The fun of making your own homemade gourmet pizza is that you, the home pizzaiolo, bring the ingredients and your experience together to create a pizza that is uniquely yours, whether it replicates "authentic" Italian pizza, is made from a favorite recipe, or is a Saturday night experiment.
As the most important component of pizza, the crust dough presents the most variables to explore with different brands/types of flour and yeast, water temperature and quality, amount of salt, amounts (if used) of sugar/honey and olive oil, dough rising time and number and type of rises, use of a dough sponge or starter, environmental factors of room and oven temperature and humidity, and shaping techniques. Sauce options include tomato, pestos, or the more simple olive oil and flavored-oil sauces. Cheese also presents options to consider well beyond the widely available mozzarella , which is available in whole milk, part-skim, fresh or "true" water buffalo milk, and nonfat. The selection of non-meat and meat toppings is limitless, enough said. Finishing touches of freshly grated parmesan or fresh herbs also can add to your pizza's individuality.
In the end, you may carefully select the finest ingredients or use just whatever is on-hand or readily available, but all of the choices are yours to create your own perfect homemade gourmet pizza!
--------------------------------------------------------------
For far more literary pieces on pizza, refer to Burton Anderson's Treasures of the Italian Table chapter on Pizza Napoletana, John and Matt Thorne's Simple Cooking Issue No. 39 titled "Existential Pizza" (information on ordering back issues as well as subscribing may be found at the website of Simple Cooking), and Edward Behr's The Art of Eating Quarterly Letter No. 22 titled "Pizza in Naples" (information on ordering back issues as well as subscribing may be found at the website of The Art of Eating).
|
|
|
