Pizza, Meet Internet

Food blogs seem to run a dime-a-dozen. I found that each time I was sure I'd thought of a good name someone had already used up that one, too. What couldn't be overcome by sheer originality was made up for with silliness. Since I am apparently not endowed with either quality, I thank Meg for sparing me some of her reserves.

Some crazy girl wearing lederhosen once misheard me and thought my name was Ham — this was around the White Mountains in New Hampshire, outside of a log cabin, in the middle of the woods. It is probably an obvious nickname for me, though I'm surprised the circumstances didn't yield something crazier. This explains "Ham" despite introducing further questions.

I am a graduate student in physics at a lesser known UC in Southern California, where I have refused to invest in an automobile. This has created a very skewed sense of "convenience" for me, since any trip to the store involves biking up at least one obnoxious hill. Growing vegetables seems easier, sometimes, though I'm almost certainly deluding myself. At any rate, here is something good to do with tomatoes pretty enough to save from being crushed into some sort of sauce. Drawing some of their moisture out really helps in avoiding a potential sog factory.

Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes and Pesto

For the Crust: Makes Two

• 3 Cups Flour in your favorite proportions
• 2 1/4 Tsp. yeast proofed in 1/2 cup warm water
• 3/4 Cups Warm Milk
• 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 2 Glugs Olive Oil

For the Toppings

• 2 Very large tomatoes
• 2 Cups of assorted toppings
• Pesto
• More Olive Oil
• Interesting cheese, finely grated
• Seasoning

1. Proof yeast until showing signs of life. Combine everything in a food processor with plastic blade and work until a ball forms. Let the dough regroup for a few minutes and process again briefly. Work by hand until dough satisfies the "windowpane test." Let rise covered until impatience sets in: 1 1/2 hours or so for me.
2. Slice tomatoes thinly and press with paper towels to draw out as much moisture as possible. Other, less sinful, methods can be devised. Preheat oven to 500F at least 20 minutes before baking.
3. Mince toppings finely — I went for shallots, garlic, a pepper, and olives.
4. Tear parchment to fit pizza stone or backside of a sheet pan.
5. Divide dough into two pieces, form into balls, and let rest for several minutes. Don't ignore this step.
6. Mold pizza to inscribe whatever shape you're cooking on and place on parchment. I suggest using a rolling pin to get things off to a good start, and then stretching by hand from the edges. Avoid making the center too thin. Let rest if being stubborn.
7. Brush outer rim with olive oil and lightly apply pesto around the rest of the pizza. Lay down one tomato's worth of slices, then spread toppings. Finally apply the cheese. I find mozzarella quite boring by itself — augment with something sharp like aged Gouda or Parmesan. Big clumps of cheese impede proper cooking.
8. Deposit in oven and bake until crust and bottom are golden, 10 minutes max if your oven has stayed hot

NB: For the flour I use 1/3 each of all-purpose, wheat, and bread flours. I do not have a good reason for this methodology aside from superstitiously believing that bread flour makes the dough more resilient against tears. Add a pinch of sugar to the yeast in order to entice them.

Aside from the changed flour mixture, this dough recipe is courtesy of Julia Child's "The Way to Cook." Despite its pretentious title, I had this book way before it was cool. Draining the fresh tomato slices is a matter of necessity rather than choice, I hope your pizza is sog-free.