Just How Popular Is Pizza?

Blaze Build-It-Yourself Pizza

I have been a pizza fan since I had my first bite in high school.  That was so long ago that frozen pizza and pizza rolls had yet to be invented. 

My small town had only one pizzeria, and it served pizza in rectangular shapes, not the triangles we usually eat today.

When I moved to New York, I discovered what was then called Sicilian Pizza, aka deep-dish pizza or Chicago-style pizza.  I loved every serving.  And then I moved to London, where pizza tasted like cardboard and was often topped with watercress.  

Eventually an American entrepreneur named Bob Payton opened The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory in the heart of London.  I was lucky enough to be invited to a pre-opening tasting.  What an opportunity to stuff my face.  I ate more food that night than I ever have in my life. 

Jump ahead to today.  Pizza is still one of my favorite foods.  I enjoy dropping into various local pizzerias with young members of the family in tow.  We hoped to sample every hole-in-the-wall pizza place in Los Angeles’ South Bay area, but when the list grew to 40 pizzerias within 3 miles of my house I began having second thoughts.

Instead I refined my own pizza recipe.  My inspiration was the “Build Your Own” Pizza at a local chain called Blaze Pizza.  Their gimmick is to start with an unbaked pizza crust and several dozen possible toppings.  You stand at the counter, pick what you want and pay for it.  Five minutes later your pizza is ready.

My favorite at the moment is this: tomato sauce, grated mozzarella cheese, oregano, pepperoni, sliced red onions, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced black olives and several handfuls of roasted garlic cloves.  Blaze bakes its pizza in less than 4 minutes, but that’s because their ovens heat up to 700 – 800 degrees.  Mine goes to 500 degrees, but I don’t mind waiting 8 minutes.

Mom's Pizza

Mom’s Basic Pizza – makes one 12-14-inch pizza (double the ingredients if you want two pizzas; triple the recipe of you want three pizzas) 

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup room temperature tap water + more if needed 

1 teaspoon brown sugar or honey

 2 tablespoons olive oil + more for greasing bowl 

1 1/2 cups flour + more if needed 

1/2 teaspoon salt  

Cornmeal 

Pizza sauce 

Toppings – grated mozzarella cheese, oregano, pepperoni, handful sliced red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced black olives and several handfuls roasted garlic cloves. Or add your favorite toppings instead. 

Put the yeast in a food processor or electric mixer with dough hook and pour in a few tablespoons water.  If you add all the water to a food processor bowl at this stage, it might leak.  Add the brown sugar or honey and let sit for several minutes.  Then add the olive oil, flour and salt.   

Begin processing, adding the rest of the water.  Process or beat until the contents form a rough ball.  If the dough is crumbly and won’t hold together, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it forms a smooth ball that is not too sticky.  If the ball is too sticky, add more flour, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the dough becomes smooth.  

Add a teaspoon olive oil to a medium bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl.  Turn the dough over once so that the top of the dough is covered with oil.  Cover with a tea towel and set on a counter to rise for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.  

Once the dough has risen, it’s time to make the pizza.  Remove the top rack from the oven and place the bottom rack on the lowest position.  Place a pizza stone, if you have one, on the bottom rack and begin heating the oven to 500 degrees.  If you don’t have one, you can use a heavy-duty sheet pan placed upside down on the rack.  Sprinkle it with cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking to it.  

Sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal on a pizza paddle. Take dough and slowly and carefully stretch it into a 12-14 inch circle and lay it on the pizza paddle.  Patch any holes with dough from one of the edges.  Cover with sauce and toppings, slide it onto the pizza stone and bake for about 8 minutes, or until the dough has fully baked and has browned on the edges.  Slide it out of the oven with a metal spatula onto a large plate or cutting board and serve immediately.

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