Pizza!

I grew up on square cut thin-crust pizza. The kind that is so greasy it leaves a puddle on the cardboard tray underneath. I remember once, after a bout of the flu and not eating for four days, I ate an entire 14" pizza in about 10 minutes from Jake's Pizza. Then, as the dough started to expand, and the salt entered my bloodstream, I had the pizza-sweats, which are not unlike meat-sweats. I lay on the floor, my breathing labored, oregano and garlic-scented sweat upon my brow. But it was worth it; that's how much I love pizza.

We used to get pizza from Calo's or I Monelli (where the guys speak pretty much only Italiano! Pizza Pie!), but then we moved and sadly, they don't deliver south of 32oo North (think Elaine squeezed into a broom closet). And while I have tried a few places, I prefer to make mine. It's not as good as the places mentioned above, but it's better than spending 20 bucks for a mediocre pie.

There are a couple key elements to my pies: my grandma's pizza pan, which is relatively thick and somewhat heavy-perfect for even cooking, and my use of the Pastorelli pizza dough kit. While I have made my own pizza dough in the past, this is pretty much the best one I've had. Trader Joe's sells a ready-made refridgerated dough ball for about a dollar, and that's a good bet, too.

Pizza Formaggi & Funghi

1 batch of pizza dough
2 tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. red pepper flakes
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil (or you can leave the leaves whole)
1/2 sliced onion (Genesis Growers)
1 c. chopped mushrooms (River Valley Ranch)
8 oz. buffalo mozzarella, sliced
1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
3 lb. fresh tomatoes, blanched and crushed (Lehman Orchards)


Prepare the dough according to directions. Let it rise, punch it down, let it rise, punch it down and then roll it out. You can make it round, square, rectangular, 1 pie, 2 pie, 3 pies, whatever you want!!!

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Brush the dough with the olive oil. Sprinkle the salt and red pepper flakes evenly across the dough.

Bake dough for about 5 minutes. Pull out and pierce any bubbles that have formed.

Then spread the crushed tomatoes over the pie, stopping short of the edges so you have a little bit of crust. Then top with the basil, then onion, then mushroom and cheese last.

Put back in the oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. If you like your pizza extra done, with the cheese a little browned like I do, leave it in an extra 5 mintues. But KEEP YOUR EYE ON IT!!! It only takes about 1 minute at this heat to go from well-done to burnt.

Let sit for about 5 minutes, then cut into squares for easy eating, or big slices for folding.