Party Time: How to Make Pizza at Home

’s birthday, and
when I throw a party, I can’t help but throw myself into things—by which I mean
the kitchen. For this particular party, I made a gumbo (which I hope to write
about here shortly) and my signature dhal. I also prepared a cheese course (or,
more accurately, Nina prepared a cheese course) and I opened some oysters and
served them on the half shell.

I expected more than a few kids at the party (it was in the
afternoon, and many of our friends have young children), so I needed to make
something that the children might like to eat. A few of them might try the
gumbo, perhaps, and my children actually eat the dhal, but in general those
dishes lack, how shall I put it, kid-appeal.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with making pizza at home,
and in preparation for this party I hit on the perfect combination of
ingredients to make a kid friendly pizza. The trick, I realized, is to get ingredients
that are the cheapest, least-gourmet, totally non-fancy, and embarrassingly
un-foodie. This is a lesson I learned the hard way. I once made the worst pizza
in the world, simply by following a recipe in The New York Times which was far
too aspirational for my children’s tastes. They hated the chunks of San Marzano
tomatoes, I burned the homemade dough, and that whole effort has since become a
legend of failure around our house.

I knew I could do better, though, by trying to do less. And as soon as I switched
to dough from a local pizzeria, opted for an off-brand supermarket mozzarella,
and spooned out an inexpensive tomato sauce, I got the result I was looking
for. The kids loved it, and one of my friend’s sons actually said, as he bit
into a piece, “Did this pizza come from a store?” Could there ever be a better
compliment?

How to make Pizza at Home

Note: A pizza stone and a peel (the wooden or metal paddle used to
slide the pie into the oven) are essential. They’re easily found on the
Internet and at kitchen-supply stores.

• A ball of pizza dough
• 1 lb. mozzarella, grated
• 1 jar of marinara sauce 

Put the stone in the oven and preheat it to 475-500 degrees.
The hotter the better.

Start with a ball of dough from a local pizzeria. Most will
sell you one, and it will be easy to work with. Let it come up to room
temperature before starting, and experiment with how much dough to use for your
pizza stone. I use one half of the local pizzeria’s ball of dough, so one ball equals two pies.

Flour a clean surface lightly and stretch the dough out by
pushing it with your fingertips or using a rolling pin. Once it is a little
wider and flatter, pick it up and stretch it with your hands. Keep your fingers
curled under, so you don’t poke a hole in it, and throw it in the air if you’re
feeling adventurous (or, if like me, you want to relive your foodservice-work
college days).

Spoon a bit of sauce, less than you think it might need,
onto the dough and leave about a half-inch border around the edge for the
crust.

Sprinkle grated mozzarella on top of the sauce, and slide it
into the hot oven. Let it cook for about ten minutes, or until the cheese is
bubbly and brown, and the bottom of the pie is crisp.

Cut, serve, and enjoy. Then repeat.