SO WHICH IS BEST??

Growing up in rural Fredonia, NY in a close circle of Sicilian neighbors and relatives, homemade pizza was an every Saturday event.  We lived with my mother's mother, about two miles from town, the last house on Liberty Street....acres and acres of land behind us and adjacent to us on the right, along with Canadaway Creek.  It was certainly an idyllic setting to grow up in.  Surrounded by such land, filled with vegetable gardens, vineyards, and lots and lots of fruit trees.  Most of the elders, if not all, came over from the 'old country', as did both sets of my grandparents.

My grandmother made bread every Saturday, and of course a couple of pizzas as well.  I do not know what kind of flour my grandmother used, but I doubt it was Tipo '00' flour.  

I have been subscribing to La Cucina magazine for many years, and continue to read about the best pizzas in the WORLD... which are in Naples, Italy...Neapolitan pizza.  I have also read that the only flour used for pizzas in Naples is '00' flour.  (As well as the only tomatoes, which would be San Marzano, which having found some seeds this spring, I started my own San Marzanos.)

This flour is certainly not easy to come by in the States, and it is quite expensive, as well.  Several years ago I sent to NY city for some and did the 'taste test', and some thought the '00' pizza better than the pizza I have developed and made over the years.  

Now, my pizza (this one I have developed) happens to be my favorite pizza, but I am still intrigued as to pizza made with '00' flour.  Recently I had a friend visit an Italian store and he noticed this flour and brought me two small bags (traded for fresh bread, he wouldn't tell me what he had paid).  So a new test was in the making.

Although I made both of the dough balls above, I tend to call the one on the left 'my' pizza as opposed to the other.  As you can see, my dough is flecked with grains, where the '00' flour is very white, and in fact very fine.  '00' means finely ground, and it is very high in protein content...and the 7-grain bread flour I use is also very high in protein, though not so fine.  

...stretched out 7-grain...

...stretched out '00'...

The other thing about Naples pizza (it is essentially a street food) is that it is simple, lightly topped and fold-able...

My 7-grain topped with my traditional toppings, roasted pizza sauce, thinly sliced pepperoni, Organic Valley's raw milk jack-style cheese, freshly grated Romano Cheese, and slivered basil leaves.

I also topped the '00' flour pizza in this manner, and with no rising after topping each, they went directly into the oven...for a quick, perhaps 10-12 minute baking. 
(They are baked in a very hot, preheated 500 degree oven on adobe tiles.)

Here they are just out of the oven, ready for Freddie and I to taste,

along with a fresh salad. 

Quite honestly, there IS something about the pizza made from the '00' flour, and I truly loved it, perhaps a bit more than I love my own pizza.  The production of the dough is far more involved, and takes two days of work, and I still have enough for two more pizzas in the fridge.  

I am going to make the two pizzas again this week, and top the '00' in an authentic Napolino way...and try again...and when my San Marzanos are ripe, I will try yet again.  I know I won't often make this pizza as opposed to 'my' pizza, but once in awhile, perhaps.  

This morning I canned peaches....

and then had one of my favorite, summer sandwiches....so simple with the ingredients shinning through to the palette.

Good bread, in this case a bagel, Hellman's mayonnaise, fresh basil leaves, and fresh tomatoes (in this case sweet cherry tomatoes from my Amish neighbor) and more mayo on top.  
So simple and so delicious.