Little Pizza on the Prairies

Transport your tastebuds on the flying carpet of a cracker-thin pizza crust

It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when:

“Which night is pizza night this week?” one of us will inevitably ask the other.

My husband and I are a pizza fanatics team: I make the crust, he prepares the toppings. We like our pizza in a very specific way. Through years of experimentation, we’ve been able to craft a pizza pie just the way we want it.

I’ve always enjoyed pizza but I certainly don’t like all pizza. It’s only through accumulating experience that I’ve discovered my taste preferences. Like that special trip to New York City.

The Big Apple

A few years ago, my husband and I won a trip to New York City! The grand prize was a trip to NYC complete with airfare, hotel, tickets to “Phantom of the Opera”, and to “Sleep No More”, an interactive play.

That weekend was beyond anything I had experienced! We had visited this bustling, fabulous city on two other occasions, but we had never before explored Hell’s Kitchen and our hotel was smack dab in the middle of it, just a few minute’s walk from Times Square. I loved growing up in a rural farming community on the prairies but I dreamed of experiences such as this. Wary to imagine they would ever come about yet here we were and I had to work hard not to belie the obvious “I AM A TOURIST”, wide-eyed, mouth-gaping expression. Gazing at larger than life billboards and the mesmerizing skyline left me speechless.

We checked in to our hotel around 10 PM that first night and were famished. Because this is New York City, restaurants remain open late, and as we meandered a couple of blocks from our hotel we found this lovely little pizza and wine bar. A server — who, and I kid you not, was a dead ringer for a Dick Tracy character crossed with the Mad magazine guy! — seated us at a cute little cafe table. We ordered a Sicilian style pizza to share accompanied by the highly recommended house sangria.

Was that Al Pacino seated at the window? OK, it wasn’t. We felt like we were in the middle of a mafia-themed movie and there was a lot of drama in our feelings towards this pizza. The crust, the sauce, the toppings… everything was made from scratch and oh so scrumptious! Sicilian style crust is a thin leavened floppy crust with puffy crispy edges and the flavor was divine. How could we make a crust that tasted this yummy but condense it into a crispier style?

St. Louis Style

Then, with a bit of research, my husband found the St. Louis Style crust. While we didn’t win a trip to Missouri, we metaphorically flew our tastebuds there. The crust is thin, like a Sicilian crust, but firmer and cracker-thin so you can really focus your flavor on the toppings. The original St. Louis style is a minimalist pizza, typically with cheddar, smoked provolone, and Swiss cheese. However, we have experimented with a myriad of combinations and find that anything you want to adorn this crust with is juuuuuuust fine!

Once you try this pizza you will wonder why your friends overspend on order-in pizza. Perhaps they think restaurant pizza is faster and easier? Seriously, I don’t know HOW it is possible to make pizza any easier than this. I am a self-professed LOUSY cook. Yet it takes me longer to make an Egyptian Salad to go with the pizza than it does to make this crust!

We make this pizza so often I should have it memorized. But I confess because I am 51 and memory can be an elusive dance so I have the recipe taped to the inside of my cupboard for quick measurement reference. Besides, for some reason it makes me feel good reading the recipe on paper. (What a weirdo!)

Another advantage of this marvel of a crust is the minimal ingredients. This is a yeast-less, five-ingredient dynamo. If you don’t already have the ingredients in your cupboard then I would hazard a guess that you’ve never baked because truly these are your bare essentials. Even if you don’t even own a rolling pin, give a wine bottle a good old fashioned COVID wash down and lay that crust flat!

But There Is A Secret

There are two factors, however, that make a massive difference to the success of this crust, and neither of them is edible. I’m talking about your oven and your baking surface. One of the secrets to fabulous pizza is a HOT oven and a HOT baking stone.

