Disappointment

Last night I finally got to use my new flour in my quest for perfect pizza (my own Holy Grail). This time I tried the recipe from Forno Bravo. (In case anyone wanted to build me a pizza oven, this is a great resource.)

I have had luck with this recipe in the past using bread flour.
Using a scale I measured out my ingredients.


I let the dough proof in the refrigerator over night and took it out a couple of hours before rolling it out.

I wanted to make a simple margherita with the San Marzano tomatoes. I picked up some Italian Buffalo Mozzerella (the real stuff) from Trader Joe's. To make the sauce, I crushed the tomatoes (using a potato masher) with salt and pepper and oregano. (For me the judge of good pizza is a great margherita. We almost always order one when trying a new pizzaria, as this will be the best way to tell if the pizza is truly good. Simple, straight forward and amazingly hard to get right.)

I topped the pizza with the sauce, cheese and basil. Drizzled with oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.


For the other pizzas I made one with sauteed arugula, one with a cooked red sauce and one white with hots.



To make the white pizza, saute about 3 - 4 cloves of garlic per pizza in oil. Add Italian Seasoning and salt and pepper. Cook over low to medium heat, until the garlic is soft and just turning golden.


Brush the dough with the oil and garlic. Top with cheese and hot peppers (I like gardinera or banana peppers) and season with salt and pepper and oregano.


In the end the pizza dough was OK. I was dissapointed, it may have been that I had set unrealistic expectations. It was much thinner and crispier than other recipes. I think that potentially there were issues with my yeast. The flavor of the margherita was wonderful, though. So it wasn't a total bust.

I guess I will have to keep trying.