Mmmmm....pizza

A while back I got the hankering to figure out how to make a great pizza. Everyone has a different definition of great pizza, but for me, I was most interested in making pizza like it is made in Naples. A thin, yummy crust with just a few extrodinary toppings. Simple, but delicious. I played around here and there but never really satisfied with what I was getting. This summer, though, while we were visiting Portland, OR, I got a copy of Peter Reinhart's The Bread Bakers's Apprentice from the semi-famous Powell's Bookstore. Among many other great recipes, he had one for Pizza Napoletana that sounded like what I was going for. My first few attempts were OK but had me wondering if I was ever going to be able to bake at home the kind of pizza I really wanted.

Recently, though, I can finally say that I'm starting to get the results I am looking for. I'm not positive what has made the improvements, but my best guess is it is due to the sifter and scale that Katie bought me for Christmas this year. All the recipes in Peter's book are given by weight as that will be most accurate, especially for dry ingredients like flour and that has helped me keep from over or under shooting the right amount. I'm too cheap to splurge on more expensive flours (I just get big 'ol bags from Sam's that are all clumpy) and the sifter helps me smooth it out.

Now that I feel like I have a good handle on the crust, I'm having fun playing around with different toppings. Here's a few shots of my most recent one (before, during, and after).  For toppings I have just cheese (mozzeralla, and a little asiago), fresh basil, red onion, and a few dabs of ranch.

Mmmmm....