When I was a teenager, I spent a summer working as a prep cook at a pizza restaurant. I showed up at 7 a.m. and spent hours portioning pizza dough, then got off in time to make it to one of my other two jobs (nanny, ice cream server) in the afternoon.
You would think that after months in the kitchen of a place that turned out pizza after pizza, and little else, I would have picked up a few tips of the trade. But if that summer taught me anything at all about pizza, I’ve long since forgotten it….