La Bella Pizza!

Pizzas - cheesy wonders brimming with endless possibilities...yum yum. In my younger, more economically constrained days, Pizza Hut used to be THE place to go and personal pan pizzas THE items to order. It was a bit tougher on the wallet than a trip to say, McDonald’s, but that made having a pizza meal an even more rare and treasured event. Italian cuisine has since found its way into Malaysian hearts and restaurants have sprouted up everywhere like mushrooms. Good pizzas, however, remain the domain of a select few. Over time, my pizza preferences have gravitated from Pizza Hut types to more sophisticated thin crust varieties. I like them crisp, slightly burnt and oozing cheese....if there are no strands of cheese sticking down my chin when I stuff my face, it is NOT good pizza!

I never thought the day would come when I would actually make my own pizza though. Since being bitten by the baking bug and with me contemplating a culinary career ala Nigella Lawson or Jaimie Oliver, I was game for anything. Of course, my confidence was also tremendously boosted by Barney the purple dinosaur. He had one whole segment in his sing-along VCD dedicated to making pizza. Barney made it look so easy. Heck, he even taught the kid how to twirl the pizza dough to make it fly like a UFO! Thanks to my little niece, Kulut, who played the VCD countless, torturous times, I had the process down pat.  The following pics chronicles my two pizza making attempts last week.

Attempt No. 1 : Pizza Production with Full Crew - 1 Full Time Worker (Niece JH), 2 Part Timers (Nieces JQ and JJ), Two Loud Adult Testers and 1 Little Tester (Nephew Na Na)....

1. In the beginning, there was yeast....

2. Raw material preparation....Niece JH dicing mozzarella cheese, cut ham and mushrooms

3. Niece JJ mixing the activated yeast with the flour...

4. Working it...Knead, knead, knead...Bloody tiring I tell you

5. Rolling it out and fitting it in (we did not do the Barney twirl due to potential havoc a piece of flying dough could wreak in the kitchen)

6. Assembly of toppings

7. TA DAH! Weird shaped pizza numero uno!! The two Loud Adult Testers proclaimed the crust was too thick and a bit chewy but hey, we actually MADE a pizza! And no complaints from tester Na Na...

8. Enjoying the fruits of our labour....

9. Pizza number 2, hot out of the oven... Crust was less thick due to more vigorous rolling from JH and JQ, but it wasn’t near the thin crust quality I was looking for yet...

Attempt No. 2 : Pizza Production – Mostly Solo with 1 Loud Part Timer and 1 Little Tester (Niece Kulut). Managed to get a new recipe for thin crust pizza dough off the internet. No production pics this time due to the scaled down production crew.
1. Pizza number 3 – looking good. Much thinner crust and softer dough due to much shorter kneading time.

2. Pizza number 4 – sort of square shaped since I had to bake it in a square pan! But pretty good thin crust!

3. Thumbs up from tester, niece Kulut!

Overall, I was pretty happy with the results though I did not manage to make the crust crispy enough yet. I made two more pizzas for a family CNY potluck and have since laid my pizza trials aside for a well deserved break. After all, too much of a good thing can kill you...even pizza!