When Tomasino's aka Tomavino's closed I felt betrayed. Not because they closed, but because they didn't call me to warn me. Does that sound ridiculous? For almost five years I have ordered one or more pizzas a week from Tomasino's. The person who answered the phone during the days would say "Is this for Kate?" after I had placed my order. I knew all the courier drivers who would come to my office to deliver it. They had the best gluten-free pizza crust in the city and the toppings were delicious.
Everything changed when Frankie was born. I was on maternity leave and made my own lunch every day. We didn't have extra money so I didn't order pizza very often. And Frankie's allergic to dairy, via my breastmilk, so pizza, in general, was pretty much out. And that's how, without knowing it, I ate my last Tomasino's slice.
Don't get my wrong. I love Morris East. I love the drinks and the toppings and the lovely Jennie who runs the place. I have celebrated almost every milestone in my adult life there. But the crust is ho-hum. I used to dream of sneaking a Tomasino's crust under Morris East toppings.
But once I tasted this homemade pizza crust, all my betrayal melted away. I haven't even ever eaten cheese on this crust and I still like it (I feel like anything can taste okay under a bunch of great sauce and a whole lotta cheese). It can be rolled really thin so you feel like you're Italian or you can leave it kinda thick and it will get AIR BUBBLES! That's right, like a normal pizza, it can have puffy pockets of air. This crust is super and pretty easy.
Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois wrote a book about how to make artisan breads, easily, at home. It was hugely popular. I had actual feelings of envy and resentment when I'd read articles about how amazing this cookbook was. I couldn't eat a single recipe in it. But then they published a second book called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and it included a chapter on gluten free breads. It has five unique bread recipes and about a dozen others that build off of those five breads. For example, there is a Gluten-Free Brioche recipe that you can use to make Honey Caramel Sticky Nut Buns. One of the recipes is for a Gluten-Free Crusty Boule, which makes pretty decent bread, but rolls out into this amazing pizza crust.
The public library has six copies of this book - all checked out. But place your holds, because it is awesome. If you feel like buying it, order it from The Book Mark on Spring Garden - they are oh so helpful and independent.
But you don't have to borrow or buy anything to make pizza! I was worried about stealing a recipe from a cookbook, but the cookbook authors have put it on their website. Thank you, generous universe! Here is the fabulous recipe.
The cool thing about this recipe, and their technique in general, is that you mix up a bunch of dough, let it rise, and then keep it in your fridge for up to a week. The master recipe makes four pounds of dough and most recipes call for 1/2 or 1 pound balls. So on Sunday I make the dough and make a loaf, on Wednesday I make a pizza or four, and on Friday I make crackers (or whatever).
So make the recipe above and stop at the line "place the dough in the refrigerator and store for up to 7 days." When you want to make pizza just put a pizza stone (don't have one? see below) in a cold oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees Farenheit. Take the bowl of dough out of the fridge and take out a grape-fruit sized piece, jostle it into a ball, and plop it on top of a big sheet of parchment paper that has lots of rice flour sprinkled on it (I have to use copious amount of white rice flour on my hands to be able to do this without it sticking to me or the parchment). Grab a rolling pin (or a bottle) and roll that puppy out (also, with lots of rice flour on it). Roll it thin (like one 16th of an inch) or thick (one 8th of an inch) and bingo bango you've got a pizza crust. Put your toppings on, slide the parchment and crust onto the pizza stone, and bake it for 10-20 minutes. I know that seems like a wide window, but we all like our pizza differently and you'll know when you see your version of 'done.'
I didn't make this pizza for months because I didn't have a pizza stone. Then my mom found one for fourteen bucks and gave it to me. If a pizza stone is what's stopping you, try not using it and using a well greased and floured baking sheet instead. How bad can it be? If you know me, you can just borrow my pizza stone.
The other day I had some dough that was on day seven, some potatoes, roasted onions, and goat cheese. I boiled the potatoes for 15 minutes and sliced them thin. I mashed/pressed two cloves of garlic into a small bowl of olive oil. I chopped up some pancetta and fried it. I also chopped some sage and rosemary. I pureed the onions with olive oil and salt. Then I put the garlic-oil mix as my sauce, layered on the potatoes, half the chopped herbs, and the goat cheese, and then put it in the oven. When it came out I sprinkled on the fried pancetta and the rest of the herbs and used the onion puree as a high-end donair sauce.
It was great! I felt proud. I could have never made a meal like that, improvised, three years ago. It's a slow process, but I'm learning.
You're going to love homemade pizza again! Tell me what you put on it, I'd love to know.
