You may remember my article last year on me and my sister’s attempt to perfect making pizza, especially on the grill. Now I myself am not even going to lie and say that this is my goal. This is actually my youngest sister Mary’s goal. The reason I bring this up again is because the other day I did make a great pizza. Mine of course now is the deep dish kind that I used to loath and at most places still do. You see I make mine with a focaccia bread dough. I love homemade bread so bear with me for a minute for getting away from the pizza. When we were young growing up homemade bread was a staple in our home and especially in my grandparents home. I used to watch my grandmother whip up bread dough without ever using a measuring cup. She had the knack for it and you would never catch her using a machine. My mom also used to make hers the old fashioned way until the discovery of the bread machine. Once she got one of those the kneading by hand became obsolete. Now some will argue that you cannot tell the difference between bread made in a bread machine or bread made the old fashion way. I will tell you that I can and although I will eat the bread from a bread machine, as it is still much better than store bought mass produced can’t spell half the ingredients or pronounce half of them bread. I can tell whether my bread was machine made or handmade with loving care. The handmade is by far the much better tasting of all.
I say this because while we were devouring our homemade pizza the other night this was the discussion that came up. I was told that my crust was one of the best that I had ever made. This came from my wife Denise and also from my niece Sonja. Both had my pizza before so they know what it taste like. I always make my own dough but I usually use my KitchenAid stand mixer for the kneading because the arthritis in my hands makes it hard to knead by hand. When I went to make the dough this time I had all my ingredients in the bowl and put the dough hook on the mixer. When I turned the mixer on the dough hook would not spin so I had no choice but to knead the dough by hand. I also ran into another problem, hey shit happens right, I ran out of olive oil. Olive oil is a key ingredient in focaccia bread so once I had my dough all kneaded and rising I ran to the store quickly and picked up a bottle of Pompeian EVO Robust flavor. The reason the olive oil is critical in the recipe is first of all it is used in the dough itself and second when you are shaping the loaf onto your cookie sheet using your fingers to carefully stretch and dimple the bread, you need the olive oil on top the bread so that it will stretch and dipple without tearing the dough. I only had enough EVO to put into the recipe itself and none for the stretching part.
My wife and niece swear the taste was because I had hand kneaded the dough and not used my trusty KitchenAid mixer. I myself think that it was because the olive oil was different from my usual Trader Joe’s brand. Now I am going to try this again after I fix my mixer and see if they can tell a difference than.
I was really bummed out by my mixer crapping out on me and when I see the cost of a new one, let’s just say it is way out of my budget. Because I use the mixer not a bread machine to make things like bagels, english muffins, cinnamon walnut bread and a whole list of other types it has to be a high power mixer not the cheaper stand mixers that have a much lower cost. Thank god for YouTube video’s, I was able to find a fix it video for my model of the KitchenAid stand mixer from ereplacement parts. I did take the mixer apart to see if any of the gears were damaged so that I could place an order right away if needed. To my surprise the gears are all ok with no signs of wear. I think the problem is that the grease is old and not getting in the gears right. I believe that caused the gear to slip out of place so that the part that spins the attachments does not turn. I did put it back together and it is running but I ordered new grease and will clean out all the old grease and repack all the gears with some clean heavy duty grease and hope that keeps the gears from slipping again. I am also glad that I am handy enough where I am comfortable taking things apart and rebuilding them. That definitely comes from my dad always showing me how things worked and the YouTube video’s makes it that much easier.
Okay back to the pizza. Well apparently my sister and I were on the same wavelength and we were both making pizza. Hers of course was made on the grill and mine was made in the oven. I have told her if she really wants to perfect the making of pizza on the grill she should have a wood burning oven built out on her patio. I think if I had one of those I would have to begin my experiment of making the perfect pizza again. I wish my sister the very best on her pizza making goal and who knows maybe by the time I visit her in August she will have it down to a science and than I can enjoy some good ole pizza.
One other thing before I end this article. I live in California and what they call pizza and what I call pizza are two totally different items. Some things you just cannot beat from New Jersey and New York and the most famous is pizza. Those of you who live there know this as a true fact. I have one pizza place near me that has decent pizza and that is because the owner comes from New York, otherwise it is make my own and indulge in that luxury when I go back east.
Happy Eating. 