Blog #5

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Cornmeal (to help slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)

• Tomato sauce (smooth, or puréed)
• Firm mozzarella cheese, grated
• Fresh soft mozzarella cheese, separated into small clumps
• Fontina cheese, grated
• Parmesan cheese, grated
• Feta cheese, crumbled
• Mushrooms, very thinly sliced if raw, otherwise first sautéed
• Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, very thinly sliced
• Italian pepperoncini, thinly sliced
• Italian sausage, cooked ahead and crumbled
• Chopped fresh basil
• Baby arugula, tossed in a little olive oil, added as pizza comes out of the oven
• Pesto
• Pepperoni, thinly sliced
• Onions, thinly sliced raw or caramelized
• Ham, thinly sliced

Steps:

1: Proof Yeast

2: Make Dough

3: Let Dough rise

4: Roll Dough Out

5: Put on Olive Oil

6: Spread with Tomato Paste and preferred toppings

7: Bake Pizza

Background:

While this may be a simple recipe it holds a special place in my childhood. Me and my family or friends would always make homemade pizza. As a kid it is really cool to put your own spin on things especially when it came to most child favorite food, pizza. Also I prefer homemade pizza to pizza like Dominos or Little Caesars any-day. It was exciting as a kid going to a store (usually Trader Joe's) with my dad and picking out crazy toppings or the ingredients for our pizzas. One time I wanted to try Anchovies because I wanted to see the taste for myself and I regret it to this day because the taste was foul. Also trying to throw up the dough like I had seen workers at restaurants in the past was not as easy as I thought it would be. This is a significant meal to me and my family because it was a way for us to spend time together. All being in the kitchen making these pizzas together were some defining moments in my childhood when I remember the simpler times when I had more time and spent more of it with the people that matter the most. I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to reflect on these times and actually make a pizza, but unfortunately I did not film the process. But I did go out the ingredients the other night and my family did this again and I recreated this experience and had a good time because of this assignment. Also thinking about this meal in other terms it is not expensive to get all the ingredients for this meal and it is simple to make and eat (nothing fancy). But overall I think when it comes to this it is more of the significance of being with my family rather than the food/recipe. The dish could have been sardines or something else that is random or bizarre but the reason I chose this is because of the experiences attached to it and that is why I love homemade pizza.