Eggplant Pizza with Buffalo Mozzarella

Pizza & Wine

A quiet night in called for a low key dinner solution. I’m very much into dough at the moment. I’m not sure why, I just seem to be going through a dough phase. I get a very calming sensation from just kneading dough until its nice and soft, and the yeast makes it seem alive (which technically, it is).

So this was another home made pizza base consisting of:

500 grams flour
2 or so cups of warm water
1 tablespoon of fresh yeast
1 pinch of salt
2 drizzles of olive oil
1 dollop of honey

Combine dry ingredients, and then gradually add the wet ones and mix it all around until its a big ball of doughy goodness.

Leave it to rise in a covered bowl and then punch the air out it a couple of times, til its really malleable.

Then roll it flat, and you’re good to go.

The topping for this pizza was tomato paste, a nice fat slice of eggplant, some sliced “vine ripened” tomatoes, basil, and buffalo mozzarella.

Eggplant Pizza

The mozzarella is great… I’d been looking it for a while since having a Mozzarella di Bufala pizza at Pronto’s a while back, but for ages I couldn’t find it, and was told by the nice ladies in Restore that there was a shortage of it… Fortunately for me the buffalo must have been lactating more recently, and I happened to find some at Herdsman Fresh on my last trip.

Apart from being made from buffalo milk, I’m not sure how its different to boccocini… but I like it nonetheless.

The pizza was paired with a wine from my current favourite winemakers. It’s a 2002 Sangiovese/Merlot from Innocent Bystander. Spicey but delicate, with a fruity aftertaste… something different to try.

Innocent Bystander 2002 Sangiovese/Merlot
All in all a great meal to pass the time on a night where all you’re really doing is waiting to go to bed :)

9 thoughts on “Eggplant Pizza with Buffalo Mozzarella”

  1. Sounds delicious. I’m going through a boccocini phase myself at the moment & for the same reason, buffalo mozzarella being much harder to come by even though I have eaten it out & love it!

  2. Yeh strange isn’t it… I thought there must have been some underground conspiracy to limit the supply of buffalo mozzarella on the street so the pushers can drive the price up…

    I’m having a similar issue with getting fresh artichoke at the moment, which is apparently out of season… but I know someone somewhere has got some dammit ! :)

  3. Home made pizza dough is the shit, just so significantly better than anything bought.

    Was just having a chat about the liveness of yeat and whether they’re sea monkey alive or plant alive. Didn’t come to any resolution.

    Thanks for the wine tip, I seem to have less and less of a clue at bottle shops these days.

  4. Enjoyable reading. Went to Shades. Good crowd. Pity the “barista” let all
    the coffee from the pour into the cup and not pull it up once the coffee
    pour went blonde (as learnt from Vanessa at Epic on a recent course).

    Have problems getting my pizza dough to rise consistently. Whereabouts
    did you leave you covered bowl for the dough to rise.

  5. Hi Mili,

    Good to hear you’re getting some good coffee knowledge on board, there should be more like you and then perhaps cafe’s would be forced to improve their game.

    In terms of pizza dough, in a pinch I have been known to put it into a stainless steel bowl and sit it on top of the stove for a minute or two, then covering it with a tea towel. Your problem with it rising could be with yeast freshness perhaps ?

Leave a Reply to anthony Cancel reply