It's All About the Dough!

We love the food here.  Especially the authentic Mexican fare.  Nothing can beat it.  However,  occasionally, our Canadian roots show themselves and cravings for pizza like they make back in Alberta causes us to go in search of the perfect pizza here in our new back yard.

Oddly, pizza was one of the first foods we realized we missed.   Perhaps that was because, for the first couple of years, we honestly could not find, what we felt, was a good pizza!  We tried many, but none came close to matching the taste of Kevin's' favourite, the Pepperoni, Ham and Green Pepper combo from Royal Pizza in Sherwood Park  http://royalpizza.ca/locations.aspx.  No trip home will ever be made without at least one stop here, 5 if he can fit them in.

My favourite pizza has always been the deep dish pan pizza from Pizza Hut.  You know the kind.  The stuff they served back in the 80's and 90's, when in my opinion, they were at their best.   I can hear many of you right now, gasping and gagging because you think the crust is too oily, but to me, it is the ultimate comfort food.   I love the crispness the oil in the pan gives the bottom of the crust - and biting thru that into the gooey layer of cheese and toppings - nirvana.

Pizza Hut Pan Pizza
http://www.pizzahut.com.mx

Which is why I so excited to discover that Pizza Hut right here in Puerto Vallarta served exactly that pizza!!     At first, I thought it strange to find a Pizza Hut here, but, it turns out that Pizza Hut opened its original location at the Plaza del Sol mall in Guadalajara, in 1959!  Fancy that!   PV now has 2 locations, one conveniently located in the Galerias Mall, right upstairs, just beside Chili's.

Clean, modern and fully air-conditioned, we will probably eat here a lot this summer

Plus, the view is pretty nice

Unfortunately, Pizza Hut does not deliver to Nuevo Vallarta.  In the beginning, when we started working to open Casa Madera, there were only 2 only pizza delivery options and while both were excellent options at the end of a long of painting, furniture finishing, plumbing, yard work,  whatever, we were both too exhausted to do anything but pick up the phone and call for dinner.  However, neither offered the pizza "experience" we craved.  Not that it mattered much,  back then, I could fall asleep while eating, so taste wasn't all that important.

When La Dolce Vita opened within walking distance,  we were thrilled.    A swanky new pizza joint right down the street!!   And, we have enjoyed our share of their wonderful thin crust pizzas.  http://www.dolcevita.com.mx

And now, it seems, pizza places are popping up all over the place!  Locally owned joints, with wood fired ovens and a range of crusts from wafer thin to thicker than deep dish!  And they are all putting out quality product.  The difficulty now, is not finding a pizza place, it is deciding which one!!

Irresistible, no?

Within a 25 minute walk, from our door, we have:
La Dolce Vita as already mentioned, and
Ciao  https://www.facebook.com/CiaoPizzaNV .

For those who wish to venture further, a 50 peso cab ride will get you to either

Pizza Diavola https://www.facebook.com/diavolapizzaitaliana?fref=nf 
or
Buenos Aires https://www.facebook.com/RinconDeBuenosAires

and, of course, our go to spot in Bucerias, is
California's Pizza https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaPizzaMexico,

California's Pizza in Bucerias 

These are the places we have eaten at in the past year, and, no, they have not paid me to mention them by name.  (though if they were so inclined, they could do so.  lol)  Most likely, they will never even know that they have been mentioned in this blog, but many of you readers will be guests with us in the near future, and you will want to know about the great eateries we have here.

Ultimately, at the end of most days, we prefer to eat at home.   Since there are still only 2 options for delivery,  Kevin has embarked upon a quest to find his perfect pizza dough.   After numerous recipes, many, many taste tests, and a whole lot of fun, he has  found the dough that works best for him.  

Inspired by none other than FoodTv's Guy Fieri  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/prime-time-pizza-dough.html, this is our go-to dough for at home pizza, baked right here, in our own oven.

Our own, fresh from our oven.  

1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for kneading
2 T olive oil
1 cup warm water (110F)


In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk sugar, yeast, salt and flour.  Add  warm water and olive oil and mix with dough hook until the dough starts to come together.   Allow the machine to continue kneading the dough until smooth and elastic.

