My early memories of making pizza consisted of splitting an English muffin in two, slathering it with ketchup sauce, sprinkling cheese and if we had any, adding sliced bologna.
Since those days my culinary skills have developed and my palette has become more discriminating.
Some of you may recall one of my posts: Confessions of a Cookbook Enthusiast. If so, you can empathize with my phobia of making pizza dough. Over the years I avoided making pizza dough from scratch by substituting a pizza in a box or purchasing premade dough. The mere thought of working with yeast made me anxious.
A couple of years later I was encouraged by my girlfriends who had successfully mastered the task and I got my courage up and gave it a shot. Here is what I have learned along the way:
Face your fear.
Dough is forgiving.
Use a seasoned pizza stone otherwise dough sticks… this happened one time!
Measurements need not be exact; honey can be substituted for sugar.
It’s messy; flour is untamable.
Confidence intact I now make pizza for others and that is my pizza evolution story!
Delancey: a Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by local author Molly Wizenberg is inspiring. The couple’s endeavor to create the perfect pie involved long road trips, jetting across the country and critiquing renowned artisans’ pizzas. This research and long hours developing their own signature recipe resulted in a perfect pie. Ms. Wizenberg also writes with honesty about the struggles of opening Delancey, a successful restaurant in Ballard.
There is an established community of restaurateurs who take making pizza pie to a whole new level. However, as I’ve discovered it is really not that difficult to make delicious pizza. If you are an experienced baker or just getting started, Everett Public Library has several wonderful books on the art of making pizza.
The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani
Revolutionary Pizza by Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau
Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg
Pizza on the Grill: 100+ Feisty Fire-Roasted Recipes by Elizabeth Karmel
Be sure to visit A Reading Life for more reviews and news of all things happening at the Everett Public Library.
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