Another day another loaf? Not today because it is Sunday, that means its Pizza Day! Everybody loves Pizza, from deep dish to thin crust. There are infinite combinations of this awesome peasant food. Yes a peasant food I say, history class taught me something. The best part of Pizza is the crust, at least in my eyes. A lot of people I know leave the crust in the box or on their plate. That says to me that the crust was just there as a handle and not as a part of the dish. The crust should be the best part, if done correctly. If you know me personally then you know I like to cook Pizza. I have been testing out many different Pizza dough recipes from time to time. I have even come up with a few of my own. So far the best I have found was in Peter Reinhart's American Pie. This is a collection of recipes and stories from his travels in search of the perfect pie. I did like how he was so adamant about a Pizza crust from his local area. He said that when he went back years later that the crust had changed. He inquired with the owner about it and they said they had to change things around so anybody could make it. I guess you really do have to have a serious passion to make an excellent Pizza. Everybody has that one place that they think makes the best. It fills your childhood with memories of tasty food. For me it would be Vincenzo's Italian Restaurant on the Boulevard in Colonial Heights, VA. I have been going there for years and they know how to make an excellent pie at a great price. Its funny because I actually have "experience"
in the biz. I worked for Pizza Hut for 2 years in Colonial Heights. In my time there I got a chance to make dough in the mornings. Granted that we had a giant mixer and prepackaged dry ingredients. We just added the water and set the mixer to medium for a few minutes. We did bench the dough and proof it for a few hours. Then we had to chill or "retard" the dough. It sat in the fridge until we topped it and sent it through the 450F oven for 10 minutes. That store actually made most of its dough. The pan/thin/new yorker were made everyday. The hand tossed (which we were not supposed to toss because it messed up the dough, per the Pizza Hut experts) was frozen. The experiences there got me interested in yeast and bread at first. However I was in college for computers at the time so I just brushed this new interest away and settled for the box of rocks called the computer. Now years later (with my interest in computers fading away) I am once again a student of baking. Armed with the right tools and teachers (through books, and the net of course) I am venturing out to try strange new breads, to seek out new sourdough cultures and fermentation, to boldly go where no amateur baker has gone before!- The Chesterfield Bread Baker
(A Video of me working at Pizza Hut in 2001 - no sound)
No comments:
Post a Comment