"Pizza is always 'was awesome'"

Or so says my dear friend B., and in this case he's right. I'm in cleaning out the pantry mode, seeing as I'm about to leave the country for six months, and pizza dough does wonders for emptying the flour jar. Two of the three incarnations were smashing successes; the third, a cheeseburger stromboli, wasn't half bad but probably not worth repeating. The base in all cases was this recipe from the NY Times, which makes two or three normal-thickness crusts. The recipe says to let it rise an hour or two; if you're foresighted enough let it go in the fridge overnight. Or if not, y'know, don't. Save these for a day when you don't mind having a 500-degree oven going. I've gotta say they're pretty damn awesome.


Sausage Pizza 
Half a batch of dough
One Italian sausage (hot Italian, if you're me)
Half a can of diced tomatoes (the good kind, no sugar or salt or other crap added)
Fennel seeds
Good pecorino romano cheese (Locatelli's best)
Sea salt, pepper, olive oil
 
Bring the dough up to room temperature. Preheat the oven as high as it goes, around 500-550 degrees if you can, with a pizza stone in it if you've got. Roll out the dough as thin as possible. Cover with tomatoes, fennel seeds, the innards of the sausage, cheese, salt and cracked pepper to taste. Next time maybe I'll add some fresh oregano too. Bake it til the crust it golden brown, maybe 20-25 minutes. About 10 minutes in, brush the exposed crust with olive oil. Let it cool a bit before you take a bite; I burned the crap out of the roof of my mouth on this one. Which is a good sign with pizza, I think. The leftovers were fantastic cold the next day for lunch.

Bacon/Onion/Olive Pizza, aka the Umami Bomb
Sort of  a cross between a pissaladiere and a deep-dish pizza. And for the love of god, don't add any extra salt.

The other half batch of dough
The other half can (unsalted!) tomatoes
Half an onion
8 or 10 chopped black olives (good herby ones, not crap from a can)
Chopped fresh sage
4 slices bacon, chopped
Fresh pepper
More romano

Let the dough come to room temperature. Meanwhile, chop the onion and saute it in a cast iron skillet. When it gets soft, set it aside but leave the pan oiled. Give the bacon a minute or two on the heat to crisp the edges but don't cook it through. Set aside.


Preheat the oven to 550. Sprinkle some polenta grains/grits in the skillet to stop the dough sticking (optional, the oil itself will do fine). Roll the dough out to just larger than the skillet and set it in, making sure there's a raised edge. Cover with the tomatoes first, then the other stuff, bacon on top. Bake about 25 minutes, til the crust is golden and the bacon is cooked. I pit the bacon on the bottom and ended up putting it under the broiler to make sure things were cooked through and it got a bit charred, not that that's entirely a bad thing for pizza crust.