New York Pizza

New York pizza isn't that tough. For the crust, I use an Italian bread recipe from this book, but I add half again as much salt to the final dough. I also make the dough a bit more slack so it stretches easier. A bit of extra flour and/or cornmeal helps keep the dough from sticking to the pizza peel (cornmeal doesn't soak up moisture the way flour does, so it makes a particularly effective sliding agent). I measure the dough into 8 oz balls and then spin them to about 12 inch rounds. A bit of sauce (not too much), cheese, and just a couple of toppings finish it out.

The key to baking the pizza is to use a stone and to get the oven rip-roaring hot. I used to try to bake the pizza at 400 or less, and you end up with burned cheese and raw dough. Now I run it all the way to 525 and bake the pizza right on the stone. When the cheese is bubbly and nice and browned, the crust is crispy, done, and perfect.

Try this for a sauce:
dice a couple of shallots, half a carrot, and a couple of cloves of garlic and saute in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add a can of crushed tomatoes, some thyme and oregano, salt and pepper, and simmer for a half hour or so till it tastes like sauce.

Favorite toppings:
Sausage chunks (pre-cooked - the pizza isn't in the oven nearly long enough to cook raw meat toppings)
Fresh tomatoes and fresh basil chiffonade
Ham and pineapple (try it before you knock it)
Lots of cheese.