11 May 2009

Mamma Mary's Mothers Day Pizza

My parents came to visit this weekend, which was very exciting because they haven't been to visit me in a very long time. It was just the three of us, plus Sammy (my cat) and Bosco (the dog). My mom got to pick what we ate for Mother's Day (of course!), and amongst many other things we consumed that day, she wanted to make homemade pizza. (she had never made pizza dough before!).



I have this thing about pizza. So do my parents. I was always skeptical about making pizza because I just love good pizza so much. So call me a snob, or picky, or whatever you want, but I know what I like, and I don't like Maine pizza. It's weird and chewy and crappy. The dough is crappy, the sauce is crappy, and the toppings are crappy. I might be generalizing a bit too much, because there are some pizza's that I will eat, and some that are good. But nothing can compare to my New Jersey pizza. Nothing. They use the perfect amount of dough, cheese, and sauce. The toppings are fresh and tasty. And don't even get me started on "maine calzones"...what a joke........go ahead, call me a bitch if you want. I only feel bad you don't know the difference.

Back to OUR pizza. We used my homemade tomato sauce (gravy for those ginneys out there), and fresh basil that we picked up at Longfellow's earlier that day, with slices of garlic, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, Parmesan, and some seasonings. It tasted impressive.

moms first pizza


woah! nice catch dad!







Thin Crust Pizza Dough Recipe
makes 2 pizzas, 12 inches each - Adapted from pinkbites
  • 2 cups all purpose flour (plus more for kneading) (you can substitute some with whole wheat flour)
  • 1 package of dry active yeast (7 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 200ml (7 oz) of warm water.
  1. Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. Add the olive oil and the warm water and bring it together with a wooden spoon or spatula.
  3. Hand knead dough for about 7(ish) minutes until well together, stretchy, still wet, but smooth. (Original recipe called for the use of a stand mixer, but I don't have one, yet, and it came out just fine by hand.
  4. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled clean bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it rest for at least 1 hour in a dry, warm spot.
  5. Preheat oven to 475 degrees with the pizza stone placed in the middle rack.
  6. Punch down dough with your fist (flour your hands first).
  7. Transfer dough to a well floured surface and knead lightly, adding a little flour as necessary just until it comes together in a ball. Cut dough in half, wrap excess dough if not using it right away and store in the refrigerator.
  8. Prepare the pizza peel (aka rimless cookie sheet) by sprinkling it with cornmeal. Stretch/roll pizza dough to approximately 12 inches round or whatever shape you want. Top pizza as desired.
  9. Using the pizza peel (cookie sheet), slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake it for about 10 minutes or until dough is browned and topping is cooked. To remove the pizza from the oven, use a tong to pull the pizza back into the peel. Let sit a minute or so, then slice and serve!

No comments :

Post a Comment