Sara Sarver

During our month in Singapore, I declared it necessary that we make a trip to IKEA.  After all, there isn’t one in Thailand (yet… I’ve heard rumors for Bangkok in 2011!!!), their stuff is super cheap, I like pretty much everything they ever stock, and it was my one chance to find kitchen utensils that I can’t easily (or affordably) find in Thailand.  One such item on my list was a pizza cutter.  I found a small one, in my favorite shade of bright green, for just over $1.00 US.  Seriously!

After being back in Lopburi for a week now, I decided it was time to use my new cutter, and thus the inspiration for this week’s Tasty Tuesday was born – Pizza!

I am a teeny bit ashamed to tell you that lil’ Miss Wannabe-chef over here didn’t really make homemade pizza dough back in the States.  *gasp*  I usually just used frozen bread dough or a Boboli pre-baked crust.  (I love Boboli.)  So, since we’ve been in Thailand, I’ve tried probably 6 or 7 recipes, all to no avail.  Most turned out either super fluffy, or too much like bread.  But tonight, success!  I finally found a good one that tasted like regular pizza.

Exhibit A - boy pizza

Of course, when making a pizza in this house, there are certain rules one must follow.  No vegetables (except for onion) must be present on the boy half.  Meat, sauce, and cheese are the only toppings allowed.  Tonight, there was the allowable amount of onion, bits of leftover sausage from a supper last week, and a couple handfuls of diced up ham slices.  Boy pizza.

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Exhibit B - girl pizza

However, on the girl half, I can do whatever I well please.  Little meat, if any, and plenty of veggies.  Tonight, I worked with all I could find at the market – lots of onion, green pepper slices, sliced cherry tomatoes, sauce, cheese, and an extra dash of oregano & parsley.  Yummy girl pizza.

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I am beyond happy that this turned out (partly, as this was planned to be my post for this week), because I finally have a go-to recipe for dough.  Since I don’t have a pizza stone, I did bake the crust halfway in a pan first, before topping it and then sliding it directly onto the oven rack.  I really hoped this would help ensure that the crust would be nice and crisp on the bottom and chewy on the inside – and it worked!  The recipe also made enough dough for 2 pizzas, so I took the other half and fashioned it into breadsticks for Brook, since he basically can’t eat pizza without them.  Perfect.

When what you eat is rice everyday, it’s nice to take a break and make something you know from home every now and then.