Grubbin' with Fuzzy: Pizza

Saturday, I made pizza. partially becuase I need to get learn how to make baked goods (pizza crust counts!), and partially becuase the only 2 pizza places in town don't deliver (ones a Hut, the other is a lunch counter in Lyman that's combined with a video rental business.

The dough is pretty basic 1 part warm water (the yeast is dump into here) to 3 parts flour, a tablespoon or so of Olive Oil, a little salt, and a tablespoon of sugar. The sugar is there ONLY for for the yeast to nibble on... before I incinerate them all in my oven after they outlive their usefullness.

This is also the first time in a long while that I've been able to have my favorite topping combination on my pizza: Sausage and Black Olives. Yum. I had a friend who didn't like black olives at all. I made him a believer after I had him try a slice of this action. If you haven't done this before, I reccomend making a pizza with only these two toppings. Try it. Thank me later.



It was nice to be able to do this again, becuase as much as I love my friends, pizza philosophy is something we just didn't see eye to eye on. I like balance in my pizza toppings. some meat some veggies, etc. The Guys balk at the suggestion that their pizza should contain a topping that wasn't hacked away from a dead animal. I had also, until recently, held plain cheese pizza in lowest regard. booooorinnng!! The Guys, who each hate a different topping, all like it. Although, I discoved that some of that crushed red pepper sprinkled on top can do wonders for plain cheese.

I've heard a lot of respected cooking authorites, including one of my favorites, express how you want very little sauce and cheese, as not to overwhelm the flavor of the crust or confuse the pallette with a zillion toppings. I've always been a lake-of-cheese kinda guy, and I like the taste of my pizza sauce, as simple and uninspired as it is, so I was a little leary about cutting back on the goods, but I figured I'd give it a try. And let me tell you... everything they told you about cutting down on the toppings, sauce, and cheese...

...is a damned lie.

It wasn't bad, in fact pretty good, except for the part that it could have used a little more sauce, some more cheese. But if someone tells you they don't like the cheese and sauce to overwhelm the flavor of the crust, let them know that it's like using less chicken in their chicken broth, so it doesn't overwhelm the natural taste of the water. Anyone that likes their pizza to be that simple should just give up and make focaccia bread (NOTE: foccacia bread is pretty good, as long as you don't confuse it with pizza).

Don't let the pizza snobs lie to you.