Pizza: Sullivan Street Style

To most American's Jim Lahey's idea of pizza would seem as foreign as our beloved spaghetti and meatballs or chicken parmesan subs would seem to most Italians. But, I remember, back in my Florentine school days, waiting for the bus and grabbing a thick square of "pizza" topped simply with tomato sauce and anchovies or thin slices of fried eggplant from the corner "bar". Jim Lahey's recipe is a tasty reminder of a sweet time.

I stretched half a recipe of Lahey's simple, no-knead pizza dough thin across a olive oil coated rimmed baking sheet. The topping, as written in My Bread (Lahey's cookbook I have pledged to bake my way through) is thinly sliced cremini mushrooms (1 1/4 lb), chopped thyme, and diced onion (1 1/2 cup) tossed together. I spread the mushroom mixture thickly on top of the waiting crust, drizzled with ample olive oil and coarse salt, and baked in a hot oven (500º) for about 25 minutes.

Earthy, nutty, delicious. I can hardly wait to try this with a mix of mushrooms -- and maybe some cheese (sorry Jim!).