Setting Down the Trowel for the Flour

Now I know what you're all thinking: "Rubik, we can tell that you've turned into quite the master craftsmen/builder, but can you even cook pizza??"

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I'VE GOT PIZZA SAUCE RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS!!!

Step 1: Preparing the Dough


Alright so first I need to make sure the concrete mixer is super-clean, then toss in the flou...actually, I only made a couple pizzas so no need to use the heavy-duty concrete mixer. Instead, I finally got to bring my bread machine out of retirement, and I only use the finest bread flour (ok ok, so I can't really tell the difference...but if it costs more then it MUST be better, right???)

After the dough gets mixed and kneaded in the bread machine, I give it a light coat of flour and stick it in a bowl (I add the flour so it doesn't stick to the bowl). Then I cover the bowl with a towel and stick it in the oven until I'm ready to use it.



Step 2: Preparing the toppings

I decided to make a pretty simple pizza - chicken, sauce, cheese, and basil - and added some basic ingredients to spice it up. I figure I can start off fairly basic then change up the ingredients as I gain more pizza-making experience to tweak the taste. Two must-have flavors are garlic and onions (NOTE: RUBIK'S PIZZA IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR DATES, VAMPIRES, OR DATES WITH VAMPIRES)



I sauteed the garlic and onions, then threw the chicken in with it and seared it for a little on each side, then covered it up on a low heat to soak in all the garlicky goodness



Next, I chopped up some more onions and garlic as well as some fresh basil and oregano for the sauce. I learned quickly that even at a low heat, the sauce needs to be stirred constantly or else it starts bubbling and popping.



Step 3: Preparing the Pizza

Once the sauce was done, I rolled out my dough into the size of my pizza peel (you know, that wooden thing that the pizza goes on before it goes in the oven). One day I'll learn how to toss pizza dough, but for now I have to rely on my rolling pin. I think I need to look into different dough recipes (the one I used is the one that came with the bread machine), I gotta do something different for the dough to be easier to roll out.

Once the dough was ready, I put on a layer of sauce (not too much so it doesn't get all soggy), added the fresh mozzarella (rather than grate the cheese, I sliced the mozzarella and dropped pieces all around the pizza. That's how they did it at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn, so that's how I'm gonna do it dammit!), then added my chicken and basil. I added a light brush of olive oil around the edge of the crust then VOILA!



Step 4: Baking the pizza

Now when my brick oven is complete, this process should only take 1.5 to 2 minutes to cook the pizza. However, it'll take a solid 45 minutes to get the oven up to 800 degrees. Since my brick oven is still under construction I had to resort to a conventional oven. I do, however, have a baking stone, except I probably should've preheated it a lot longer so the dough would be crispier



Step 5: EAT!

Ever since childhood, this has been by far my favorite step. I liked the sauce and toppings, but I think I really need to work on the crust. It wasn't quite the consistency I want, and I definitely want it to be crispier on the bottom.

Regardless, this was a nice break from construction, although now I can no longer avoid the much-dreaded and intimidating Step 6: Ordering Bricks