One of my readers was asking me about shooting for my blog vs. shooting for restaurants and whether I like one more than the other. I’m sharing my answer in this post along with this delicious BLT pizza recipe!
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Shooting For My Blog
If I’m shooting for the blog, I am in complete creative control from start to finish. As much as I love the creative freedom, I am also wearing many hats. I research, cook, style, prop, shoot, edit and write. I have learned so much about food simply by cooking and shooting it. And, this level of styling and photography expertise is a valuable experience for clients who hire me.
The drawback to wearing all the hats is that I don’t get to shoot as many things as I would like in one day. When a project requires more than I can do in a day on my own, I have a small team to help with food prep to ensure efficiency on the photo shoot. We have a lot of fun.
Shooting For A Restaurant
If I’m shooting for a restaurant, I have more help by default, because the chef is preparing the food and knows how to do this pretty quickly. We discuss the shot list ahead of time and plan our schedule accordingly. I help with styling when needed and can tackle a lot more with the extra help.
Recipe Notes for BLT Pizza
This recipe comes together so nicely and I highly recommend investing in a standard pizza stone. Let it warm up in the oven for about an hour before placing the pizza on it. It cooks so much faster and more evenly on one. I love the “cooking stains” on it too, because it brings out a rustic quality in the photo shoot.
This recipe was tested during Tomato Week at Food52 and was inspired by Cooking Light.
BLT Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 pound ripe tomatoes on the vine, sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried Oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 bacon slices
- 10 ounces of fresh pizza dough
- Flour to help roll the dough
- 2 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 1 cup baby arugula
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack.
- Arrange tomato slices on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle tomatoes with oregano and black pepper.
- Bake for 20 minutes and remove tomatoes; keep pizza stone in oven.
- Arrange bacon slices on a different baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until desired crispiness.
- Remove from oven and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Break into pieces after they've cooled.
- Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees.
- Combine mayonnaise, olive oil, chives and garlic in a small bowl.
- Using well-floured hands and a little flour on the counter, roll/pat dough into a 10-inch circle.
- Place rolled dough on pizza peel and pierce the dough with a fork.
- Transfer to preheated pizza stone and bake for 5 minutes.
- Carefully remove pizza stone and brush mayonnaise mixture over the crust leaving a 1-inch border. 15. Top with tomatoes and bacon and mozzarella slices.
- Bake 10 minutes or until cheese melts.
- Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes.
- Top with arugula and cut into slices.
All Images © Regan Baroni 2016.
We don’t call those "cooking stains" Regan!!! That’s seasoning! Your stone is seasoned from use ; ) I’ve been using my pizza stone for years for all sorts of things! Definitely one of my favorite kitchen tools!
Ohhh… TomAto, Tomato. 🙂
[…] The sandwich doesn’t stand a chance against this BLT Pizza. Roasting the tomatoes with a sprinkle of this organic oregano takes the flavors up to a whole new level. Read the full post. […]