Pizza Margherita

It is 3:00 in the morning and I have nothing better to do than to begin pizza dough.

* 1 cup all purpose flour.

* 1/2 cup cold purified, filtered fresh mountain water from the Rocky Mountain continental divide.

* 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast.

Stirred a bit to bring it all together into a tight little wad and just left there to sit and to ferment on its own.

After several hours, I do not now how many, the dough puffed up as it does. Now, here is the cool part. The topmost portion is lifted upward far as it goes, stretch like the 1976 toy Stretch Armstrong, then folded back upon itself as if creating a new lid. The bowl rotated and the next side is pulled similarly but it doesn't go as far. Turned, the third side, but it doesn't pull quite as far, folded on top for new lid. Then the fourth side. This pulls the dough all around from the bottom and stretches out the whole thing for four new tops. 

The second times goes faster because all the yeast inside it was partying all night and all morning and having babies all over the place. 

Usually the process is repeated for well structured bread but this will be pulled out flat for pizza so that structure for elevation is not valued. It's just a way to skip mechanical kneading.

You notice the cooks always use mozzarella that has stretch but no real taste along with very small amount of extremely flavorful parmigiano reggiano. 

My fire-roasted tomatoes are too watery. The whole tin is processed to thick sludge. Even though only two tablespoons will be used.

Mise en place, yeah, whatever, everything is ready to go, and it's always been this way no matter the place and no matter which country butts in with its own language to describe what everyone does. Face it, you got nothing, smart people everywhere did this all along just because you codified this in your cooking schools with your own little name for it does not put you front of the pack.

And maybe it does. Way to go. *high fives.*