pizza, part two
(If you haven’t already, see part one here.)
Okay. So the dough has been chillaxing for two hours, and it’s looking all big and puffy again, sorta like this (isn’t yeast great?):
Plop the dough out on to the board once again, and tear it into two equal-ish pieces. Form each into some sort of ball-lump type of shape.
Spread each doughball into your desired pizza shape.
(That was an advanced technique. Only attempt if you know what you’re doing, or if you’ve already got a couple beers in you.)
We went with two rectangle pizzas, as that was the same shape of the pans that we had. Your shape may vary. Our shape certainly varied:
Next, toppings. First, sauce. We went with something from a jar. There is no shame in things that come in jars. Except when you’re talking about Italian gravy, aka. spaghetti sauce. But that’s for another time.
Here are some example toppings. We chose to use all of them. Green peppers, onions, olive oil (yes, that’s a topping. Use sparingly), mozzarella cheese, oregano, basil, and pepperoni.
Awesome note: If you want your pizza to not be crap, you must shred your own mozzarella cheese from a mozzarella cheese brick. The only acceptable alternative is to use that fresh mozzarella stuff that comes in a small bucket of water. I’m right about this.
Topping layer one: the cheese.
Topping layer next: the other things.
Looking good. Finish with another layer of cheese, and sprinkle some pizza-friendly herbs. I generally like to go with either oregano OR basil, but for these we went with both on each and it was plenty tasty.
Pro tip: When finished topping, throw a few drops of olive oil over the whole thing. This tip will make you a pro!
Now bake. 450 degrees Fahrenheit until it looks done. Maybe 15 minutes? Can’t really advise too well on this one… Just keep an eye on it and you’ll be fine.
When done, remove them from the oven and place on a nice cutting board. I’d recommend letting them cool for just a moment, but I’ve got a sensitive mouth roof. If you’re hardcore, just dive in.
Open a beer, toss a salad, cut ‘em up however you’d like, and enjoy.
Thanks for watching. Maybe we’ll do this again sometime.
