Saturday, October 10, 2009

Pizza Perfect

Friday's pizza was terrific, if I do say so myself. I've successfully reproduced my modified version of Tom's crust, and it was delicious. The funniest thing happens, however: Tom's recipe results in a square-shaped crust.

The square crust, ready for saucing.

Actually, it's not the recipe. It's because of the way I wrap the dough balls in plastic wrap for the overnight rise. They turn into little square-shaped pillows that roll out perfectly square. I suppose I could easily re-shape them before rolling, but the square shape actually fits the peel well.

Toppings added, ready for the oven.

This time I took Tom's advice and took the sauce as close to the edge of the pie as I could without it spilling over. This made a big difference in that the edge did not have any crackery quality and it retained its crispiness and doughyness.

The finished pie! This was number 2 of 2.

You may notice that I used more of our toppings than Tom probably would. The lighter you go with the toppings, the lighter and airier the crust will be in the middle of the pie because it's not weighted down. I'm still working on my restraint.

This pizza was topped with Ken's home made tomato sauce, ham, sautéed onions, mozzarella cheese, and a dried herb mixture. Yummity yum!

Ken did the photography while I was making the pizza.

14 comments:

  1. Oh YUM!!! Man, I can't wait until we have a grown up sized oven, our easy bake oven would destroy that thing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Walt, I learned to make pizza dough from my mom and she always made square pizzas. People used to balk at the odd shape, until they tasted them. You pizza looks marvelous!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fabulous! Oh MAN my mouth is watering :)

    Square pizza slices are normal out here in St. Louis.... which had me thinking that the pizzas themselves were rectangular or square, but I was corrected on that a few weeks ago. When I moved here many years ago, I had never heard of thin, crispy crust, provel cheese instead of mozzarella, and the pie cut into small square pieces. I was used to the New York style crust, mozzarella everywhere, and a big, V-shaped "slice-a-pie". Any way you make it, it's yummy!

    Judy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, Walt, that looks great! I like the square shape.

    What was your final formula for the dough?

    ReplyDelete
  5. vivi, are you using one of those countertop models?

    kyle, thanks! Square pizzas aren't as rare as I thought! I used see many rectangular ones, but not square.

    judy, yes, square slices I'm familiar with, and many pizzas are rectangular. And, having grown up in NY, I'm most familiar with that style, too.

    tom, the formula:
    335 g flour
    150 ml water
    20 ml olive oil
    1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

    The method is the same as yours, except for rolling and folding before it goes into the fridge.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pizza is one of my all time fave foods. Can't cook it myself though! Also, was that photo of the 'Paris tags' taken somewhere around the Bastille area? I have a feeling I took pretty much the same photo myself. I'll have to have a hunt through my files.

    ReplyDelete
  7. evol, good eye! Yes, the tag photo was taken at Bastille. I could see this from a café table on the west side of the place. I took the picture in fall 2006 - three years ago!

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMG!!! That makes me want to request PIZZA instead of a quiche? Is that possible or is it too time consuming? YUMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
    How about everything but the ham... (no meat for me, thanks).

    ReplyDelete
  9. On second thought! HOLD the pizza.. It looks sooo gooooooood but with the tagine and couscous and dessert.. that will be plenty.. So, pizza on our next visit over??? See you in just a weeeeek!! YAY!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. that is a lovely pizza, indeed !

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hehehe. I wonder if I took mine from the same cafe!

    ReplyDelete
  12. leesa, that's a good plan. Pizza for next time. See you Sunday!

    michael, yes, indeed-y! ;)

    evol, it's possible! When was it that you guys were there? I forgot...

    victor, and it was, and good, too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi we get square pizza here too!! Makes sense doesn't it, for cutting!!

    Oh as for "The Blues" I would go ahead and post it..I am sure one missing doesn't matter.

    I didn't tag anyone this time, but one of my friends, wants to change it to Pink, for Breast Cancer awareness week, I said fine, good idea!!

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think!