table talk / By Jada Calypso Brotman

The Thing About Pizza Is…

A different take on the crust

(April 22, 2010)  The thing about pizza is, everybody likes it. We all have our preferences about styles (obviously NYC pizza being the absolute best — end of discussion), but unless you have celiac disease or one of those limp-wristed cheese issues, you can’t really fuss too much when a homemade pie is on the menu.

I like delivery for sick days/lazy/hungover days, but when the crowd is coming over and a crowd-pleaser is required, said crowd’s ravenous snarls are quickly quelled by some hot ’za. Harmony reigns. (Until the no-meat people throw their usual spanner in the sausage works.) At any rate, homemade pizza is a standby when my brother’s band rages through town, eating wildly and leaving mixtapes in their wake.

GALLERY >

I have never had any problem with normal pizza dough recipes — basic yeast-risen dough — and I still don’t. Once you have a good recipe and a very hot oven it’s hard to screw up. I mean, you can cover anything from baloney to vinyl tiling in cheese and someone will enjoy it.

The other day, however, sitting round the family kitchen table and musing about food, as is our wont, the light-bulb hanging around above my father’s head went on. “Naan!” he exclaimed.

He has this new recipe for naan — he’s been on an Indian kick — and it is particularly luscious, due to the unusual inclusion of milk and a little sugar in the dough. It’s tender, unobtrusively doughy, with a rich sweet flavor that delicately avoids greasiness or flakiness. In short, Pop pointed out, ideal for pizza crust.

Another useful facet of homemade pizza is its ability to absorb Stuff In The Fridge. That little bit of pesto? Trowel it on. Those leftover Brussels sprouts? Roast ’em for a few minutes with garlic. Chard stems? Mince and fry with more garlic. Leftover cheese cubes and blue cheese crumbles? Half a jar of olives from last week’s caponata? Limp scallions? Toss ’em all on! It’s economical and clears out precious fridge space.

Toppings for pizza are fairly obvious; I have used all of the above, but I also enjoy roasted garlic cloves, pre-cooked (as in, before you put it on the pizza) crumbled sausage and/or bacon, peppers, mushrooms, onions, basil leaves, pineapple, jalapenos … Oh for Pete’s sake, you know what you like on pizza.

I make my own pizza sauce while the dough is rising. Unlike bolognaise, on pizza the sauce is but one component, so you don’t need to simmer for hours to get a profound flavor. That said, homemade is as usual better than Store Crap.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NEXT PAGE >SHARE