Just wanted to share a few things even though there's a lot I would like to rant/rave about, here is what's on the forefront of my mind:
How fucking cute is this dog?
It's sunday afternoon, I'm laying on the couch and I look over to see my little sophie pup in serious contemplation mode. What could she be thinking about... belly rubs? squirrels? Beggin' strips? It's probably food...
Which brings me to the next thing I would like to share with anyone reading this. One reason I like brewing beer so much is that it's a lot like cooking, While there are only four ingredients that comprise beer, (water ,hops, fermentable grain, and yeast) there is such a large spectrum of ingredients with each of those ingredients. For Example, you can use the same water, hops, grains, and preparatory methods for two batches of beer, but select two separate yeasts for each batch and you come away with two completely different beers with their own distinct characteristics.
Similarly, were you to use the exact same ingredients for two batches, but prepare each batch different, you get the same result. Maybe that means boiling your wort for fifteen minutes longer, or adding your hops at different times throughout the boil. Either way, minute changes in the recipe and cooking method can sometimes results in completely different beers... This is what primarily drives me to brew better beer, trying to find that perfect combination that results in a delicious elixir fit for gods.
Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that brewing beer is a lot like cooking food, and cooking is one of my hobbys as well. So I'd like to give y'all a simple recipe for making one kick ass pizza that is easy to make and undeniably good...
Ingredients:
2 smallish vine ripened tomatoes
1 6-8 oz ball of FRESH mozzarella cheese
2-3 leaves of Basil
1 can pillsbury pizza dough
I usually keep it simple and just use the above ingredients, however last night I got fancy and added pepperoni for the first time (good choice). Whatever else you choose to put on your pizza, make sure it's fresh! Red pepper, mushrooms, and onions are other fan favorites.
Cooking Directions:
Cut tomatoes into small cubes. Remove the inside, jelly like blobs inside the tomatoes and throw them away. you should end up with two small hand fulls of diced tomatoes.
Do roughly the same thing with the mozz ball. The fresh mozz is kind of gooey, so do not attempt to grate the fresh cheese with a cheese grater. Trust me. Instead, cut the ball into slices, and then cut the slices into balls/gobs/bits of cheese.
Finely slice the basil.
Unwrap the pizza crust from the container. Grease a sheet of tinfoil and lay upon cookie sheet. work the dough into a flat shape of equal thickness on the greased tinfoil. Gently roll up the edges to make a small crust. Lightly salt the entire dough. Brush the crust you made with olive oil. Throw just the dough into a 425 degree oven for approx. 5-6 minutes, the dough should just be getting flaky and hard, but not yet starting to brown. Take the crust out of the oven.
Liberally apply the mozz. It will not cover the dough in its present form, but will envelope the entirety of the pizza as it melts. Next, throw your tomatoes on the crust, followed by the basil, followed by other toppings.
Bake an additional 12-15 minutes. I try and set a small metal measuring cup at the back of the oven and let the pizza bake at a slight incline. Then when I pull it out of the oven, all the juice from the cheese has collected near one end, and I can simply drain the juice off. Otherwise, if you let the juice stand, the crust will not remain crispy for very long...
Cut that bitch up and go to town! Save some for tomorrow as this pizza may even be better coldthe next day. Unless you have a roommate that comes home blasted drunk at 12:30 AM on a sunday and devours your hard earned pizza in three bites, and passes out with shit all over his shirt on the couch. Which happened to me last night. God damn you Alex.
I know it looks a little deformed, I was a few beers deep in preparing this last night...
t(-_-t)
