A Cameo Appearance by...

To be honest, I was a little scared when I read what the challenge for this month was. Just a little.

Well, I mean, I've made pizza dough before, but have never used the 'toss' method. This method is a nightmare for a control freak like me. Thankfully, I have help on hand. A veteran pizza maker who also happens to be yours truly's boyfriend. Isn't that convenient? The challenge suddenly turned from something daunting to something I was looking forward to.


I just hope Rosa doesn't mind the help I was getting. Not that I didn't try, but the photos of him tossing the dough turned out much, much better. Seriously. The photos he took of me tossing the dough turned out so tragic I would have to implore you to spare me from putting it up on a public domain such as this.

So, moving on to the more important topic of toppings and sauces. I decided on a sweet pizza, despite J's protests. I decided that since we are going into summer (actually today feels more like early, early spring), I might as well do something light and easy. Fruits immediately came to mind. But not just any fruits. I specifically wanted tropical fruits. Blame it on my recent trip back home. I wanted to recapture all the flavours of the tropics in this pizza.


So I decided on a pineapple 'carpaccio' pizza topped with rockmelon, mango and watermelon brunoise, with a drizzle of pine nuts-mint herb oil and a garnish of mint julienne. You don't have to tell me that it sounded doubtful; believe me, I know. But despite all, I decided to go along with this combination.

It actually did not taste bad at all. But there is definitely room for improvement. Like not overbaking the pizza crust, resulting in a hard shell with a slight bitter taste. Or adding more pine nuts-mint herb oil. Or caramelising the pineapple 'carpaccio' before putting them on the crust. Or using a fruit compote rather than herb oil to impart more sweetness to the pizza.

But overall, I'm pretty happy with this first attempt. All that's left is to play around with the component to get the best possible result. After all, that's what being a DB is all about, no?

A big thank you to Rosa for choosing this month's theme and recipe; J thought it made a really, really good pizza dough, and even asked if I could print him a copy to take home!