Saturday, May 15, 2010

Pizza!

I'm baking a lazy pizza tonight: All of the ingredients, including the crust, come from our local Italian food store, Fraboni's . The crust started as a frozen ball of dough made at a neighborhood Italian restaurant and for sale at Fraboni's. I've defrosted it and will stretch it into a 12-inch pie. The remaining ingredients - meat, cheese, olives, sauce - all come from Fraboni's fabulous deli.

With great ingredients, I need good tools and technique. Two essential tools: 1) A pizza stone. Ya gotta have one! 2) A pizza peel. We make pizza frequently and the process is easier (and safer) with a peel.

The key technique for pizza is a hot, hot oven. I figured this out after trying a pizza recipe that appeared in the NYT. The oven, with the pizza stone on the rack, is preheated an hour before baking to 550 degrees. Yes, that's right: 550 degrees. The pie bakes for about 10 minutes; I start checking it after seven minutes have passed.

Think about how many times you've had pizza delivered and found it overpriced and not very tasty. With some simple ingredients and a few tools, you can easily make fabulous pizza at home.

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