Most of us live in a pizza dreamland. Imaginations of having a wood-fired pizza oven in our outdoor kitchens, a mixer to gently mix and knead the dough and a refrigerator stocked with various sourdough cultures keep playing in our heads. Then there are those who actually have all the equipment and ingredients required to prepare our favorite food- pizza. However, it’s one thing to have some fancy equipment and another to actually have what it takes to make great pizza.
Making the perfect pizza is more than just kneading dough, scattering toppings and baking the pizza on your oven. The key ingredient and most important element in making the perfect pizza is something you can’t pick up in any shop. It should be within you. That essence is passion, raw lust for dough, topping, and baking. Making the best pizza requires you to pour your heart and character into every single pizza you create. The secret to perfecting an authentic pizza is the love of this craft and not how you go about the whole process.
To make a good pizza, especially on a wood-fired oven calls for a balance of several factors such as temperature, wood placement, hydration, among others. To master how to balance all these factors takes time. Only your passion will keep you going in the early stages when you try making a pizza and it doesn’t turn out as you expected after an imbalance of these factors. Sure, we now have modern ovens where you can bake a pizza without worrying about these factors but any pizza enthusiast will agree with me that the smoky flavor, delicious crisp toppings and fluffy crust produced by a brick pizza oven can’t be matched by any other cooking method.
If you get in the kitchen while miserable and start making pizza in a bad mood, it will show in your pizza. Your passion must drive you to enjoy what you are doing or else you won’t make pizza that is good enough. Rolling the dough at the right temperature while ensuring that the initial lump is of the right size is vital to having an even layer when you stretch it out. The real fun then starts after stretching and spreading tomato base for a smooth coating. What about the dreaded question, ” how do I avoid a soggy bottom when baking?” Again, passion is the most important factor at this stage. With passion, your pizza will be perfect.
When it comes to pizza, everybody has their own opinion about the elements and flavors that converge for the perfect pizza. But passion surpasses all. Have passion and you will be surprised at how good you will become at making pizza.
