Pizza!

When I was a little girl, I never understood why my mom's cookbooks looked so distressed. I was determined to keep my cookbooks looking brand spanking new . This is my pizza cookbook, and I am incredibly proud to say it looks every bit as distressed as any of my mother's. What I see in my dog-eared cookbooks is life well lived. The stains and tattered pages are, I guess, kind of like me - a little dog-eared, a little the worse for wear, showing a few wrinkles, but loved, lived, and holding up rather well.

The cookbook is The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook by Pasquale Bruno, Jr. and I purchased one for myself and one for my brother about 20 years ago at Carfagna's, my favorite Columbus Ohio grocery. It has been in regular use in our households since then.

Now on to Pizza!

This is my very favorite pizza dough, about to be parbaked in a 475 degree oven for about 4 or 5 minutes. Note it has been pricked all over with a fork. The parbaking will give the crust its initial rise. The toppings would compress the dough if I did not cook it just a little bit first.

This is the almost done pizza - hot Italian sausage on one half, pepperoni on the other, with a scattering of fresh onions over all of it. The toppings sit atop the tomato mixture, which sits atop the cheese. It's sort of an upside down pizza. Here is the recipe as written by Pasquale. I'll give you my adaptations afterward.

Deep-Dish Pizza No. 1

Dough

1 1/2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (105 - 115 degree F)

1 tbsp. sugar

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup warm water

Topping

1 28 oz can Italian style plum tomatoes, drained and crushed by hand

1 tsp dried basil or 2 tsp. fresh basil

1 tsp. oregano

Salt to taste

10 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced thin

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 lb. Itallian sausage, casing removed

Olive oil

Dough: Dissolve the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm water. Add the sugar and stir well. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine 3 1/2 cups of flour, salt, and cornmeal. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the yeast mixture, the vegetable oil, and the 1/2 cup of water. Stir and mix thoroughly until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and a rough mass is formed.

Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a well-floured work surface. Knead and pound the dough (dust with flour if the dough sticks to your hands) for 5 - 6 minutes until it is smooth and soft. Dust the dough and a large mixing bowl lightly with flour. Place the dough in the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

After the dough has doubled in bulk, turn it out of the bowl and knead it for about 2 minutes. Oil the bottom and sides of the 14 inch pizza pan (with 2 inch sides). Spread the dough in the pan with your fingers and palm. Work the dough until it covers the bottom of the pan. Pull the edges of the dough up to form a lip or a pronounced border all around the pan. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Prick the dough bottom with a fork at 1/2 inch intervals and parbake the crust for exactly 4 minutes in the preheated oven. Brush the crust lightly with olive oil.

Topping: in a 2 to 3 quart mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, basil, oregano, and salt. Set aside.

To Assemble and Bake: Lay the slices of mozzarella cheese evenly over the crust. Spoon the tomatoes over the cheese. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the tomatoes. Next, add the Italian sausage - flatten the sausage pieces between your thumb and forefinger an distribute them evenly over the tomatoes. Drizzle about 1 tbsp. olive oil on top. Bake the pizza in a preheated oven on the bottom oven rack for 4 minutes; move the pizza to an oven rack 2 slots above the lower rack and bake an additional 30 minutes, until crust is lightly browned and sausage is cooked through.

My Adaptations: I've never used 3 1/2 cups of flour. The dough can't take more than just over 3 cups. I use only about 1/2 tsbp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp. of salt. I use olive oil in place of vegetable oil.

For the topping, I add a clove of garlice minced, and use about 1/2 tbsp. of olive oil in the tomato mixture. I generously add a couple of grinds of black pepper to the mixture, as well.

In place of the mozzarella cheese, I sometimes use provolone cheese, for the smoky flavor it imparts. When using Italian sausage, I pre-cook it until it is still just a little pink on the inside. It will finish cooking in the oven.

While this is not a pizza I usually make in the summer, this Friday evening was dark and rainy, and a perfect time to stay inside and make pizza. I hope you'll try it sometime. It is certainly worth your effort.