Perfect Pizza at home
With Delancey (incredible pizza restaurant with famed owners Brandon and Molly – of Orangette) right around the corner from us it seems so silly to even bother making pizza at home. Call me silly. Whenever a challenge presents itself, such as creating crispy, chewy crusted pizza at home, I take it head on and am determined to remove confusion and insert deliciousness.
I recently taught a Spring baking class in which we used pizza as a foundation to highlight some of this season’s finest and brightest offerings. For the sake of the class we researched and tested and scrutinized several crusts. I won’t lie – it wasn’t rough.
We walked away from that evening of testing with full bellies and two pizza crusts that may put Dominos out of business.
My favorite was a crust that was both crispy and chewy yet had a softness that was reminiscent of the fluffy, pillow-like crust my mom used to make. It was salty with a subtle tang that came from taking a few days rest in the fridge.
On top we drizzled olive oil, added mozzarella and fontina and scattered par-roasted asparagus spears. After three minutes of baking in a very hot oven we cracked three eggs on top then waited patiently. The hot pizza was then topped with prosciutto and grated Grana Padana or Parmesan. A light sprinkling of salt dusted the perfect pie which was then quickly devoured.
Beautiful pizza at home – it can be done.
