Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Enjoy pizza with global touch
Eclectic mix tops homemade crust Wolfgang’s pizza dough Black Forest ham and goat cheese pizza
Nowadays, pizza is more than just an Italian specialty. You’ll find people enjoying it wherever you travel around the world, from America to England to Japan to Qatar and beyond.
I’m happy to have played some part in spreading that popularity, since I began giving pizzas a new contemporary California spin at the first location of Spago I opened in Hollywood back in early 1982. Before then, not many people could have imagined pizzas topped with such gourmet and internationally influenced ingredients as duck sausage, smoked salmon with caviar, chicken with Mexican jalapeno peppers, or even something as far removed from most pizza lovers’ thinking as Peking duck. But we decided from the beginning to be inventive and have as much fun making pizza as people have eating it. The results definitely caught on.
To me, pizza is a food to enjoy year-round, whatever the occasion. And the wide range of topping ingredients available now makes it possible to adapt pizzas to any time of year and any occasion. The following recipe is a fine example of that approach. It traces back to the early days of Spago, combining ingredients from Italy, Asia, France and Germany to make a hearty yet refined-tasting dish I find perfect for wintertime.
Black Forest ham is a highquality deli meat produced in the mountainous Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. It’s generally eaten like the similarly appearing Italian prosciutto, cut into thin, almost translucent slices. Those are the sort of slices you should start with for the pizza, either cut for you to order at a deli counter or purchased pre-sliced in a vacuum-sealed package at most well-stocked supermarkets.
To complement this featured ingredient, my pizza also includes silky, earthy slices of pan-grilled or sauteed slender Japanese or Asian-style eggplants, which have a milder flavor and fewer seeds than the larger globe varieties. Along with the mixture of Italian fontina and mozzarella cheeses, I also add some fresh, creamy goat cheese.
This eclectic combination of toppings adds up to a worldly pizza that feels sophisticated and down-to-earth, refined and heartily comforting — a perfect casual main dish for you to warm up with when the weather outside feels cold and blustery. Proof: In a small bowl, dissolve 1 package active dry or fresh yeast and 1 teaspoon honey in cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees).
In a food processor, combine 3 cups flour and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, the yeast mixture and cup warm water; process until the mixture forms a ball.
Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead by hand 2 or 3 minutes longer. The dough should be smooth and firm. Cover with a clean, damp towel and let rise in a cool spot for about 2 hours. (When ready, the dough will stretch as it is lightly pulled.)
Divide the dough into 4 equal balls. Work each by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom. Repeat four or five times. Then on a smooth, unfloured surface, roll each under the palm of your hand until the top is smooth and firm, about 1 minute. Cover with a damp towel, and let rest 1 hour. At this point, the balls can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to two days. 4 dough balls Prep: 1 hour, plus time to make dough 10 to 12 minutes per pizza 4 individual pizzas
Cut the eggplants lengthwise into slices. Brush with oil and grill until tender, or saute in olive oil; or use pound large mushrooms, cut into slices and sauteed in olive oil until golden. 932 calories, 47 g fat, 21 g saturated fat, 124 mg cholesterol, 89 g carbohydrates, 10 g sugar, 40 g protein, 1,112 mg sodium, 9 g fiber