How I overcame my fear of pizza dough

I consider myself a pretty decent cook. I don't have any James Beard awards and I don't own any restaurants, but I haven't killed anyone yet and most of the time my meals garner two thumbs up. However, there are a few things that I have always shied away from in my kitchen. One of those things is pizza dough. I've tried to make it a few times and, for whatever reason, whether it was dud yeast, a bad recipe, or simply my own ineptitude, it never turned out the way I was expecting.

I am here to shout it from the mountain tops that THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!!!! Can I get a what-what??

Thanks to the book Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas I can now proudly say that I CAN MAKE PIZZA DOUGH! Their recipe was used all on-hand ingredients and was so easy to follow that my 8-year-old made the entire dough from start to finish. Want proof? Check it out:

OK, so I know what you're thinking: YOU didn't make that. Your kid made it. OK, that's true. She did make the dough by herself, start to finish. But c'mon! This recipe is so good that even a kid can make it with great success. Surely I can do the same :)

We decided to make two pizzas, as the dough recipe in the book makes enough for two crusts. We chose the four-cheese version and an Asian-inspired one with chicken, curry glaze, peanut sauce and a cold veggie salad on top.

Check out the results:

Both of these recipes were delicious! For the chicken one, I will say that there was quite a bit of prep ahead of time. You have to make the tomato sauce, peanut sauce, and curry glaze in addition to slicing up all the vegetables and grilling the chicken (or you could use leftover grilled chicken like I did). But here's the great part: Once you do all of that, actually cooking the pizza on the grill only takes a few short minutes. This is a great make-ahead, because once it comes time to cook the pizza, you can have dinner on the table inside of 10 minutes, easily.

We are going to try one of the dessert pizzas next, probably this weekend. I'll update you on how that goes, too!

There are lots of things to love about this book. First, it gives you all of the steps you need to create a completely homemade pizza. You'll find the dough recipe, sauce recipes, flavoured oil recipes, and more, in addition to a wide variety of pizza topping recipes, everything from traditional to more unique combinations and even dessert options and side dishes. There's even a section with menu suggestions. Talk about one-stop shopping for making pizza at home!

If you're looking for a go-to resource for creating a home pizza night, DK's Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas is a great choice.

#pizza #cookking #bookreview