Easy Homemade Pizza

Woo what a weekend! I headed over to the Reason Rally that was held in DC. It was quite an experience, and the turn out was fantastic despite the downpour. I had a great time, made some new friends, and I even got a schooled in my cutting techniques.

I will have to go further in depth about it at some point, but when I cut stuff up, it isn't pretty. I just sort of slap the knife around until the poor vegetable is butchered to approximate size I wanted. It's sad. But this weekend, I learned to mince up a garlic clove the way cooking professionals intended.

So, now that I'm feeling pretty guilty about my cutting skills... so here's some pizza! No cutting involved. Pizza is a wonderful thing that way.

This pizza really doesn't need a recipe, because it's the lazy-man's homemade pizza. The crust is store-bought flatbread. I used lavash for this one, which is a popular Middle Eastern flatbread. Trader Joe's kindly stocks it. You could make your own sauce, but it wouldn't be easy pizza if you did. I used a sauce from, you guessed it, Trader Joe's. I can't help it, it's a 4 minute walk from my apartment so I shop there often.

Just make sure you go easy on the sauce, a little goes a long way and too much will make it soggy. Top with whatever cheese strikes your fancy. Preheat your oven and baking stone to 425, and bake for about 6 minutes until the crust is crisp. Dig in!

Why You Need A Baking Stone

Two years ago, I got really into baking bread at home. Not a soft pumpkin loaf or the bread machine stuff, but genuine, crusty loaves.  I tried tons of recipes. Some of them were good, but most were subpar. Even with the good ones, I was never totally impressed with the results. The taste was usually fine, but the texture and the nice crunchy outside didn't turn out quite right.

Then everything changed when holidays rolled around. My mother gifted me a copy of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe François. My relationship with bread evolved into an all-out affair as soon as I cracked open that volume. Aside from having fantastic (and simple) recipes for great bread, it contained the single best advice I have ever gotten for making fabulous bread: get a baking stone.

Wonderfully grimy, isn't it? Just burned bits of cheese, sauce, etc.

I'd never heard of such a beast before. I looked them up and found so many kinds. The one I ultimately bought came from Williams-Sonoma (called a pizza stone). I chose this one because its square shape makes it large enough for baguettes, it's thick enough to avoid cracking, and it came with a lifetime guarantee. This stone was more expensive ($45) than most of the others, but it seemed likely to last me far longer than the cheaper alternatives.

Now, I don't just use the stone for crusty bread, because it is also great for pizzas, calzones, and flatbreads. I make pizzas at home all the time now, pizzas that are so much healthier than the delivery version. The baking stone is great for these things because it is what gives bread and pizza that thin, crispy outside, but chewy inside.