Easier, Thinner, and Tastier Than Ever

 
No, I'm not talking about myself.  Stop that.  

Today I tried a new pizza dough recipe, and readers, I am hooked.  It's another recipe from My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss, (with the technique modified by me to make it even more simple, using a stand mixer). In her book Luisa prefaces this recipe with a sweet story about falling in love (with her now-husband); my story is simply that I love pizza, I love making pizza, and now, I have newfound love for this pizza dough.

I was experimenting with this dough as a trial run for a pizza lesson tomorrow, so I hadn't given any thought to toppings.  But once you've made pizza dough from scratch and stretched it out you can't just leave it there.  That would be cruel...to you, and to the pizza.  The recipe makes enough dough for 2 sheet pan-sized pizzas, so I had room to play.  Improvising, I topped the first with a handful of baby spinach, some sliced kalamata olives, roasted onions, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese (because I am that person that has all of those things on hand...).  I also wanted to see how this dough would stand up to a more traditional, saucy pizza, so for the second I pilfered some marinara sauce, green bell peppers, and shredded cheese from the dining hall.*  With such a thin crust a little goes a long way--I used less than a cup of sauce spread sparingly over the pizza, distributed half a cup of green pepper slices over it, and covered with about a cup of shredded cheese (I supplemented the pilfered mozzarella with some grated cheddar that I had leftover from chili).