The great pizza experiment

Naples is the birthplace of pizza. It's better here than anywhere else in the world. I have heard that it cannot be replicated in other places. Something about Italian flour and the water... So armed with the right flour and water and a pizza-making class (3 months ago), we decided to give it a shot.

"Put flour on counter, make a volcano, and put all other ingredients in the crater. Mix by hand." Sounds easy enough, but when I started to mix it, our volcano erupted, sending oil and yeast all over my kitchen. Oops. We finally got it all mixed and dough-like, but the house was too cold for the dough to rise. Oven to the rescue!

The pizzas were finally assembled, one Hawaiian and two personal-pan vegetable pizzas. We had been longing for a Hawaiian pizza. Italians put many things on their pizzas (eggplant, seafood still in the shells, lettuce, corn), but apparently pineapple is not one of them. For all the trouble we had with making the dough, they came out very yummy! The crust was a little flat and extra-crispy, so I think it would be better if we let it rise more or made it thinner or... I guess I will just have to keep playing with it. This has been a very valuable experience. If there is one thing I want to leave here knowing, it's how to make a good pizza.