Mountain Top Pizza Party, Part 3: Fancy Ham and Goat Cheese

Here we are, finally at the last part of the pizza party.  Here we roll out dough and top with sauce, cheese and whatever toppings we want.  We had everything from fancy Iberica ham to classic pepperoni to suit all tastes. The sauce turned out phenomenal, better than any I've made in the past, even better than I expected it to be.  The dough spent the day rising, while I spent the day glassblowing.  John was a huge help in cleaning and prep work, stuff that's usually left to me for these events.  Finally it was time for the party, to spend time with friends eating the best pizza in Acapulco with the best view in Acapulco. 

We served a salad this time, featuring some nice lettuce I got from the store for ten pesos a head, or about 50 cents USD. Throw in a cucumber, some onion and some carrot and you've got a salad for lots of people for less than fifty pesos, or 2.5 USD. I made a simple dressing with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and called it a day.

This is a shot of the dough, just before I started cooking with it.  I dusted the top with flour and punched it down, reducing it to around it's original size.  One recipe worth of my dough will make between 5-6 pizza balls depending on size.  To make it easy, just split the dough into five or six balls at this point.  This can be done with a scale or just eyeballing.  At this point, I just pull the dough off, one ball at a time to save time and space.  I've made it so many times I can eyeball the size of dough I need, most of the time. 

When you're ready to make pizza, roll out a ball on a floured surface to even thickness.  Make sure you have some sort of large flat pan for the cooking process, oiled and ready to receive the dough.  Roll it out so it's not too big for the pan (this is where the ambiguity in pizza numbers come from, if you've got a smaller pan you'll have more pizzas).  You can fold it in half like pie crust to make it easier to move.  Do whatever works for you to be able to transfer it from counter to pan.  Then it's time to top with sauce. 

Here's the sauce featured in the last article, infused with home grown basil and tomato greens.  It's got rich vine ripe flavor without a whole lot of fuss.  It's a simple recipe that can be adapted to any tomato based italian style recipe. Spoon some on and spread it around, how much you use is based on tastes.

Time to get toppings prepared, by doing things like frying bacon.  I generally bring all of the toppings out at this time to get them ready.  This time we had: goat cheese, Iberica ham, pepperoni, black olives.  For the cheese we had a mix of parmesean and mozzarella. 

Here's what's now become my favorite pizza, topped just before heading into the oven.  Afterwards it'll get the goat cheese, which is my favorite part of this fancy pizza other than the fancy ham.

This is the Iberica ham that we lovingly refer to as fancy ham.  Our english friend shared some with us one night, citing that it gets it's flavor from the acorns the pigs eat.  There are other flavoring agents in the diet involved as well, but the ham is honestly one of the most interesting things I've tried.  You can eat it in the slices like that, that's how they were served to us first.  John suggested it'd be good on pizza.  Our english friend replied that it would be a sin, so we resolved to do it.  After enjoying the pizza, he still resolved that it was a sin, but a tasty sin.

It happens to be ridiculously expensive, in terms of ham.  It was 270 pesos for 100 grams of the stuff, between 12 and 15 USD.  It was our splurge item this party, and we're glad we did it.  It was awesome.

I bake pizza at the hottest temp the oven can go and I always have.  I've never had to turn an oven down.  The hotter the temp, the better the crust.  So crank that baby up.  I put my cast iron griddle on the rack to act as a pizza stone, which it works pretty well for.  I don't make pizza without it. Cook it on high until the cheese is bubbly and browning and the crust is golden brown.  Transfer it to a cutting board to top with goat cheese and cut into pieces. 

This is a shot of the goat cheese I happen to be addicted to.  It comes in a log with a goat on it (the brand I like does, anyway).  The type appears black on the outside, but is whitish and almost the texture of cream cheese.  It's smooth, tangy and honestly addicting.  I put it on all the pizza I ate that night, even if it was just a few crumbles. 

There you have it, fancy ham and goat cheese pizza.  The goat cheese is smooth, creamy and tangy in flavor.  The ham is sweet, salty and smokey.  The combination of all the toppings was amazing and my guests agreed, because they asked for another one of this kind.  

I made probably 10 pizzas that night, shared between 8-9 people.  Everyone over ate and left happy, as far as I know.  I know I was bloated afterwards.  Many of the pizzas were served missing a piece, as that's how I make sure I get the pizzas I want as the chef.  I've had it happen to where I set a pizza down to top another, only to return for a slice to find the whole things gone, to happy friends.  Now I just grab my piece before I put it out, so everyone ends up happy, including me. When I was sure everyone was full, I stopped making pizza and saved the rest of the dough and toppings for another day.

One of my favorite things about having a pizza party is the leftover ingredients.  I get left with ham, or bacon or cheese.  Sometimes there's enough for more pizza, which is always great.  One thing this pizza party did was left us wanting more.  I see a private pizza feast in our future.  Come on fancy ham and goat cheese!