The Last Pizza of 2018

Reflections for the New Year

Watching my pizza dough come together each Friday night is one of the most satisfying things. I love to see how the yeast, water, sugar, salt, olive oil and flour go from a shaggy mess into a smooth ball, turning around and around in the stand mixer. I’m constantly waiting and watching for the right consistency, the way the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, the tackiness of its touch, the smoothness of its texture.

And after rising, I find out if my instinct was right…how the dough rises and stretches into a pizza crust, how it rises in the oven as it bakes and the chew and crunch of the crust as we enjoy our weekly “Friday Night Pizza and a Movie.”

I’ve been making pizza dough from scratch for 8 years, using the same recipe that my husband’s friend shared with us before we married.I have only altered one ingredient amount over those eight years. The ingredients have stayed the same. The order in which I mix them has stayed the same. But the method has been fine tweaked over the years. Part laziness, part figuring what works best, I discovered what results in the perfect crust almost every time. I let the yeast proof in the metal mixing bowl instead of a glass measuring cup (don’t want to waste a drop of the yummy goodness) and I always stir one cup of flour in with a spoon before attaching the dough hook. The last cup and a half of flour gets mixed in with the dough hook until I decide it has been kneaded enough. I’ve never timed this, just felt it.

When we were first married, this was the only recipe I felt confident to serve guests. Also, who doesn’t love pizza??? But those first years I remember fighting the dough, trying to figure out why the recipe didn’t always turn out the way I expected. Some weeks we would have a thick, chewy crust. Others would be dense and thin. Some weeks the pieces would fall apart because the dough had so many weak spots from being stretched too thin.

What I’ve learned over the years has allowed me to not dread this weekly task, but look forward to it.

I may need to follow the recipe, but there’s nothing wrong with making it my own.

Have you ever just assumed if you followed the recipe, equation, steps, etc. that everything would line up just like it did for the person who taught it to you? 

I once believed that after you got married, things should look like how a fifty year marriage would. (BIG SLAP TO THE FOREHEAD) Seriously? What was I thinking?!? What makes their marriage work isn’t what you see at the surface, but many, many years of testing the recipe. The ingredients may be the same, but the way their result came to be is from years of experience, trial, testing, burnt roasts, miscalculated checkbook registers, communication, finding their strengths and admitting their weaknesses.

If I hadn’t been willing to try a new amount of yeast, pay attention to how the flour came together, or learn new tricks for getting the dough to rise, I would have never ended up with a consistent pizza crust that we enjoy.

If I’m not willing to take risks, do hard things and set goals for the season of life I’m in, I’ll never reach any dreams I have. The way I reach my goals may not look like the person next to me, but that’s what makes my journey special.

Turning up the heat isn’t always a bad thing.

I cook my pizza at 485 degrees. When I share my recipe with friends and family, they always double check that I typed that correctly. Yes, 485 degrees. Every time. The crust gets crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. If it’s a thin crust, 485 equals a cracker thin crust without using a brick oven.

While I’m willing to jack up the heat to make the perfect pizza, I tend to forget to do so in my daily life. Isn’t it tempting to accept the lukewarm? It’s warm enough…right?

Recently I’ve been wondering what this next year holds for me. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is when I do most of my self-reflection. What do I want to achieve in 2019? What goals do I have for myself? What exciting things can I look forward to? Is there a word that summarizes everything that can be my focus for the year?

In order to truly answer those questions, I need to look back and learn from the year that’s wrapping up. Did I take risks? How did they turn out? Did I meet my goals? What did I learn? Have I changed, in healthy or unhealthy ways?

And one thing that keeps popping up in my brain is how I had big goals and dreams at the beginning of 2018. I kept considering taking some risks that would be financial investments and large time commitments. And then I turned the heat down. I got nervous and lazy and doubted myself. I even started to believe that maybe I wouldn’t ever be able to achieve my dreams. It was like I knew how good the pizza would taste, but didn’t think it was worth the risk of turning the oven up hot enough to cook it and enjoy it.

And I realized why I lost my steam…it didn’t happen instantly.

Lasting things take time…sometimes longer than we think.

Ever think of a great meal for dinner, only to realize you can’t make a delicious pot roast in 20 minutes? Sometimes I allow myself to get distracted from long term goals because I can’t make them happen now, like right this moment. I’m all excited and pumped and ready…but ready to wait weeks, months, maybe even years? Eh.

Every week when I make pizza, I never know exactly how much time it will take to bake. It all depends on how thick the crust is, how many toppings there are and if I fully let the oven preheat. If I only give the pizza 15 minutes, it’s never quite right. There’s always an extra two minutes, check and then maybe a couple minutes or more until the pizza looks just right.

I need to remember that just because a recipe, or plan, has a certain time estimate, it’s only an estimate. I am going to have to keep adjusting until I can reach my goals. Even if that means I make the entire pizza and throw it in the freezer until I can cook it at a later time. This season of life may not be the fast track for my dreams, but it could be the ground work season, collecting all the ingredients and preparing for later.

That was a lot of pizza analogies! Who knew that making my final pizza of 2018 would lead to so many reflections?

I hope that this New Year holds lots of hope and anticipation and determination to go after your dreams, even if it’s just one bite at a time.