(Not) Noni’s Pizza, and not a disaster

As a child, Noni’s pizza seemed different than what I ate at restaurants and sleepovers because she made it in large rectangular pans.  Her pizzas were topped with a simple tomato sauce and mozzarella and, very likely, a bit of parmesan (which is the secret ingredient in many of her savory recipes).  If she ever added other toppings, she must have served those pizzas exclusively to adults.

Last summer, our extended family gathered at the local Italian restaurant to celebrate Noni’s 100th birthday.  One of the appetizers was their house-made pizza, cut into small pieces.  It tasted remarkably like Noni’s pizza, which I hadn’t eaten in many years.  With such simple and so few ingredients, I wondered what gave it such a memorable flavor.

So I came across this recipe and decided to see what I could uncover.

Another minimal recipe.  The staining tells me that this was frequently used.  I wonder whether it may also be the base for her sausage bread, which was delicious.

I hadn’t made pizza dough from scratch for more than a decade, though I often make pizzas using store-made fresh dough.  I started by mixing together the yeast, water, and sugar.  After it got foamy, I added the salt and oil.

I measured the sifted flour into the standing mixer, then added the other ingredients to it.  The dough came together nicely in the mixer.

Once it was combined, I transferred the dough to a floured wooden board to knead it by hand.  I kneaded it until it came together into a more cohesive ball.  It looked a little deflated and sad when I returned it to the oiled bowl to rise, but the one-year-old had stopped eating her snack, and it was time to move on.

This was a mistake.

An hour later, I had picked up the four-year-old from preschool and was ready to prepare my pizza.  It had risen nicely, if perhaps a little more than expected.  I oiled a pan, halved the dough, refrigerated the extra half for another day, and started to spread it.

I realized almost immediately that it wasn’t right.  The dough wasn’t sufficiently elastic to spread in the pan.  Even though there was plenty of it, it wouldn’t spread without tearing.  I tried working it back together a few times.  Then I looked at The Joy of Cooking, which I’d pulled out to see how long I should let it rise.  Their pizza recipe specifies that it should be mixed in a standing mixer, but then kneaded for 10 minutes.  I maybe kneaded mine for 2.

I was hungry and ready to give up, but my husband was curious to see what it tasted like.  So I sprinkled some cornmeal on one side of the dough, flipped it onto the oiled pan, sprinkled the top with cheddar and mozzarella, and baked it at 475 for 12 minutes.

At this point, I also took out a frozen pizza, to ensure that we’d have something to eat for dinner.

It smelled heavenly.  It looked lovely.  It wasn’t exactly pizza, and it bore no resemblance to Noni’s, but the four-year-old declared it “delicious” and asked me to make it again.  This was high praise after a long day of playing and plentiful snacks at preschool.  We all agreed that it was tastier than frozen pizza.

Next time, I will knead it for 10 minutes by hand.  On the weekend.

To be continued…