Thin Crust Pizza 義大利薄餅

Learning is an endless pursuit. As I believed I have attained the basics of bread making, I found out that there is much more knowledge waiting for me to explore. Ken Forkish used the basic ingredients of bread as the title of his book: "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast". He wrote that it is the manipulation of these simple ingredients that produces superb quality of bread or pizza. One of the keys is to use as little yeast as possible because too much will produce an off flavor. Another is to use low temperature to delay the rate of fermentation because it takes time for enzymatic reactions to take place. But your patience will be greatly rewarded because the product is more complex in flavor.  The pizza I made using this method proves that it is better than those from chain stores.

Pizza with Portabella Mushrooms, Onion and Sausage 意大利薄餅

What's the secret of making a good pizza? I think having good and fresh ingredients are more important than technique. If you have freshly made sauce and high quality cheese, the thickness of the crust, which can be your own personal preference, will not matter.

Whole Wheat Pizza with Flaxseed

A few years ago, before I start playing with yeast, I went to my son’s friend's birthday party. One of the party foods served was pizza, not ordered but homemade pizza. I remembered my first reaction was, "wow, you made pizza!!" The mom responded,"it is not that difficult to make." I did not believe her…until I made my own. And now I understand why there are so many pizza parlors/take outs. Easy to make and most people just save the hassle by picking up the phone to order it. But by making it on my own, I can put anything, I mean anything, on it. I’ve tried putting some leftover roast duck meat and BBQ pork on it. Kind of like fusion food, Chinese and Italian.