The MILK MARKET Pizza

The best way to cook pizza is in a fiercely hot wood-fired oven. The pizza is charred, blistered and ready in a couple of minutes, tasting sensational. A proper pizza has to have a balance between a thin crisp base and the softer fresh ingredients (toppings), which means you have to eat it within 5-10 minutes of it coming out of the oven to be at its best and truly enjoyed . So buy it from someone who knows how to make real pizza and ideally from a wood-fired oven. Don't buy pizza from the freezer section in a supermarket or delivered from a takeaway franchise, you really are missing out on the joy of the real thing. The perfect wood-fired pizza oven is a work of art and I have a dream to construct one in my back garden one day, but this is a long term plan, maybe five years, (I think I have been talking about it for at least two years already) better get a move on. I have a vision of having great pizza parties at home, for the kids and adults alike. Someday.... In the meantime I keep myself satisfied by searching out and occasionally finding great pizza. On a recent visit to The Milk Market, Limerick I was overjoyed to find such pizza, it ticked all the boxes and yes it was from a wood-fired oven too!

The artisanal maestro, with all the dedication and respect that goes into making real pizza is a guy called Billy, very passionate about what he does and more than willing to discuss and share his knowledge. Of course with my very keen interest in wood-fired pizza ovens and pizza I bombarded him with questions which gladly I have to say he was more than happy to entertain. Then came the pizza, after all the discussion I couldn't wait to try, as Billy worked his magic of course I photographed every step.

It starts with the dough!

Shaping!

Twirling!

Topping and transferring!

To the wood-fired oven!

To me!

The finished pizza was fig, red onion marmalade, blue cheese and prosciutto. It was truly delicious, I was very very pleased. The wood-fired pizza @TheMilkMarket was a rare find and one I will go back to again and again. So if you are in Limerick on a Saturday morning go check out the wood-fired pizza for yourself and say hello to Billy.

You can follow Billy "The Guerrilla Wood-fired pizza cook" on Twitter @villagefoodco