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"FacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterestTECHNIQUE_RUBRIC.gif\n\nHere's the thing about homemade pizza: It doesn't really need to be homemade\u2014at least not all of it.\n\nSwing by your local pizzeria, buy a ball of fresh dough for a few bucks, and you're good to go. The key is preparing interesting, quality toppings that you won't find at your local pizzeria\u2014caramelized onions; crisp pancetta; peppery arugula; sweet, ripe cherry tomatoes.\n\nEven a basic Margherita pie can transcend if you insist on top-shelf ingredients and\u2014most importantly\u2014you keep it simple.\n\n\"The way I look at it, the less you potchke with an ingredient or a dish, the more it retains its integrity,&amp;amp;#x201D; says Jim Lahey, the always descriptive, often brilliant owner of Co. Pizza in Manhattan. &amp;amp;#x201C;If you poke it, prod it, fingerfuck it\u2014at the end of the day someone's gotta eat that. You're not mastering the art of the cooking; you're working out some childhood trauma.\"\n\nWhat I'd like to think Lahey is saying is that if want your pies to approach the goodness of the ones he makes at Co. (bubbly, charred, chewy crust; inventive, subtle-yet-assertive toppings), don't fuck with them too much.\n\nMore is not more. You don't need to make a &amp;amp;#x201C;meat lover's&amp;amp;#x201D; pizza, or one with six kinds of hand-foraged wild mushrooms. It's not a contest.\n\nWhen I make pizza at home, I like to think about balance. Toppings-wise, I keep it to two per pie, and never too much of either. You don't want to overwhelm the hot-from-the-oven crust; you want to complement it.\n\nI'll go for one of the following combos:\n\n Sweet/salty\u2014caramelized onions or roasted fennel with lardons of crispy bacon or pancetta or crumbled Italian sausage\n\n  Fruity/peppery\u2014Cherry tomatoes and arugula on top of a pie with mozzarella and Fontina\n\n  Fresh and simple\u2014Hand-crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, and extra-virgin olive oil\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nA couple of other pointers: Most important, get your toppings in order. Caramelize the onions and crisp up the bacon hours ahead of time. Clean the arugula; slice the cherry tomatoes; crush the canned tomatoes by hand in a big bowl; tear or slice the mozzarella. Then place all the toppings in small bowls and set up a work station. If you do it right, when it's time to start baking, you're not really cooking\u2014you're running an assembly line. It's easy.\n\n What else? Don't forget salt. Season the individual toppings, and sprinkle the pizza with salt before sliding it in the oven.\n\n And use lots of olive oil. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil before adding the toppings and drizzle some over the toppings just before you bake the pie.\n\n Finally, your crust won't be as yeasty and chewy and charred as a pizza you get at a wood-fired or coal-oven pizza joint, where oven temperatures reach 900 degrees. But whatever: You'll have a blast making these pies. Invite friends over, open up some bottles of red or ros\u00E9, and keep churning out the pies. Set them out on big cutting board and chop 'em up. Remember, the best dinner parties are never the fanciest.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFor the dough:\n\n  1 large ball of fresh dough\n\n  White flour\n\nBring it to room temperature in a mixing bowl that's been brushed with olive oil. When you're ready to start, place it on a cutting board and cut it into several hunks, each about the size of a tennis ball or softball.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nSprinkle some flour on a clean work surface. Throw a ball down and lightly coat all sides. With the heel of your hand, flatten it into a disc and then pick it up. Using your thumbs and forefingers and the heels of your hands, start working the dough in a circular motion, passing it from hand to hand over and over. Let gravity help stretch out the dough. This'll take a minute or two. You want the dough as thin as you can get it without tearing. Don't worry about it being round. Oblong is good. My pies usually end up looking like Africa, for some reason.\n\nSometimes it helps to let the dough rest for a minute before picking it up again and rotating it some more.\n\nFor the oven:\n\n Set the rack on the highest third of the oven. Crank up the temperature as high as it'll go. Slide in a baking sheet and let it get really hot, for about 10 minutes, while you prepare the dough.\n\nFor the sauce:\n\n  1 can whole tomatoes\u2014imported San Marzano, if you can find them\n\n  Extra-virgin olive oil\n\n  Salt and pepper\n\nDump the tomatoes and juice in a large mixing bowl. With your hands, squish them through your fingers till they're nice and pulpy. Don't wear white; they will squirt. Season with salt and pepper and a couple of dashes of olive oil.\n\nFor the making:\n\n Once the baking tray is blazing hot, remove it from the oven and place it on the stovetop. Then lay the worked dough directly on the pan. (You don't need to flour or oil the pan; the dough won't stick. As Lahey says, &amp;amp;#x201C;Playing with a pizza peel and trying to shake that shit off\u2014not fun.&amp;amp;#x201D;\n\nNow, start with a Margherita pie:\n\n Brush the dough with a little olive oil and quickly apply the toppings: some shredded mozzarella, crushed tomatoes, and shredded basil. Salt. Bake for about 10 minutes, till it's nice and bubbly and the crust starts to brown. Remove from the oven and use a spatula to transfer to a cutting board. Chop and serve.\n\nFor the onion-and-bacon pie:\n\n Earlier in the day, chop up the bacon or pancetta and saut\u00E9 over low heat till it just starts to brown. Caramelize thinly sliced white onions with olive over medium heat till\u2026caramely.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nTo make the pie, repeat the above steps. Add mozzarella and, if you can buy some, Fontina too. A bit of chopped fresh herbs like thyme or oregano is nice. (You don't need a lot. Strew the pie with the onions; add the bacon. Bake.\n\nFor the arugula-and-cherry-tomato pie:\n\n Bake a white pizza: olive oil, mozzarella, Fontina if you want, maybe some fresh basil. Meanwhile, in a bowl, toss some sliced cherry tomatoes with a mess of baby arugula. Dress with a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nRemove the baked pie from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Pile on the arugula and tomatoes. Slice and serve."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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