A PIZZA MAKING TUTORIAL

Hello pizza fans.

At least I hope you are a pizza fan because I have devoted this entire week to pizza! But really, who doesn’t like pizza?

First I shared with you my new kitchen appliance, the Breville Crispy Crust Pizza Maker, then I gave you a tutorial on the preparation of Olive Oil Pizza Dough. And today, just for good measure, I thought I’d give you a pizza making tutorial. After this I promise we will move on to a whole new subject!

So, to teach you how to make homemade pizza, there is no better instructor than my friend Brenda. She is the person every pizza lover in Lake Arrowhead would love to know. That’s because she has her own wood-fired pizza oven right in her kitchen. And, having perfected the craft over the past 10 years, she also makes some of the very best pizza on the planet.

Today she has invited you into her kitchen to see how it’s done. Brenda makes her own wonderful pizza dough, from scratch of course, in much the same way I do. As you can see here, her dough is very, very soft.

Brenda uses a wooden peel when preparing her pizzas. If you are going to be a serious pizza maker you will need one too. In fact, it helps to own both a wooden peel on which to assemble the pizza, and a metal peel to remove the pizza from the oven. To get started she dusts the peel with flour.

This is what a metal peel looks like. The two small shakers (from World Market) contain all-purpose flour in one, semolina flour in the other. They make dusting the peel quick and easy.

To prepare the pizza crust Brenda first taps the dough with her fingertips to begin forming a circle of dough. She taps and presses the dough into the desired size and thickness. Then she carefully lifts and stretches the dough, also with her fingertips.

Brenda always has a myriad of toppings at the ready, allowing her to make many varieties of pizzas.  Some of the toppings are raw, others she sautes or roasts first.  On this particular day she had prepared both raw and roasted zucchini. She also had raw onions and caramelized onions.  There were roasted red peppers and raw red peppers, sun dried tomatoes and raw tomatoes. There was sauteed shallots, kalamata olives, crimini and shiitake mushrooms, fresh basil, parsley and thyme. And she had also prepared fresh tomato sauce as well as a pesto sauce.

On another occasion she added artichokes, lemon and truffle oil and the customary red pepper flakes to her pizza toppings.

And on yet another occasion I snapped this photo where she was using roasted butternut squash and roasted potatoes. Really, the skies the limit as far as pizza toppings go. Since Brenda is a vegetarian, you won’t find pepperoni or sausage on her pizzas. However, she often makes a pizza with shrimp that I adore!

Brenda also uses a variety of cheeses on her pizzas. Here she has mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan cheese at the ready…

as well as fresh mozzarella cheese. She often adds gorgonzola or blue cheese to her pizza repertoire, which is out of this world when paired on a pizza with roasted pears and hazelnuts!

Here is how she assembled one delicious pizza. First a thin layer of tomato sauce is added. Keep in mind however that a tomato based sauce is not always necessary. I love the so-called “white” pizzas and often simply use garlic or shallots, sauteed in olive oil as my pizza sauce.

Brenda then topped the pizza with fresh ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, always in moderation. Her pizzas, like those you find in Italy, are never swimming in cheese.

Then she slides the pizza off the peel and into her wood-fired pizza oven. It goes directly onto the floor of the oven. For those of us not lucky enough to own a wood-fired pizza oven, we would place our pizza dough onto a pizza stone that had been preheated to 500º F in our conventional oven.

Because of the high heat generated by the pizza oven, these pizzas cook in a matter of a couple of minutes.  She gives the pizza a quick turn to insure even cooking. She also uses a special poker to pop some of the bubbles coming up in the dough.

After 2 or 3 minutes the pizza comes out of the oven, bubbling hot.

Next she uses kitchen shears to dress the pizza with fresh basil.

A light sprinkle of parmigiano reggiano cheese is grated using a micro plane, directly onto the hot pizza. Brenda also adds a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a dash of salt.

The pizza is cut and then handed out to her hungry and very lucky dinner guests.

Next she made my favorite pizza. The sauce is made by sauteing shallots and garlic in olive oil. A little white wine is added along with a dab of butter, a sprinkle of fresh thyme and a pinch of red pepper flakes. She adds raw shrimp, cut down the middle lengthwise and mozzarella cheese. After the pizza comes out of the oven she dusts it with a bit of sea salt, parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. This is my pizza nirvana!

On the other hand Brenda makes this simple fresh bell pepper and onion pizza for my husband. We have taken to calling it the “Brad Becker Special”.

So there you have it: A PIZZA MAKING TUTORIAL

Are you hungry yet? What is your favorite type of pizza?

Thanks for dropping in!  Do please leave a comment below.  I’d love to hear from you!

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