yes (fyi: if a handsome, Italian man says he will cook for you and teach you how to make authentic Italian food, you must always say YES). I must admit I had some reservations. Yeast intimidates me, and first time cooking experiences can tell a lot about your couple style, both good and bad (friends have warned me). Will one person be the messy cook and drive the clean cook crazy; does one cook follow the recipe and the other not, even the flow of moving about the kitchen may pose a problem, will you bump in to eachother or get in each others way? All of this could be a couple- kitchen nightmare... fortunately, cooking time with G is nothing but relaxing. When Italian food is on the agenda, Frank Sinatra is played, wine is poured, flour sprinkled all over the counter, hands get dirty, and childhood stories are shared. We even managed to squeeze a game of wiffle ball in while the pizza sauce was cooking and Clue while the oven was heating. As I took a bite into the steaming sausage pizza we created together, of course every one of my tastebuds resonated with deliciousness but to me what meant more was all of the other non-traditional ingredients thrown in.
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