Day 26 :: Making Pizza

Ah, New York style pizza. I'd like to say there's nothing like it. Well, actually, that may be true. But, I think I should rather say, "nothing beats a good New York slice of pie." However, I'm not too sure that would be true. I'm sad to say, as much as I love New York, I believe I prefer Chicago deep dish. That's not to say the New York style isn't great. It is. I just prefer the ingredients piled on and attached to the slice of pizza so it could make the journey from the plate to my mouth. New Yorkers seem to take pride in having their ingredients slide right off the slice. "Thatsa the waya the pizza isa supposed to be-a."

So, for today, I thought I would give it a stab. How hard could it be, right? Yipes. It didn't take long to discover that the 'right' way to create a REAL New York pizza pie, takes years of trial and error, and at least five days of preparation. There's an exact way to make the dough. There's an exact way to let the dough rise. Your oven has to be able to heat up to 800 degrees, or it just aint the real thing. And so on.

So, I tossed the idea, and landed on the next best thing... how to make a ripoff of a New York style pizza in under an hour (New Yorkers would be so proud of me). The process was actually fairly easy, and the pizza was edible. I would say it was even good. However, New York pizza, it was not. I'm not sure if it's fair to say that it was even a New York pizza rip-off. The pieces weren't thin, the ingredients didn't slide off, and most importantly, you couldn't fold it in half.

However, in light of the spirit behind this adventure, the experience tonight opened a new door for me. I have a bit of a drive in me now to try and improve upon my pizza cooking skills (I can't call it a pizza pie... it didn't meet the qualifications). So, I will journey on into the next year, cooking these slices if my family permits, working toward the day I could create this concoction, test it on my co-worker, Jonathan, and hear him exclaim, "Now THIS is a slice of pie!"

Checking the recipe