Pizza Home Improvement

Now that I got a Wifey I get in a little trouble when I mess up the kitchen, so I had to come up with something.  55lb flour bags are messy, hard to carry, impossible to close, and God forbid your basement floods with one on the ground you're screwed.  So I went to Home Depot, spent $4 on a bucket, and cut up the bag for decoration.  A small price for such a great convenience.  It actually takes two buckets to hold a 55lb bag.  

The flour companies can thank me later.  You're welcome, Signore Caputo.

Send Forza Pizza to NYC!

I've been trying to plan a pizza trip to NYC for a while, but it's been hard to pull the trigger.  Maybe it would be easier to just win the trip instead.  That's why I entered Cavit Wine's Pizza Making Contest.  Each home pizzaiolo submits their best pizza and the one with the most votes goes to NYC to compete for the Grand Prize Trip to Italy!  The pizza I chose submit was a pancetta, ricotta, and crispy potato combination that I made on Mother's Day last year.  I think it's got a shot! The competition is setup through Facebook  so follow the link below and VOTE FOR ME!!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR MY PIZZA!!

Opening Day 2012: All Work No Play

Sometimes you gotta work on your game before you can entertain.  Which is why this Opening Day I chose not to invite the usual panel of eaters and focus on the pizza.  I understand it's anti-social but recipe development often gets lost in a pizza party.  I don't like trying new things when I got critics in the yard, and there were a couple variables at play.  I used a different dough recipe, a mixer for the first time, and had my entire work station set up outside.  


The new recipe kicked out a nice hole structure and using a mixer definitely produced a smoother dough.  Note to any soon-to-be husband: let your future wife register for the Kitchenaid mixer...forget the CrockPot.  Not only did it help the recipe, but it kept the kitchen clean too.  Mixing by hand is a mess!


Would-be eaters, I'm not trying to rub it in, but I made 14 pizzas for only five people.  There were a lot of leftovers.  Don't worry though, you're the ones who reap the benefits of these study sessions.  

See The Complete Opening Day 2012 Album Here!!

Check out the cross-section of the rapini and grape pizza.

Queen Margherita

Bianca - Mozz, Ricotta, Olive Oil, Basil

Offseason 2011-2012

Put away the square pans and forget about the piddly 500 degree indoor ovens, the offseason is over.  This past Saturday we were outside working with fire for the first time since August 20th, 2011.  That's 232 long, cold, and pale days.  Keeping me sane were the four or five indoor oven experiments, some better than others.  Like the New Year's Day sfincione (below) that was far and beyond the results of this experiment.  Take a peek at some of the offseason highlights and then click through to view the whole album.

Check Out the Entire Offseason Album Here!!

New Year's Day Sfincione

Offseason Booty Shot

"Catered" Pizzas for my Mother-In-Law's Bday Party

An Offseason Square

I'm Forza, You're Fugezi

Yes, I am one of those people that say I'm from Chicago but live in the suburbs.  "I can throw a rock to Chicago!!"  So, in order to keep up with city action, I subscribe to things like UrbanDaddy. It's one of my urban informants, and if you follow along, you would've seen today's news.  A pizzeria opened up in Lincoln Park called FORZA!  I don't know about trademarks, patents, copyrights, and all that* but I know that I'm the real Forza Pizza!  Don't get it twisted.  

*Anyone who does know about trademarks, patents, copyrights and all that let's take care of this!...Kidding.