Behold. The Pizza Oven…

There is something to be said for a place where you can have plenty of land. You know. Land where you can build a pizza oven.

You know what else you get with a lot of space? An  Aga. Just saying. I love Punxsutawney.

Friends F and S indulged me in inviting myself to their home in Punxsy to make pizza in the oven. F built the oven, the stone walls, the stone house..but it was that pizza oven I was after.

F built a fire early in the day so by the time we arrived, the coals were glowing hot. I brought the dough and a few toppings. They had some great mozzarella cheese, homemade sausage, basil from the garden.

Take some basil. And green beans. And oregano. And…and…and…

And that oven.

I practiced on a little foccacia.

It seemed easy enough. But as I made bigger pizzas, it was tougher to get them off the peel and onto the floor of the oven. I lost some toppings into the oven. Oops.

But with practice? I got this.

I use Carol Field’s pizza dough. I cannot get it thin enough–or could not last night…I plan on learning to toss pizza dough, so I think I can conquer that problem. How hard can it be, right?

Here are two winning combos and my secret ingredient for really great pizza:

Stretch your dough. Brush the dough with EVOO mixed with anchovy past, just a touch. No one will know but you, and it makes it awesome.

I like to sprinkle just a little parmesan cheese on next in case toppings are wet-ish.

Great topping number 1:
Fresh marinated mozzarella (oil drained–we used mozzarella bocconcini from Costco), homemade sopresata, and drained and chopped artichoke hearts. I chopped the artichokes and drained them on paper towels while we waited to make the pizzas. I tore the mozzarella as I put it on so it was not too big.

Great topping number 2:
Red onion, thinly sliced and sauteed. Red bell pepper, thinly sliced and sauteed. Smoked gouda.
Prep the dough the same way (anchovy olive oil, sprinkle of parm) and top.

I think we cooked a little too late–my host thought the oven should have been hotter, and for the very last pizza, he raked the coals (I should have paid more attention) and the pizza cooked a lot more quickly…I liked turning the pizza in the oven with the peel–once it was in, if I waited about a minute, it was easy to lift and turn the pizza to take advantage of the coals.

Awesome night–thanks, my friends!!
Until we cook again…