Squaring The Circle

So yesterday was busy, and exciting. I'll get into the new developments later on. And today was a continuation of the busy, if a little less exciting. By midafternoon, when I had a minute to breathe, it occurred to me that whipping up some pizza dough would provide us with a good substrate for whatever was in the fridge come dinner time. And I knew there was some good mozzarella in there, which kind of prompted the whole operation.

I use the Silver Spoon pizza crust recipe when time doesn't allow for doing a pre-ferment overnight, though I use 50% whole wheat flour and adjust the hydration accordingly. Our laundry/furnace room is perfect for rising dough, since this time of year it's a cozy 75˚ or so. Three hours is usually sufficient. And the Boy Wonder is getting pretty good at rolling out the dough.



























Since I double the recipe, we get two pies; one I kept pretty traditional with tomato sauce, green mash, and mozzarella; the other was a custom job- roasted balsamic-glazed pumpkin, guanciale, and feta. The first one was good, and hit all the requisite pizza flavor notes enhanced by the additional spank of the bitter greens. The second one? Was INSANE. I knew as soon as I thought of it that the combination would be one of those seamless, sweet-savory, umami-licious home runs, and I was right.



















And because pizza is not always the healthiest choice, I made sure that this had green and orange veggies as well as the whole grain, with not so much cheese on the feta one and paper-thin guanciale slices all over the pumpkin. A little of the jowl goes a long way. And, for the fifth food group, because I can't stay away from them, another Pleiades XVI. Don't say I didn't warn you; there will not be any more of this wine made, and you will die a poorer person if you don't taste it while you can.