Our Go-To Homemade Pizza
Build- Your-Own pizza is one of the children’s favorite. Any time they get to cook or prepare food “their way” is a win.
Our at-home pizza recipe is purely nostalgia based.
It’s nearly inevitable when pizza night comes around that we don’t reflect back on many weekend evenings when our then family of four, took the long stroll from Cobble Hill to Carroll Gardens. We put our name on the list at Lucali an hour before they opened the doors and waved at our favorite hostess, Esther through the large picture window. Most often, she would step out to greet us and promise to seat our family in her section. If we were lucky, we’d land at the best, most kid-friendly table in the house.
The tiny restuarant was warm and cozy. I imagine there were less than twenty tables max. Esther would bring the boys dough to squeeze while we watched the chefs roll their own dough balls into perfect circles with empty green wine bottles. Once a pie was prepared the expertly slipped them quickly in and out of a wood-fire oven.
We keep Lucali toppings close to our minds when making pies at home. They are few but tried and true; tomato sauce, shallot, garlic, basil, mozzarella, sausage, mushroom.
The girls go standard Margherita style with mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil. The boys usually add sausage and shallot. While Zach and I go all in and top with finishing salt. It’s hard to deviate from these classic and memorable flavors but this time I was able to sneak in roasted yellow bell pepper and pepperoni on just one pie.
Ok, so let’s talk dough recipes. I totally wing the tomato sauce every time based on what is stocked in our pantry so I won’t dare write the recipe out just yet.
As you know, I’m in a sourdough phase. Above are my first attempt at making Tartine’s pizza dough from their Country Bread recipe. It was fantastic!
However, my original go-to pizza crust recipe for YEARS was Melissa Clark’s! No one was complaining nor ask that I change recipes. Most of my eaters barely knew the difference. So, wherever you fall on the bread-making scale you can try either method and be very pleased with your results.
Pizza night makes for fun mealtimes. Sometimes we prepare the dough by dividing into six small portions for individual size pies. The kids like this best because I let them enter the kitchen one at a time to fill their pie as they wish. Other times we do several large pies with various topping combinations so we can all sit down together.
The first in and out of the oven is usually cheese as it will be cool for the girls by the time we begin eating. It’s hard not to eat as soon as they come off the scorching hot ceramic stone so we just keep cranking them out until they’re gone or bellies are full. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave but for the best results toast under a broiler.