Pizza!
One of my favorite dishes that my father made when I was still living at home was his pizza. The toppings would vary, but the crust was always the same recipe, and was exquisite. It was fairly thin, certainly not Chicago-style, but nor the very thin crust that you expect from New York pizza. A while back my dad, at my request, sent me the recipe by reading it to me over the phone while I dictated the ingredients into a file on my computer. Apparently this secret was too precious to be committed to email where just anyone could intercept it.
I've made the recipe a number of times since then and not once has it turned out as I remember it from my childhood. L postulates that my dad fudged the recipe when he told it to me, to keep me from challenging him as the master of the pizza. In any case, the dough is never quite right, and while the pizza turns out fine... edible... certainly consumable... not earthshattering, though.
I've decided to move on. I've been defeated by that recipe, and I acknowledge it.
It's ok, though, because I have a new pizza dough recipe source. Peter Reinhart (who you might have noticed I have a bit of a man crush on) wrote a book called American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza. It is, as you may expect, a book solely about pizza in America and is part travel writing, part recipe book.
I picked out the Neo-Neapolitan as most likely to be close to the dough I remembered from childhood. It's a thin crust pizza dough, but not as floppy thin as New York style. It does not require folding in order to eat, let me say that.
On top was a pizza sauce that L loves to make, which consists of pureed tomatoes, cinnamon, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, lemon juice and crushed red pepper. The cinnamon is the key ingredient there, and it stands out nicely in the end result. If you're going to make it, though, remember to drain the sauce a bit. If it's too runny it will keep the dough from crisping up the way you want in the oven. We also topped it with fresh tomato slices and green pepper, along with some fresh mozzarella.
It certainly came out better than my previous pizza attempts, but there is always room for improvement.
I have yet to make a better pizza than my dad someday, after all.
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Comments
I read your post about your dough issues; maybe I can help. How are you mixing it. Check to see if you are overmixing your dough. Are you letting it rise enough, or too much? Is there enough salt and sugar in your dough? Is the yeast old? And, are you baking the pie properly? Give me a detailed account of the procedure ( not the amounts; I know that this is a family recipe), and maybe I can help. You can post your response here.
By the way, I'm your neighbor. I'm a retired chef in Baltimore and started my blog three weeks ago:
http://deedleleespeaks.vox.com
I do food commentary, and post a recipe every Friday, so come check me out.
Diane (aka Deedlelee)