![]() It finally occurred to me while eating pizza in one of those ancient tiny restaurants that they’re probably not rushing through their dough-making, that they probably mix giant batches before they leave at night to use the following one, which means that they need to slow the process down significantly. But, I also was only moderately happy with the results - good enough, but far from ideal. Thus far, my goal has been to show how fast and easy it can be to make pizza for dinner. Why are most dough recipes in such a rush? I’m guilty as well.Were they draining off their tomatoes for a while before processing them to make the sauce. The stuff I saw them swirling on pizza behind the counter looked so much less… sloshy. But, I still had problems with my tomatoes being too wet to hold the cheese in place well. I realized a while ago that good pizza places almost never use cooked tomato sauces, but canned tomatoes that had been pureed to various textures (slightly doctored up with salt or pepper flakes or garlic, or sometimes a pinch of sugar to compensate for the extra acidity added for canning safety) and cook instead in the oven’s blistering heat.I couldn’t work there because I’d probably be snacking on them all of the time.) (A few places looked like they had run the firm mozzarella through a food mill with large holes for pebbly bits that were easily grabbed in handfuls from a bucket and scattered. It also more closely resembles what I saw them putting on the pizza behind the counter. Aged mozzarella (the stuff that comes wrapped tightly in plastic and feels more dry to the touch) melts well and shouldn’t add an excess of water. Why was I so obsessed with putting really good fresh mozzarella (the stuff that comes in water) on pizza? Sure, it’s the most delicious to eat plain, or sliced as it is in a caprese salad.I’d wanted to keep cooking thoughts at bay - I was on vacation! - but as we ate pizza after pizza (for the pizza-loving kid, was our transparent excuse) and I stared down the guys throwing them together behind the counter, the follow things plagued me: It started almost predictably in Rome, the kind of food city that makes it hard to ignore the gaping space between what you thought you’d been cooking fairly passably at home and the ideal specimen in front of you that bears no resemblance to what had previously been your victory. I’ve been cheating on every pizza recipe I’ve made before and I think you should do the same. ![]() ![]() I realize that it’s entirely possible that you can’t believe I’m talking about pizza again. However, they’re usually normal things, common plagues like roast chicken, perfect buttermilk biscuits or brownies. I suspect that all home cooks have a few demon dishes, things they make a million times and are never fully satisfied with, but are still so obsessed that they can never resist a new angle or tactic that promises to bring them closer to their ideal. Raise your hand if it never resembles the stuff from you favorite wood-wired pizzeria, all bubbled and crisp but stretchy within, with charred spots throughout and slices that don’t flop like overcooked spaghetti once lifted, sauce and cheese sliding away from you just when you need them in your mouth the most. ![]() Or maybe th opposite happens, that it’s so thick and bready, it reminds you more of a bagel, and sadly, not in a good way. Raise your hand if you never get pizza right when you make it at home - that the dough doesn’t rise in the time the recipe says it should or it’s impossible to roll out or that you get it rolled out but once baked, it tastes less like a good pizza crust and more like a tough cracker. ![]()
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