I was weeding in the new garden when the phone rang. Balancing the phone between my ear and shoulder, I kept on working the soil. The lady on the other end was calling from Cooks Illustrated, a magazine for which I actually have high regards. So instead of politely declining without hearing the rest of the first sentence, I listened on.
The lady, for an unknown reason, wanted to send me two things: The Best of America's Test Kitchen magazine, and More Best Recipes Cookbook from the Test Kitchen. The former is complementary, and the latter is an optional purchase. I can have it (for a fee), or send it back (if I don't want it). Because they are coming from a source I trust, I accepted without much thought, hung up and kept weeding.
Weeks went by, and I completely forgot about this phone conversation until I found a large package outside the door one afternoon. The cookbook is a decent size tome, full of recipes, related helpful illustrations, and stories about each dish (just like in the Cooks Illustrated magazine).
I have been hesitating to go one way or the other about this cookbook. By nature, I am a horrible recipe follower, so another cookbook around here may just collect dust like the rest. But it takes an effort to send it back as well.
At any rate, tonight I wanted to make pizza since I was strangely inspired by the growing rustic arugula in the garden. I opened the new tome, and landed at Pissaladiere. I zoned into the dough making part as each time I make a pizza, I seem to go about it differently.
This one was nice and easy, so I went with it, and actually followed all the steps of the dough making part! The result? Brilliance. I might even stick to this one dough recipe from now on. And just because of this 1/10 of a page of success, I might just keep the book and pay for it.
Pizza Dough
2 cups all purpose flour, with extra for dusting the work surface
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
Mix all the ingredients together (by hand, or food processor). Shape into a ball and let it rise. After about 1.5 hours, gather the dough, knead with a little extra flour, and divide into two balls. Flatten dough until desired thickness, and it is ready to become the base for your next best pizza! Bake at 500ยบ for ~ 10 minutes or until brown and crispy.
