Pizza! It’s delicious, comforting, versatile and one of Romain’s favorite things in the world. His sister recently got him the Mastering Pizza cookbook by Marc Vetri, so he’s been getting a lot of practice in. His goal has been to recreate wood fired pizza in our oven at home, which can be tricky since the temperature can’t go as high as a wood fire oven. Marc Vetri’s cookbook gives different recipes for pizza dough and one of them (Naples Dough at 60% Hydration) got pretty close to recreating this wood fired dough! Totally worth all the work if you have time to put it in! I also enjoy when we use dough from the store and bake it in the cast iron, which gives more of a deep dish, thicker crust.

The best takeaway from this blog post is the pizza sauce by Marc Vetri – trust us, it’s worth taking the time to make this sauce if you are making pizza at home. Just put all these ingredients in a blender and mix until combined. No cooking required and it has so much flavor!

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled plum tomatoes, with liquid

3 tablespoons EVOO

1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Romain had some fun with these pizzas when deciding on the toppings. The first one was a margarita pizza, with some good mozzarella, pizza sauce, basil leaves and a few cherry tomatoes for some flair. The second one was a “white” pie (aka no red sauce), with pesto, sauteed mushrooms, mozzarella and then topped with prosciutto after it came out of the oven. The third was the real kicker – spicy pepperoni with fresh cherries! I know, I know, it sounds weird and I wasn’t sold on it either at first, but the salty, spicy, sweet combo was actually pretty good! We’ve got a lot of other ideas brewing when it comes to pizza, so you’ll probably see another pizza post soon. 🙂

Oh! And don’t forget to sprinkle a good amount of Parmesan cheese!