Fresh out of the oven and about to dig in
When Tony and I were touring around Umbria, Italy for Travels Bloggers Unite (TBU) in April, I stuffed myself silly with Italian wine, pasta, cheese, gelato… You name it, I ate it! However, once we left Italy I realized that I missed out on Italy’s most famous dish:
PIZZA!
Our masterpiece of the evening... Everything is made better with prosciutto.
I know, I know. How silly could I be to visit Italy and not eat pizza?!
Luckily, the stars aligned and Tony and I got an excuse to go back to Italy.
Before we headed to Tuscany to start our WWOOFing gig on the Agriturismo Barbialla Nuova, I made a vow to myself that this time around, I would be eating pizza… and LOTS of it.
I had high hopes of living like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love and traipsing all around Italy in search of the perfect pizza… No carb left behind! However, what I didn’t factor into this plan was that our agroturismo was pretty remote and Tony and I were without a vehicle….
Whoops. Okay, no traipsing around Italy for this girl!
But did this stop me from eating copious amounts of delicious pizza?
Heck no!
Tony and I put our heads together with our farm pals, Allie and Jim, and decided to take matters into our own hands and go all DIY (do it yourself) on the pizza situation. On the farm we had a wood fired oven, fresh ingredients from the garden, and a nearby local butcher for some tasty prosciutto… now that is a recipe for greatness.
Our pizzas in the wood fired oven
On not one, but two evenings, we got together with friends on the farm to make pizzas from scratch… dough and all.
We made it all. Pizza margherita. Pizza with pesto. Pizza with prosciutto. Pizza loaded with veggies… You get the point.
Had to throw a Classic Margherita Pizza in the mix!
And these pizzas were darn good! Fresh, savory, crispy yet soft… Everything an Italian pizza should be.
Perfection on a plate
However, the best part of the whole experience was making the pizzas from scratch with good friends. We had a blast drinking boxed wine, experimenting with our dough recipe, and heavily debating what toppings should go on which pizza… As a side note, I made sure garlic went on every single pizza and no one dared to convince me otherwise!
We are practically professionals!
But the moral of the story is this: If there is something you are craving, something that you are dyyying to have food sex with, don’t let the tiny obstacles get in your way. Grill up your own BBQ ribs, hitchhike into town for that ice cream cone you can’t live without… Just make it happen!
Your Turn: Have you ever had to improvise a dish to feed your cravings?
Exhausted from traveling every week as a Business Management Consultant early in my career, I took a year off in 2012 to travel at my own pace. I am a high-energy girl that loves being active, eating food, drinking wine, and exploring the world with my partner-in-crime (and husband), Tony! I now reside in Portland, Oregon and continue to write about travel, food, wine, and the awesome adventures we have in the Pacific NW!
I love when the pizza crust is almost burnt and crunchy like yours. Yum!
It was burnt right on the top but then soft in the middle….Amaaaazing!
Oh yum! I swear they look just as good, if not better, than any of the ‘professional’ pizzas I had when I was in Italy. Love that you had your own wood fire oven at the farm!!
Thanks Cherina! To be fair, one of the guys working on the farm grew up in Italy and made homemade pizzas every weekend with his mom since he was a kid… and he was a pro with the wood fired oven. Plus, with all the fresh ingredients, it was practically cheating! The pizzas we made were in fact better than most ‘professional’ pizzas we have had!
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