Before you turn on your oven, place your pizza stone on the bottom rack. Turn your oven up as hot as it can go — 550 deg.C is awesome, but some ovens only go to 500. Once the oven reaches temperature, leave the stone in there for a half an hour to a full hour to thoroughly heat through. Your pizza is only going to rest on top of that stone for about 10 minutes so you want that baby piping hot! OK, let’s get this dough rolling!

St. Louis Style Pizza Crust

1 1/4 cups Unbleached Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

Just before you’re ready to roll out the dough add the wet ingredients:

2 tsp. Olive Oil or Corn Oil (corn oil makes it even crispier!)

1 tsp. Corn Syrup (or honey, if you’re in a pinch!)

1/2 cup Water

MIX everything together until all ingredients are combined, then knead about five times on a lightly floured surface. Get out your rolling pin (or clean wine bottle!) and roll it out nice and thin at about a 12" diameter. Don’t worry if you can’t get your crust perfectly round — the jagged edges are what make it look artisanal! (At least that’s what I tell myself.)

NOW — this part takes a little bit of finesse but you’ll get it. Rip off a piece of parchment paper approximately 12" x 12" and set it down next to your rolled out dough. Gently fold your circle of dough in half and transfer it onto the parchment paper, then unfold it onto the paper. Once it’s on the paper, roll it out again as the transfer will have made it shrink down a little.

Top This

Now you can get as creative as you like!Do whatever makes you happy. While we often go with traditional pepperoni/ham/bacon/mushrooms, we’ve also developed a line of what we jokingly refer to as our own “Gourmet Style” pizzas.

Sometimes we’re in the mood for “The Reuben”: corned beef and sauerkraut with mustard and Russian salad dressing as our pizza sauce substitution.

Then there’s “The California Dreamin’”: on a light smear of ranch dressing we rest grilled, sliced chicken breast (seasoned with smoked paprika seasoning salt, pepper, and garlic), cooked bacon, and top it with Mozza and cheddar cheese. After baking and just prior to the first bite we place avocado slices. A sprinkle of hot sauce is a nice addition too!

On rare occasions, we harken back to my roots growing up Mennonite. Because it’s too caloric, we only pull this baby out maybe once a year: “The Mennonite”. It consists of pre-cooked sliced farmer sausage, dry cottage cheese vareniki (perogies) are preferable but a sprinkle of dry cottage works too. Move over pizza sauce because this pizza calls for schmaundtfat (obah yo!). Cheddar instead of Mozza is our cheesy choice on this one.

The point is, create whatever you are craving. There are no rules.

But wait — there’s more…

Calzones to the Rescue!

Your pizza is topped and you trim the excess parchment paper around the pizza. Take your pizza peel and gently slide it under the parchment paper. If you discover you’ve rolled your dough out too big, do not despair!

We have a solution for this and we call them “calzone corners” because we fold over the parts of the pizza that don’t fit on the peel.

I love this part! Now that you’ve got your unbaked pizza properly fitting on the peel, open the oven door and sliiiiiide it onto your pizza stone (parchment paper and all). Turn your timer on to 10 minutes but check on it as it bakes. Once your crust edges are brown and crispy-looking and the cheese is starting to brown too, you’ve got yourself one ready dinner.

Have a large cutting board ready on your counter. Grab your pizza peel, gently slide it between the pizza stone and the parchment paper to pick up your pizza. Move it over to the cutting board and give it a gentle shove to slide the pizza off the peel and parchment paper onto the cutting surface. Ideally, you want to let it rest here for five minutes or so. (Or, if you’re like us, we usually can’t wait that long and just start cutting it up immediately!)

I am sorry, my friends, that we can’t travel to New York City or St. Louis these days to immerse ourselves in their pizza culture. However, even while living in self-isolation on the Canadian Prairies my tastebuds are transported. I lift a slice of pizza and cheer my global citizens in honor of our will to carry on, enjoy life, and savor the best pizza you’ll ever make!

So go ahead, dig in, and don’t be surprised if this becomes your weekly favorite too.