We love pizza. We eat it after a long day of training. We eat it after races. We eat it piled high with arugula during training season. And, in the off season, we add bacon and gorgonzola.
Maybe it all started with post-meet swim team dinners at Shakey's Pizzeria in the Gaithersburg Square shopping center. Then, in college our 16-passenger vans would unload at pizza joints for carbs and calories while on the road traveling to track meets.
Now that we’re veteran (12 years!) New Yorkers we have a favorite joint for a classic New York-style slice (Benny Tudnino's in Hoboken), a favorite local restaurant that makes wood-fired pizza (Giorgione), and a list of pizzarias that deliver piping hot pies within 10 minutes of our phone calls, even in rain, snow, and ice storms.
Living amidst such pizza riches, we had absolutely no reason to even remotely consider making pizza ourselves. Until now. Elana, of johnandelana.com, just published a book all about DIY pizza. In her sharply designed, Top Your Pizza, zucchini flowers and Gruyère are the new pepperoni and mozzarella. It sounds highbrow and complicated, I know. But Elana’s text is so charming and persuasive, that we practically sprinted to the store for pizza cooking provisions. Example: Her rating system defines an easy recipe as, “your household pet could do it.”
If Elana’s photos of crisp-edged pies don’t convince you it’s worth shopping and kneading and baking for a slice, her altruistic heart should: eighty percent (eighty!) of the proceeds go to the charity Just Food , an organization that connects local farms with city residents, providing fresh, seasonal, and sustainably grown food.
Follow this link to take a closer look at the book.