Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Best pizza I've had











This is by far the best pizza I've made, and probably the best pizza I've ever eaten. I finally got my oven up to 800 degrees or so (the thermostat there is after I'd taken the pie out and run to get my camera -- it had rolled all the way back around to 150 when I put the pie in). The crust was nicely charred and the dough was soft, light, and chewy - unlike any pizza I've ever had.

The funny thing about my little pizza hobby is that I've never had a really good pizza
-- I tried going to Una Pizza Napoletana around Christmas but it was always closed. But reading Jeff Verasano's account of his meticulous, obsessive, successful quest to re-create the perfect pie from Patsy's inspired me to attempt again to use the self-cleaning cycle of my oven (it took too long to heat up previously) so that I could get the soft, chewy, light dough along with the charred crust.

I emailed Z about my success this morning, and he's going to drop in for a pie for lunch. (update: Z came over and the crust met with his hearty approval. I also hit upon a useful comparison: this sort of pizza crust has much in common with tandoori naan...)

No comments: