Thanksgiving Pizza
We did the turkey thing the Sunday before Thanksgiving during our visit to Florida (which Melissa is in charge of documenting as we speak), so we thought we’d try our hand again at making pizza, after a less-than-stellar attempt a few weeks ago. We were inspired by Melissa’s brother Matt’s pizza creations during the Florida trip, and Melissa used her sister-in-law Ange’s semi-famous Friday night pizza dough recipe.
Melissa was in charge of the dough, because I have a poor track record with food that requires yeast (I do make a great flatbread, which does technically require yeast, but I think it’s just in there to make me feel like I can handle yeast. I can’t.) I have to say she did a thoroughly phenomenal job with the yeast and the rising and the whole thing, and it was very yummy.
I was in charge of the sauce, which I had quizzed Matt about extensively as he was making it. Here’s my rendition.
Melissa’s brother Matt had also demonstrated some dough-tossing skills, of which I was envious, so I decided to try my hand at it while Melissa tried her hand at my camera’s video features. It’s embarrassing, but! We raise the very important question of whether proper pizza dough tossing requires using your fist, or your open hand. Please comment below.
There was a brief moment of panic when Melissa was so excited to use our new oil and vinegar bottles that she accidentally poured apple cider vinegar (vinegar is in the short bottles!) on the uncooked pizza dough instead of olive oil (oil is in the tall bottles!), but after a bit of swearing and blotting, we recovered nicely:
As you can see, we got to make use of our new pizza peel, and we took turns being downright gleeful (there may have been jumping and clapping) at the fun of sliding the dough from well-floured peel to preheated stone.
We neglected to document the finished product, for which we apologize, but now it is all eaten and so it is too late. We’ll do better next time.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Well I’ve never tried tossing it (though after seeing Matt toss it, I’ve decided to get over my fear of dough and give it a try) but I think it’s definitely the fist.
I behave the same way when using the peel. Theres no earthly reason it should be that fun but it is!
You should try our pizza sauce recipe. I thought it was on our site but it’s not.
No-cook pizza sauce:
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tbs olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
Mix together and you’re done!
I often add some tomato paste to thicken it up.
Re the vinegar incident: You really shouldn’t allow Melissa in the kitchen unsupervised.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Oops, the comment above was me, not Ange.
November 25th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Note: Rebecca does not look her best in the video on the blog, but I commend her for still posting it.
Also, I would like to encourage the reader to take note of the pleasing rows of pepperoni on the pizza. Those who know both of us will be unsurprised to learn that this was my handiwork.
November 25th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Rebbeca,
Ya know there are places that actually offer lessons in pizza throwing - might I suggest? Also, they do have “fake” pizza that you could use in the meantime to practice those skills. Of course if you like the “extra flavor” that dropping the dough might provide, continue in the manner you are used to. You also need to learn the “double fist” method to stretch the dough -