Making pizza from scratch has always intimidated me. Thanks to Baking Partners, now I know that it's not that difficult!
New York Style Pizza is the chosen theme for this month's Baking Partners Challenge. Honestly, I was hesitant at first and was planning to just skip this one. But after giving it a serious thought, I decided to give it a try. There's nothing to lose anyway.
So what's New York Style Pizza? Well it is a type of pizza which originated in New York City in the early 1900's. It is large, about 14-18 inches in diameter and is characterized by having a puffy, bread-like, outer crust which quickly tapers down to a very thin, crisp middle. No pans are used in baking this kind of pizza. Instead, it is assembled on a pizza peel and then placed directly on the oven deck to cook. For commercial pizza, a pizza stone is used which draws moisture out of the crust and allows it to become crisp on the outside while remaining bread-like on the inside. I don't have a pizza peel nor a pizza stone, and I didn't want to buy those pizza making accessories just for this, so I simply used a parchment paper lined disposable aluminum pan. So how did it turn out? Great actually!
I was able to make two 16" pizzas with different toppings, one with Bratwurst, Onions and Jalapeño...and the other one with Anchovies and Spinach. I made the crust of the bratwurst one cheese stuffed like that of Pizza Hut. The hubs and the girls were totally amazed with how good both the pizzas turned out!
