Picture by: Lisa Adams

The New York Times
SEPTEMBER 15, 2000
By Amy Sherber

Pizza With a "Push Button" Crust
Get Recipe

As much as I like pizza, I have never been able to serve it at my two bakeries. We just don't have enough space, time or people to get the pizza out for lunch, and pizza doesn't keep.

But I bake pizza for our monthly staff birthday parties and often make it at home, where I get professional results in an ordinary oven.

This recipe is straightforward, just like Th. others I'll be sharing over the next eight weeks, some from the bakeries, others from my home files. They use no difficult techniques, but here are secrets.

With this pizza, the tricks are in stretching the dough and intensifying the flavor of the tomatoes.

Otherwise, the recipe does not call for anything esoteric. You can get everything needed, from the equipment to the ingredients, in a supermarket.

This pizza, topped with garlic, basil, ricotta, and the last of the season's corn and tomatoes, is made in a jellyroll pan and can be turned out by a first-timer. And it delivers what I think every good pizza must: a thin, crisp-bottomed crust that's tender to the tooth but strong enough to support it's topping; a topping full of flavor, but not too heavy or too thick, too juicy or too dry, and a mix of ingredients that keep their tastes and textures under fire.

The crust, made from what I call a bush-button dough, takes 60 seconds to make in a food processor, and 60 minutes to rise.

It's just as easy to shape. There's no tossing in the air or rolling it out. It's just pressed into the pan.

To get a perfect crust, dip your fingertips in olive oil, and then press, prod, push and poke the dough along the bottom of the pan.

If the dough gets springy, as yeast doughs will, you just let it alone for a few minutes, then press on. Patience is the key here -- the thinner the crust, the crispier.

While the crust is rising, I roast tomatoes for the topping to concentrate their flavor, a small step that makes a bit difference. All kinds of tomatoes, from cherry to plum to beefsteak or heirloom, work here.

Just roast them until they are slightly softened, a little wrinkly, a bit less juicy and very flavorful.

As for the corn, after you slice the kernels off the cob, run the back of the knife against the cob to press out the sweet milk. You won't get much, just enough to coat the kernels, but it will bring additional sweetness to the topping and keep the corn from drying out in the oven.

With the key components prepared, construction goes quickly.

Strew the crust with garlic and basil, season it with salt and pepper, lay down a layer of tomatoes and corn, then spoon on some ricotta. A drizzle of good olive oil and it's oven ready.

When tomatoes and corn are gone for the year, I keep the crust but change the topping to black olives and roasted red peppers or sautéed scallions and diced potatoes, or just broccoli, Parmesan and ricotta.

LATE-SUMMER PIZZA
Time: 1 hour plus 1 hour rising time