23 September Saturday

Change is good, sometimes. Long story short, my hot water heater said goodbye in a flood of tears, and I got a new kitchen floor out of it. Regard:

Before. Yes, the floor is filthy. It’s impossible to clean because the harder you scrub, the easier the tiles pop up from the floor. Bye bye, old floor.

Voila. New floor, new life. Now, of course I wouldn’t have mentioned any of this you dearies if it had been say, the bathroom tile or a new paint job for the bedroom. I told you about this because this is where the magic happens. Meaning the food. The food happens in the kitchen.

This gave me a new opportunity to imagine how I use the kitchen space, which I have done, and may write about some other time but not now because it’s boring to me. The point is, it’s better, and the salt and pepper are still right by my hand. The ice cream maker I use twice a year? It’s gone on a higher shelf.

I had the best of intentions once again. I was gonna invite people over, have a last Rose of summer dinner party, I won’t share the menu cause it will only stir regret in my heart. Well, it wasn’t my fault, it took longer for the fellas to lay the new flooring than first imagined. So, I ended up making something easy: homemade pizza.

Now, this is my favorite way to make pizza. Homemade pizza dough is so incredibly simple it’s amazing that kits and frozen doughs even exist. 1.5 cups warm water, 2 tsps active dry yeast, 1 tsp. salt, 3tbs olive oil. Proof the yeast in water, add the other stuff, then enough flour till it holds all together, probably 4 cups or so. I knead it several minutes right in the mixing bowl. The thing to remember is, the less flour you use, the crisper the crust will be. The other thing to remember is to keep the dough covered in oil the entire time, including when you shape the dough in the pan. This will also make the crust crisp, and all the way under by the way, not just at the edge and the center gets soggy, each piece is solid and crisp. The oil on top of the dough makes it possible to handle more sauce and toppings.

You can make thin, free form crusts right on the baking stone. You can make it in normal round pans for a typical, thinnish crust pan pizza. Or, you can do what I did, enough dough for two pizzas into one large baking tray. What is it about square pieces of pizza that I love so much more than triangles? Actually, triangles are OK if they are thin and you can fold them a la New York style. This slightly thicker crust is sturdy and so so good, adorned with the supreme pair of pizza toppings. Now I’m not taking about pepperoni and sausage, it’s definitely not pineapple and ham, and it is most certainly absolutely not chicken and barbeque sauce. It is green pepper and mushrooms. I’ve been thinking lately that green bell pepper may be my favorite vegetable. I love them cooked in all forms stuffed, diced, stir-fried, boiled, roasted. Back to our pizza, suffocating beneath an avalanche of mozzarella and mozzarella bufala. Fresh basil. Salt and pepper. Simply delicious. Here’s the picture again:

In the meantime, fall has arrived, and boy can you feel it in the air here in San Francisco. As I type this, I have college football on. Boy, you’ve changed, Benji. I want pumpkin pie. And apple pie. And plum cake. And Chili. And roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. Brussels Sprouts. Shellfish. Persimmon pudding. Cinnamon and cloves. Nutmeg and mace. Is it getting through to you too?

Good-bye, old hot water heater. Many was the time you scalded me. I loved you nonetheless.