DINNER CLUB RECAP: Dough!

I switched my dinner club turn from the traditional Wednesday night to Super Bowl Sunday, so it was obvious I couldn't serve up some pan-crusted frou frou or anything that had a "touch of" or "hint of" anything. Well, I could, but I would then have to turn in my Man Card for at least a year. The Super Bowl means two things: (1) waking up the following day $150 bucks lighter because YOU WERE CERTAIN the Steelers would cover; and (2) eating gastronomically offensive amounts of food that are dipped in or topped with something. Bonus if you can eat the food with your hands. Pizza fit the bill. Having sustained myself on pizza for a good part of my life, I have arrived at a few, simple truths about our flatbread friend. Good pizza means thinly pressed dough and an honest amount of fresh toppings. And less cheese. Please don't start with your story about that deep dish pizza in Chicago that had 14 pounds of mozzarella and was the Best Thing You Ever Ate. Four out of five doctors agree that you are lucky to still be alive. If you make pizza, find a simple dough recipe and follow the recipe EXACTLY. Don't do what I did, which was to make the dough the night before and put it in the fridge to keep it from rising. It didn't stop rising. And, yes, I awoke Sunday morning to a doughball the size of a beach ball inside my humble fridge. I hacked it into six pieces and tried to roll the super-sized dough monster out flat, only to have it shrink again. Cold dough does not roll out quietly. But, 14 naughty words and two beers later, it was flatter than the Kings in the fourth quarter. [Laugh track here.] If you keep dough at room temp, and it should work out better for you. Get yourself a pizza stone. I like to heat the stone first, put the dough on the stone, and then add toppings. It makes for a crispier crust. For toppings, I made a seafood pizza (topped with clams still in their shells because I'm fancy), meat pizza, and a veggie pizza. Make your own sauce or buy some good stuff in a jar. Whatever. After ten minutes in a 475 degree oven, you get pizza, for a crowd. And my Man Card is saved for another day.