Earlier this week I was cruising through the glorious Blue Goose (long may she reign among the grocers) and noticed, by the deli case as expected, some special pizza crusts that looked oddly like the kind of flat bread that comes from a stone oven. Yep, it was Naan Bread. And it looked good.
Pizza is always a fun thing to make. When you and your significant other can't come to grips with what to make for dinner, pizza has a way of filling the void. She can have whatever new world ingredients she wants, you can have a meat pizza. Everyone's happy. So I told myself then and there it'd be pizza one night this weekend. Picked up everything we needed Sunday morning, while Christina was still in bed. Often I'm up much earlier than she is, and the best time to get some relaxed shopping done and out of the way for the day is in the morning. I grabbed the Naans, enough fixing for a Pizza Margarita (basil, plum tomato, and fresh mozzarella) for her, and enough manly goodies for me - Bob Evans breakfast sausage, Boar's Head Pepperoni, and shredded cheese. Good ole Contadina Thick and Zesty served as the sauce. I also picked up a half dozen wings to deep fry on the stove. There is something awesome about buffalo sauce, beer and sports. I wanted wings as an appetizer to start off. As expected, the bill was a little steep, but that's what happens when you go crazy with the proteins, I guess.
When Christina came home for the evening yesterday (bridal shower), her first words were "I'm starving". Quick assembly, quick firing up of the Kingsford Blue Bag, and the deed was done. I threw in a few unsoaked applewood chunks, not realizing that bread isn't like meet - it will absorb a lot of smoke quick and fast.
The final product would have been off the charts stellar, if I had left the applewood out. We've got enough of everything left over for a re-do tonight. My wife was disappointed with the bitterness of the smoke - tonight we'll redo with nothing but coal.
But the Naan Bread - excellent - crispy, great pizza crust. Chuck - good find!
Jeff H.
2 comments:
Great-looking pizzas! Surprisingly enough, I would gravitate towards Christina's version. Love that fresh mozz and basil!
You're right about the smoke, you only need a few chips (if any) to get the desired effect.
I have posted my grandmother's Armenian recipe for meat pie but done on the grill. I make my own borag dough when I make them. It too gets very crispy on the grill if you want it to. And it also absorbs scents/flavors around it. I figured out the hard way (did them once later on the same day I smoked fish, bad bad taste). Those pies look great!
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