Pizza Perfect Morning

I know they're out there somewhere, but it's a rare child who doesn't like a good pizza. An even rarer child who doesn't like playing with a little pizza dough. The recipe we use in class makes for a truly epicurean experience. I might even venture to say that this dough is positively luxurious. It is easily stretched by its own weight—no need for tossing. Thank goodness, too, because who knows what could happen in a kitchen full of dough-tossing tots! As it was we had plenty of other things to get us messy.

Everyone made his or her own sauce, and let me just say right now that even though it's one of the best sauces I've ever had, it's a bit of a menace. It jumped all over Reilly's head and got in her hair! On the plus side, Reilly didn't seem to mind a bit, and was distracted by the beautiful basil and scrumptious fresh mozzarella and aged provolone we had for toppings.

 

I'm not sure how it happened, but the mozzarella disappeared almost as quickly as it was cut and let's just say it didn't all go on the pizzas. Abigail might know where it went!

What we created were truly traditional pizzas margherita, right in our own ovens. Do you know the origin of Pizza Margherita? No? Well, in 1899 Queen Marghereta visited Naples to escape the cholera epidemic that had invaded the northern part of Italy and chef Raffaelle Esposito served her a special pizza, whose colors (red tomatoes, white mozzarella, and green basil) represented the colors of the Italian flag. The Queen so enjoyed her pizza that she sent the chef a thank you note. He then decided to name the pizza after her.

The hot pizzas emerged just as parents were arriving for pick up, but we still had some time to enjoy them. Crispy chewy crust, hot and spicy sauce (we gave it a little kick with some cayenne pepper), gooey melted mozz, and aromatic cooked basil. Yum!