The full recipe makes enough dough for 2 pizzas.
I divided it in half after it had risen, and put half in a big zip-loc bag, in the refrigerator.
I skimmed "About Pizza, Calzone, and Stromboli" on page 190, and learned that "topping a pizza is a matter of taste." And that "Indians top pizza with pickled ginger, minced mutton, and paneer."
"Mutton" makes me laugh.
Moreover, "the 'Double Dutch' is a favorite in the Netherlands: double cheese, double onions, and double beef." !! I have some friends who are in love with the Netherlands and who might move there--maybe I will make them a Double Dutch pizza! Maybe when I visit them there I'll order "A Double Dutch, please! Hold the Double Beef!" but in netherland-speak it would be "unt duppel dootch, pluks! nuk duppel bouf!" Maybe from now on I'm going to say double everything.
Anyway, I vaguely followed the instructions for Pizza with Tomato Sauce and Mozzarella on page 191.
Except I added spinach and peppers.
I turned the dough into a circle, and so on--and covered it with a bit of olive oil (to keep the crust from getting soggy. ...this is probably a really helpful hint, courtesy the J.O.C.)...and then covered it with all the raw spinach I had in the refrigerator. and then sauce. and then cheese. and then I had some frozen multicolored peppers (which I love--I think it's brilliant to have these frozen)...and put those on the cheese. and then put a tiny bit of cheese on top of that, so that it would look more interesting than a solid blanket of peppers.lalala.
Verdict: It was pretty good! And made me really happy!--Really made my night!
My pizza dough/crust was not like a pizza shop though--and it never is. ...It's still terrific--but it's a little thicker and more like good bread...not thin and crunchy--like, three-eighths of an inch thick really good dense bread underlying the pizza, instead of superthin, not-really bread, but really crust. I suspect that pizza places use a ton of oil--and that has something to do with the crust being the way it is after baking...because while I loved the crust I made, it didn't taste like a professional pizza crust except in the few spots where the dough had literally been sitting in a tiny puddle of olive oil. Make of that what you will.
3 comments:
Ooh! We made pizza recently and it was great! Do you freeze your own peppers or do you purchase them somewhere? If the latter, WHERE?
hey jessica!
first I noticed frozen peppers in fancy places like whole foods.
but they seem to be getting around! because i most recently found them (same brand...and now I forget... C&W ? something like that) in my grocery store right here--and it is pretty far from fancy.
I went back to get more, but they were all sold out.
and my unfancy store has strange re-ordering habits. I have my fingers crossed that they'll be back.
Keep your eyes open for them!
When you see them, snatch them!
they are definitely worth it!
they can't substitute for peppers when you just want to eat peppers obviously--But for things like stir-frys or ricey things, they're perfect...and I think cheaper than having to buy a red papper and a yellow pepper. and I was really happy with them on the pizza!
Frozen peppers?
Years ago (like 12 years ago?) my contact at Pillsbury (a.k.a. Uncle Kevin) talked with me at length about things like sliced up frozen peppers (and other vegetables).
Turns out that although people in focus groups claimed that they would be delighted to buy a bag of already sliced frozen peppers (for example) to use when they want to make a quick meal, nobody bought these things when introduced into our freezer sections.
It also turns out that although they claimed that they would be not at all delighted to buy a frozen bag with a complete meal inside (rice, peppers, mushrooms; noodles, snow peas, carrots, etc.), everybody bought these things when they were introduced.
Well, at least some things change with time. Maybe even for the better. Incredible.
Post a Comment