Turn onto lightly floured board and knead 3 minutes.  Place in oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and let stand in warm draft free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  Punch down and divide in half.  Each half will make 1 large thin crust pizza.   On lightly floured board, form into smooth balls and cover loosely with plastic wrap.   Return to warm draft free place and let rise another 35 - 45 minutes.  (You can wrap 1 ball well in plastic and freeze at this point if you don't want to make 2 pizzas. )

Preheat oven to 500F.  If using a pizza stone, put it in the oven now so it preheats along with the oven.

Press the dough with your fingers until it is as flat as possible, then pick up and stretch over the backs of your hands, gently pulling the edges outward while rotating the crust.  If that proves too frustrating, just use a rolling pin to roll it out.  The texture will be different, but you won't be so frustrated.

Try for round, but amoeba shaped is ok too.

If using a pizza pan, put the dough in the pan, and top the pizza as you like it.   Pop it in the oven and bake 8 - 14 minutes, depending on thickness, until the edges are golden and cheese is melted.

If using a pizza stone, stretch your dough and put on a well floured pizza peel before putting on the toppings.  Once you have the toppings on, slide the pizza off of the peel onto the stone and bake.  Baking time could be less on the stone so keep a close eye.  When cooked, use the peel to lift pizza off the stone and transfer to cutting board.

Buen Provecho!

Preparing for travel Getting an International Drivers Licence

In less than a month, we will be flying back to Canada to visit with our families and friends.  This is the first time in several years that we have been able to make the trip together and we very excited to be able to do so.

Of course, we will want to rent a car when we get there, which we cannot do without an International Drivers License.  Oh dear,  this means we have to deal with an office in Spanish again.   Honestly, we do pretty good at the day to day stuff, but office speak is something we are still learning.  So many terms for so many things.

Step One - figure out where we go to get one.  Thanks to Google, this didn't take long.  Once we found the website, it took a bit of effort, but Kevin did a masterful job of translating exactly what we needed to do.

Step Two - That is the one where I call the Mexican Auto Club in Mexico City to confirm Kevin had correctly translated the written instruction and to find out how to make payment.

It isn't difficult for anyone here to tell Spanish is not my first language, but knowing that does not prompt them to speak any more slowly.  As a matter of fact,  it seems to have the opposite effect.

Pen in hand, I scribbled half sentences, key words and pin numbers like a mad woman, trying to keep up with the CSR's rapid fire speech.  Then I reviewed my scribbles with her to fill in the blanks and make sure the information I had written was correct.  This only took 2 or 3 more attempts at the same conversation, but I was pretty sure I had it all down correctly.

So far so good, we thought we were making excellent progress.

Step 3 - This is the one where we take pin number the CSR had given me the day before and  $928 pesos into a specific bank and make our payment to the auto club before we courier the whole thing off to Mexico City.  Just when we thought everything was going smoothly...  

The teller could not find the pin number in their system.  Hmmm.   It is already a hot day, and little snags like this just make it seem hotter.  We left the bank with Kevin steaming ahead of me, in total disbelief that I could not write a number down correctly.

Why did we not think to bring the phone number to the auto club with us!!?????

Not wanting to admit defeat and go home without making the payment, we ended up at a nearby Starbucks where with my iPad and their free internet, we could get the phone number and call them toll free, thanks to the magic of our Telmex "pay as you go" phone.   There were a few more tense moments when Kevin realized how low the battery on my iPad was ( apparently 16% is not good in situations like this), and the length of time it took to get a connection.  By now, people were politely trying not to stare as we nattered at each other about why the connection was taking so long, but eventually, we did connect to the internet and people lost interest and stopped staring.

Finally we connected, found the phone number and very soon, I was chatting with someone at the auto club who verified the number the teller had just declined was, in fact valid.  Resisting the urge to turn around and shout "I WAS RIGHT!!" to you know who..., I requested a new number.

Step 4 - Repeat Step 3, but with a different pin number.  Surprisingly easy and we were in and out of the bank in under 5 minutes!

Step 5 - Take receipt from bank, copies of passport, drivers license, proof of address, and $460 pesos to DHL.  Ship it away and wait.

Step 6 - Give instructions on finding our address over the phone to the DHL driver as he drives through the neighbourhood honking his horn looking for our house.

In all, the whole process took less than a week, and except for the snag at the bank, it went very smoothly.   Alberta roads here we come!!