I recently headed to a local pizza joint for a large pie (half mushrooms, half pepper) and when the bill came over I almost threw hot pepper flakes at the owner! The price of the large pie was $21.95.
I calmly made my way over to the cashier’s desk and politely asked the owner’s wife to please do something about the bill because clearly a error was made. To my surprise, Mrs. PizzaWomen told me there was no mistake and that they usually charge an additional “sitting fee” if the pizza is consumed in the restaurant (as opposed to take out). This is where I almost lost it, however I kept my cool and politely said (in Italian of course), “please do something about the bill and bring down the price because I refuse to pay $21.95 for a slightly above average pie.” A few minutes later (and after returning to my seat) the waitress came back to our table and the final price of the pie was reduced by $4.00 to $17.95 (still a complete rip off).
So, at the end of the day I decided that 1., I’ll never return to the above pizza shop and 2., I’m making pizza dough and freezing it (so I’ll always be 30 minutes away from the perfect pizza with fresh tomato sauce, whole milk mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, and fresh basal).
Curse you overpriced NJ pizza joint! Oh, here’s the recipe for the perfect pizza dough:
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Single packet of dry yeast
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3 cups of all purpose flour
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1 cup of warm water
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1 teaspoon of sugar
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1 teaspoon of salt
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1 tablespoon of olive oil
First combine all of the wet ingredients and yeast, thereafter add the sugar, salt, and flour and mix well (you can mix the dough by hand but a KitchenAid Mixer works well). Let the dough rest for about an hour or until it doubles in size (place a towel over the bowl and place in over without turning it on). Here’s a picture of my Nonna Rosa mixing dough by hand:
