Enrolling in My Pizza University

I’ve been on the market for pizza literature for a long time. While I’m working on baking a delicious fiction novel about a pizza detective who needs to solve Mozzarellaburgh’s crust problem, I thought I’d whet my appetite with some non-fiction. Jim Lahey made a big splash in the bread industry with his no knead recipe. If you recall, I tried out his no knead pizza dough recipe some months back. It went okay. 

His book, My Pizza, is full of sage advice and encourages readers to think outside the marinara sauce and apply some freaky toppings to the dough. It’s the perfect book for any pizza enthusiast looking for some inspiration. I can do without the recipes (it all boils down to putting whatever you like on the dough anyways), but Lehey has figured out a way to get neopolitan style pizza using an electric oven. That’s what pulled me in, and from reading his method it doesn’t sound unbelievable.

The key to that charred (yet delicious) crust is to broil the pizza. It shouldn’t be in the oven for longer than ten minutes, but as long as the dough sites four inches from a blazing broiler you’ll be in business. I made up some dough tonight and I’m looking forward to checking it out. I’ll be sure to post some photos. 

I haven’t made it all the way through My Pizza, but it bodes well. Hopefully I’ll learn a thing or two to help me grow as a pizza journalist. I already learned that “pepperoni” in Italian is plural for pepper! Isn’t that fun.