So you want to make a PIZZA ? I mean a real home-made pizza ? Are you going to make the PIZZA DOUGH from scratch ? Are you going to make the PIZZA SAUCE from scratch ? Will you prepare the TOPPINGS ? Yes, my friends, toppings also need to be prepared because you probably don’t have a professional commercial restaurant pizza-oven at home that can easily reach 350°C … Or do you ?
Even simple & super-fresh ingredients need a little helping hand to make the flavors and the essences shine through ! Let me explain. The flavor of even wonderful and fresh tomatoes can be deepened & heightened if you brush them with white vinegar and/or lemon juice and sprinkle them with salt (whether making pizza or just a simple salad). As they sit and lose some of their water, they taste better and if you’re making pizza, baking the tomato slices until they lose half of their water will make them more intense and avoid the ‘soupy’ mess that can occur on a pizza dough that is prepared in a regular and not very powerful home oven and that can’t make all of that water in the toppings evaporate quickly and completely enough. You want a crispy thin dough with perfectly cooked toppings on top, right ?!
I’m using “aumonière” or “beefsteak” tomatoes which actually resemble like old-style leather pouches but are very meaty, tasty and heavy, weighing at least 400 to 500 grams each. Not to be confused with the original and ancient variety often called ‘buffalo heart’ or ‘ox heart’. Those are smaller and delicious but quite expensive in comparison. The optional addition of fennel seeds also accentuates the taste of freshness.
Another way to increase the flavor of the pizza dough is to use the slightly salty & milky liquid that the mozzarella balls are packed in to make the actual pizza dough instead of using plain water. It’s like making regular pizza dough but you need less salt because of this salty and milky cheese brine.
This summery pizza doesn't resemble my customary montreal-style all-dressed pizza which uses 1200 grams of toppings for 600 grams of pizza dough (see the recipe here). This summer pizza is lighter in flavor as well as weight, requiring only 600 grams of toppings for 600 grams of pizza dough.
These are simple methods you can use to literally make a simple 2-flavor pizza of tomato and cheese flavors into something less plain and more spectacular … TRUST ME !
Anyways, the weather is wonderful but really hot, it’s 35°C as I’m writing this, I’ve been working hard and travelling alot during the past 6 weeks in a suit and tie and I have 1 more week before the summer holidays ! I know I usually post recipes on Fridays but it was impossible so, as a compromise, I’m posting it now, a few days later. You see, no abandonment issues on the horizon !
I hope you’re all having a nice summer and I hope your holidays are just around the corner . . . :)
