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AUGUST // SEPTEMBER 2018 • MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
Homemade Cracker Crust Pizza
Spicy Italian sausage, bing Cherry, and arugula pizza on a cracker crust.
PHOTO BY STEVE HEIKKILA.
BY STEVE HEIKKILA
Pizza is often a disappointedly bready affair where the delicious
promise of sauce and toppings gets drowned in a doughy sea of
blandness. But have you ever had a thin, crispy, cracker crust pizza
before? Now that’s a thing of beauty.
I’m talking about crust so thin that it’s hardly noticeable apart
from the welcomed bit of crunchy texture it provides. The zesty sauce,
cheese, and toppings are the star of the show. It’s also got the added
virtue of not being such a carbohydrate bomb, which I also appreciate.
The rub with home-baked cracker crust pizza is that you need an
absurdly hot oven to get that crust crispy. This is the basic shortcoming
of making any pizza at home, but especially a cracker crust pizza. Pizza
ovens run absurdly hot, as in 700° F or higher. Most home ovens only
go to 450°.
Or so I thought. I discovered my own home oven—which is by no
means a professional kitchen oven but basic Kenmore home oven—
goes to 550°. After a good bit of experimentation, I’ve figured out how
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HOME & LIFESTYLE PAGE 9
to make incredibly good cracker crust pizza at home. It’s simple really.
You just need to keep a few things in mind.
To ensure the center cooks before the edges burn, make individu-
al-sized pizzas (about 9 inches in diameter) rather than one the size
of a manhole cover.
Because you want to roll your cracker crust out to be ultra thin,
it helps to use whole wheat flour because, it has less springy gluten
in it than refined flours. Providing some fiber makes it healthier for
you as well.
A pizza stone is essential—it’s cheap and easy to find. You want
to put the stone onto the center rack of a cold oven and then heat it
to an incendiary 550°F.
Let the oven sit at temperature for a full 30 minutes before you
cook your pizzas, to make sure the stone is completely heated through.
The melting point of most silpats is actually lower than 550°F, so
don’t cook your pizza on a silpat. Instead, use plain parchment paper.
Go sparingly on the sauce, cheese, and other toppings. Thick
application makes the pizza too thick, and the crust won’t crisp up.
That means barely a tablespoon of sauce for a 9-inch pizza, a sparse
sprinkling of grated cheese that doesn’t completely cover the sauce,
and plenty of space around each solid topping.
This is such a thin and delicate affair that the idea of moving the
pizza from countertop to pizza stone is unthinkable.
Just roll out a golf-ball-sized piece of dough directly on the parch-
ment, top it, and put it directly onto the pizza stone.
Because your oven is hotter than Hades, by the time your pizza is
cooked, the corners of the parchment paper will be scorched brown.
Don’t freak out. This is okay.
Make sure to cool the pizza on a raised rack. If you don’t then
steam from the hot pizza will “sweat” the crust and make it soggy,
ruining all of that hard work.
As for toppings, you know what you like, but I’ve provided two of
my favorite options just in case.
I adore this pizza. I hope you like it as well.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
COMMODITY SUPPLEMENTAL
FOOD PROGRAM
(also known as Senior Commodity Program or Senior Nutrition)
You may now nd it at Family Service
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1824 1st Avenue N in Billings
Those currently participating in the program are welcome
Monday through Friday 9:00am–4:00pm
If you would like to register for the program or have
any questions concerning the program please
call Stacy Brown at (406) 384-0054.
1824 1st Avenue N in Billings