Last night I was going to prepare my pizza at home. I brought the dough from the ‘firin’ (oven – baker) and went back home to roll it and add the toppings before taking the readied pizza back to the firin to cook. Instead, Orhan, his Mother, Father and sister rocked up and we went to their place in their friend’s Mazda. On the way we bought a few more pizza ingredients.
At their place I showed them how to make the pizza. Orhan’s Mum oiled a pan and rolled the dough out flat. I then spread the tomato paste on the base, followed by grated cheese (was close to mozzarella). Sliced mushrooms, pineapple (canned), red and green capsicum, onion, tomato, sucuk (spicy Turkish sausage) and finally, more cheese on the top. Previously I had added chilli flakes, dried basil and thyme to some of the toppings and these spices added a good touch.
After some time in the oven, the first pizza was ready. 3 large pizzas were made all up and this was more than enough to feed the 5 of us. They were delicious, although some finetuning could be done next time to make them even better. Perhaps the base was too thin and the topping too thick. The house did not have resting tray to allow the base to air and harden. The pizzas were somewhat sloppy.
All but Zumrut, the young (about 11 years old) daughter, loved the pizzas. Zumrut picked apart the pizza and seemed to reject every second ingredient, even though a special pizza half without pineapple or mushroom was made for her.
The amazing thing is the family had not eaten pineapple before!
Last night was also the first time I have eaten my style of pizza in Turkey. The pizzas in Turkey are generally bland. Some Turks actually add mayonnaise and Ketchup to the cooked pizza!