Greetings to all you lovely readers out there!
My wife and I cherish a ritual that has become near and dear to our hearts: our Sunday Pizza Day. The festivity kicks off on Saturday. It’s a little intro that involves feeding our sourdough starter, usually right after I wrap up my kombucha bottling process. This two-day routine has become a weekend culinary symphony for us, each step harmoniously leading into the next.
Our venture into homemade pizza began as a necessity rather than a mere food experiment. After being diagnosed with kidney disease and hypertension, salt went from another seasoning to something I had to be wary of. And let’s face it: store-bought or restaurant pizzas are generally sodium havens. Thus, my wife and I embarked on this home-cooking journey to balance taste and health.
My sister, a prodigious baker, laid the cornerstone of our pizza adventure. She bequeathed a tried-and-true crust recipe, a sourdough starter, and instructions on how to keep it thriving. We eagerly started our experimental phase with this foundation, fueled by necessity and culinary curiosity.
Our kitchen soon turned into a laboratory of taste. We dabbled with an eclectic array of toppings, some of which I had never even dreamt of putting on a pizza. Think potato, cauliflower, and zucchini! The crust, too, underwent a few incarnations. We introduced rosemary to the dough and switched to garlic-infused oil for that extra layer of flavor. The result? A pizza that’s both nutritious and delectable, albeit divergent from what we used to consider ‘classic’ pizza.
We’ve been so obsessed with our creation that on the rare occasions, we’ve ordered pizza since we found ourselves comparing it unfavorably to our homemade variety. What we once deemed scrumptious now pales compared to the personalized, health-conscious pies we whip up in our kitchen.
As we’ve navigated this gastronomic expedition, we’ve moved from problem-solving to perfecting. I can safely say we’ve reached a point where our pizzas no longer need ‘fixing.’ However, I highly doubt that this marks the end of our culinary creativity. From now on, any modifications we make will be born out of the desire to experiment for experimentation’s sake—to see how a new topping or tweak in the recipe melds with our now-beloved baseline.
Our Sunday Pizza Day isn’t just about the final product on the plate; it’s about the love, health, and creativity that go into every slice. And trust me, that’s the real topping you can’t buy.