Pizza

Ah, pizza. Ever since Americans have discovered it, it's become one of the most amorphous foods imaginable. Every family's probably tried making it at least once - with the invention of pre-made crusts and sauces, it's one of the easiest things to throw together and throw in the oven to shut the kids up.

For my family ("my family" meaning "when I was growing up"), Dad's pizza was a HUGE deal. Dad really only made two things - pizza, and grilled cheese and tomato soup. He got the fun stuff. At any rate, making pizza with Dad was a huge part of my culinary upbringing, as it was one of the first things my parents let me help out with. Admittedly, it was because I wouldn't leave my dad alone when he was making it, so he put me to work. It was quite a production - we always started with these pizza-in-a-box things from Chef Boyardee (which, sadly, no longer exist), and went from there.

The crust was very thin - the mix in the box was basically flour with a little bit of baking powder and yeast, to be mixed with water and coated with a bit of oil. Spreading out the dough was half the work - it needed to be pressed out to fill the entire pizza sheet, with no raised edge. The sauce was the stuff that came in the box with a dash of taco sauce, spread out with the patented Wood shimmy - basically, picking up the pizza sheet and shaking it around until the sauce reached the edges of the crust. Then came the meat - pepperoni and bologna slices. Hey, I never said my dad had the greatest taste in pizza toppings. Cover all that with cheese (half of one of the pre-shredded "Italian blend" with some parmesan on top), and into the oven it went.

Well, that was then. Now? Well, making it for my husband does automatically change some things. For one, I never would have tried those Boboli pre-made crusts if not for him. Admittedly, I don't particularly LIKE them as well, but, details! We'll alternate between the Boboli crusts and the Jiffy pizza crust mix.

We've experimented with different sauces, mixing up our own on occasion, and usually throw in a dash of hot sauce with the pizza sauce. The current mix is Ragu Original pizza sasuce with a dash (or three) of Cholula chili garlic sauce. We've also experimented with different cheeses, and stumbled upon one that's mixed with roasted garlic that works really well. We use twice as much cheese (one full bag per pizza) as my dad did - that was always the part I felt was lacking. The bologna is gone, and we generally stick with just pepperoni. We make it often enough to keep wanting more, but not so often as to get sick of it - another thing I always felt was lacking with my family. We never had it often enough for me.

My brother does the exact same pizza a little differently. He always uses the same pizza crust mix, and whatever's cheaper for the pizza sauce. He also includes olives and bell pepper on his pizza (I believe - it's been a long time since he's made it for me), and tends to use cheddar for the cheese. We both learned how to make it around the same time, but have made it our own as we moved on to create our own twigs of the family tree.

The best part of homemade pizza is the room for experimentation - mixing up your own sauce (tomato sauce with oregano, garlic, basil, and a little lemon juice works as a pretty good base), adding other toppings, changing cheeses, all of these things can be tested until you find the mix that works the best for you and your family. That way, you can create the perfect pizza that's unique to you and your family.