PIZZA MASTERCLASS

Now that we’ve moved into the solid food stage, besides ducking hurtling produce projectiles and chiseling 3 day old pumpkin out of the carpet, occasionally some food actually finds its way into Indy’s mouth.

And now that he has half a dozen teeth in there (that’s five more than the average Collingwood supporter), sources tell us he can pretty much start eating whatever we eat. And as long as he’s not eating my chocolate (punishable by death), we owe it to him to make sure that everything that goes in there is a healthy option.

Hence, I was invited to participate in the Blogconnect Pizza Masterclass put on by the good folks @KeepLeftPR and sponsored by Bakers Delight, Leggo’s, Perfect Italiano, Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s. Hold the phone…Pizza a healthy option? It sure can be, and I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about making a pizza…‘perfect’.

First of all, did you have any idea that Bakers Delight makes and sells pizza bases? You do now and they are awesome. Light and fluffy and they’re par baked, which means a lot of the moisture is gone and cooking time greatly reduced. They’re nice and thick too but you can hit it with a rolling pin for a thinner crust (if you’re less of a man).

Our Chefs Extraordinaire, Liam and Peter, gave us more tips than Tom Waterhouse. Starting with the sauce base. A Leggo’s Tomato Paste for a thick crust or a lighter Sugo di Pomodoro on a thinner crust. Or how about a Ricotta Cheese base instead? It’s a healthier option, less salt than tomato paste and full of protein. My mind grimaced at the thought but my taste buds went WOW when I tried it.

Now say, Cheese! And when you do, DO NOT PUT TASTY CHEESE ON YOUR PIZZA. It’s not meant for cooking. Whaaat you say? Indeed. Tasty cheese tends to curdle slightly, slides off the pizza and the amount of oil that leaks out of it would have The Clampetts cookin’ viddles off your front porch. Perfect Italiano makes a mozzarella, cheddar and Parmesan blend called Pizza Plus, which is perfect for the job.

Another clever secret is to partially cook toppings with lots of moisture, like tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, etc so you don’t end up with a soggy crust. And not everything needs to go in the oven. You can garnish your pizza after it’s cooked with basil leaves, spinach, prosciutto or anything that would dry up or burn in the oven.

And I discovered a delicious craft beer from Dan Murphy’s that goes down really smoothly with pizza. It’s called Monkey’s Fist Pale Ale and you’d have to be bananas not to try it (sorry). However, Indy will have to stick with water until he comes of age (light weight). 😉

So it was an awesome night which makes me feel like I’ll never order take out pizza again. And to top it off, I was driven all the way home compliments of a brand new chauffeur driven car service called Uber. It’s an app you download to your smartphone, you open it, enter your pickup address and they send a car right to you. You see the drivers photo and id, it also tells you how far away they are in minutes and when you’re driving along, you can track the car on the map inside the app. Check it out, it’s way better than a taxi service. And if you do, use this promo code: mmjhr for $10 off your first ride.

So what’s your favourite pizza?

My pizza masterpiece is in the slideshow below. Let me know what you think.

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