Eat My Florida

Homemade pizza is not nearly as difficult or time consuming as you might think. I use a dough recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice (the best bread book around). Simple process - yeast, water, flour, oil; knead; refrigerate overnight to allow for fermentation and flavor development; proof, sort of; top and bake. In all, enough incredible dough to make 6 respectable Neapolitan-esque pies takes less than 15 minutes of actual effort, although there is a lot of letting it sit around.

The biggest challenge is teasing my elderly and decrepit oven to maintain a respectable heat. The widely known trick is to pre-heat the oven for at least an hour - it takes that long for a pizza stone to come to temp. I also cycle between broil and bake, opening the oven door every so often to trick the thermostat and get the elements heating again.

Below is the reward for my efforts (not to mention the 5 other dough balls waiting in my fridge and freezer). Looks beautiful, even though I used crappy part skim mozzarella and jarred pasta sauce, doesn’t it?

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