PEETZ

before the baby was born, i indulged in a homemade pizza.
i had to.
it calms me down, and sets me up for success.
does that sound dumb?
maybe.
it's still true, though.
it was a sourdough crust, and that was F*ing expert.
y'wanna see it?
check it:

PEE EYE ZEE ZEE AYY!
and unbaked, it looked every bit as good:

right?
that's two cups of flour in the stand mixer;
two teaspoons of sea salt;
1 tsp bread flour yeast;
1/4 cup white mountain sourdough starter;
1 cup warm af water;
dough-hooked for a looong time, like 15 minutes,
until it was shiny, solid, slippery, and soft.
i gave it an hour out in the world before i refrigerated it for the rest of the day-
like, 10 hours i think.
i had my oven preheated to 485 fahrenheit degrees, eventually-
with my trusty olive-oiled seasoned steel tray ready to rock.
stretched and risen and covered with cooked marinara.
yeah.
cooked.
y'feel me?
the sauce was cooked.....
like, crushed tomatoes, with oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley,
nootch, GPOP, a pinch of sugar, pink salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper.
y'know?
just bubbled around for a while, i dunno how long, until it feels right.
-
i had caramelized onions.
and raw red onion slivers.
and orange and red sliced sweet grape tomatoes.
and semi-steamed broccoli.
and minced daiya.
and grated miyoko mozz.
and fried garlic sprankles.
and homemade tempeh sausage crOmbles.
yeah.
those are goooooooooooood.
half a block of tempeh, cubed up,
with a tablespoon of onion, and a clove of crushed garlic
with fennel and thyme and sage and smoked hot paprika and liquid smoke
and GPOP and black pepper and tamari and rosemary and agave,
plus 3/4 cup of water, to absorb into it, and get it poppin' over high heat.
look, man.
i made a pizza.
i make a ton of 'em.
it thought it'd help me get ready to see that baby show up.
but THAT blew my mind.
pizza is my favorite thing to eat,
but it doesn't do SH!T to prepare you for witnessing a woman do the thing.
holy crap.
and meanwhile, i'm trying to get excited about a pizza from almost a week ago.
*
there's somethin' happening.
i mean, i've got a BIG tattoo to do,
and my mind is elsewhere, and will likely remain that way,
right up until i get to work.
that's just what's going on.
i'll play it cool, because i gotta,
but i'm anything but.
i might need more pizza than the pan can handle to prep myself for the week.
ha.
unlikely;
never quiet, never soft.....