Friday Night Pizza

Friday night, I made the best pizza that you will ever taste at my 3rd cooking lesson. So, you know that a pizza is really made well when there is a nice, crunchy taste. When the pizza came out of the oven, the crust was a golden brown and looked very crunchy. I knew that it was going to be the best "Friday night pizza" (a family tradition) that I was ever going to taste. And well... it was. It was even better than the reputable pizzeria down the street called Tino's. And that is hard to do, because Tino's has awesome pizza. After the crispy dough comes the toppings. The dough made enough for two pizzas. One pizza had tomato sauce, cheese, mushroom, and green pepper.  The other had fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes. This one was the winner for me. This is one of the best pizza doughs ever, so I am sure that the crust helped to make me fall in love with that pizza. 

I was sleeping over at my aunt's house and made her dinner. My cousin Matty was turning two and I helped her get ready for his party. We make the cupcakes together. Then I watched my cousin so my aunt could get some things done. She and my uncle loved the pizza. There were 2 slices left and the pizzas were fairly large. So, I consider that a big win.

On Friday nights in the summer, my Nana cooks "Make your own pizza" on the grill and we have a movie night. Usually we buy the dough (Check out the big shop). My uncle Carter usually also helps make the pizzas. He was a pizza maker at a reputable pizza dealership too.  But, this homemade dough was so good that I have found myself the job of making pizza for 20 people on Friday nights in the summer. And guess what?  I don't even care! Yes, I know you may consider me crazy, but the dough is so easy to make, it won't take too long. My cooking teacher (Check out her blog) adapted the recipe so instead of having to knead the dough (which takes forever) you put it in the stand-mixer and it does all the work.  As I said earlier on, one round of dough makes two pizzas. I will make about 8-10 pizzas every Friday night in the summer. It is going to be super easy. 

This recipe is from My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss  So here is the pizza dough recipe.

Which Camp Are You In?

Ugggg... that's how I feel about Tarte Flambee. Also known as Flammkuchen. For those of you who don't know what it is, Alsatian Flatbread with Bacon and Creme Fraiche  is how "My Berlin Kitchen"  best describes it. It is from a region in France and Germany named Alsace. Alsace borders Germany and has a lot of the same culture as Germany. I have gone to France and visited Strasbourg, a city which is in the heart of Alsace. Strasbourg has amazing history, amazing culture, amazing food (except for some of us and the tarte flambee), and have you seen their houses!!!!! Alsace is overall AMAZING!!! When I went to Strasbourg, I had my first taste of tarte flambee. As a second grader it may have been a little extreme to try it. I did not like it one little bit. As I was flipping through Luisa Weiss food memoir (check out her blog) "My Berlin Kitchen" I found a recipe for it. Knowing that my mom loves it (if by chance I thought it was gross, AGAIN!) I decided to try it again. So on Saturday, January 19th, I finally got myself together and made it. While, my mother loved it, I on the other hand did not. It did not take that long, only about 1 hour (shorter than most things that I have made + posted about).  So, without further ado, here it is. Luisa Weiss's "My Berlin Kitchen"...

Tips:
1. The key is to get the dough as thin as possible
2. When you are rolling out the dough, get it as thin as possible without breaking, then put it as quickly as you can on the baking sheet
3. If you can find Speck, than by all means use it, but if you can't regular bacon will work too