The Pizza Party That Was Never Meant to Be
Welcome to the fourteenth instalment of my series where I test out recipes from an obscure 1990s Italian cookbook. This time, I tried pizza, which for some reason, is listed under the ‘Gnocchi & Polenta’ section…
Sadly, my good luck streak with this book came to an abrupt end with this attempt which turned out more like a giant cracker than a pizza.
From the get-go, I had some beef with this recipe. The book recommends using plain flour which is quite literally a recipe for disaster – no pun intended. Strong flour is essential for pizza as its higher protein content gives greater rise and structure. This base, therefore, had little to no hold, resulting in a very brittle texture.
Yet again, I was trolled by unclear oven directions (a hot oven???), so my first attempt was burnt to a crisp. I tried my second pizza at a lower temperature and for a shorter time – the base was a nice golden brown this time, but it was still hard and cracker-like. Alas, this pizza party just wasn’t meant to be.
The only saving grace was the sauce, which was decent, but not good enough to redeem this disastrous base.
I split the base in two, but the recipe only advises on making one pizza which is supposed to serve 4 to 6 people. Maybe I’m just piggish, but I don’t think I’ll be hosting a pizza party with just one pizza anytime soon – I think my guests would politely decline any future invites.
FINAL RECIPE RATING: 4/10
I’m very sad not to be sharing a revised recipe with you this time but for now, I leave you with some pizza topping inspiration, if nothing else. I must say, Spanish ham, rocket, parmesan, and a dash of truffle oil are still a fantastic combination and would be even better on a proper base…
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