The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 88

THIS WEEKEND'S FOOD Toss pizza like a pro L. A. superchef Wolfgang Puck tells a California reader how to make pizza with pizazz at home You can make the best pizza sauce and tastiest toppings in the world, but if your crust is a bust, forget it. That's reader Arthur Curlcy's culinary conundrum. He's "perfected just about everything but the crust," which he realizes is like a quarterback mastering everything but the hike.

It's boring, but basic. "I want to learn to make pizza with a mess on the floor of the oven," says Puck. Always bake in a hot, hot oven those at Spago reach 700-800 degrees. If you cook pizza at 350 degrees, expect a cardboard crust. For a perfect, crispy crust, Puck recommends that readers invest in a terra-cotta pizza stone (sold in kitchenware departments or through such catalogs as Williams-Sonoma).

Metal baking sheets can scorch the crust. 3 "Put the pizza stone in the oven, and heat it up to 500 degrees, and i then cook the pizza reallv fast. That way the dough gets crusty on the i outside and a little chewy inside, and doesn't dry out." Of course there's more to great just like you get at the pizzerias." To the rescue: Wolfgang Puck of Spago, the L.A. eatery where on any given night you might see Lauren Bacall, Gregory Peck or Disney boss Michael Eisner. (His other restaurants are Chinois on Main and Pos-trio in San Francisco; his Eureka brewery opens this month in LA.) Don't worry, be patient, Puck advises Curley.

"People often get worried about making dough. If worse comes to worst and it's bad, throw it away and make new dough. It's cheap, not like a pound of lobster. It's not so bad if you screw it up." Which Puck admits to doing more than once. "I didn't make it the PUCK: We can thank him for the popularity of "gourmet" pizzas.

Eizza than dough, as Puck knows etter than anyone. Fresh, tasty toppings are critical. "Pizza has always been popular as a low-scale junk food because many people don't put really good things on their pizza. What we did was put good things on them from shrimp to our own duck sausage to prosciutto. Use good olive oil Arthur Curley of Fontana, married and the father of two young sons, makes pizza every other week.

"When I get hold of a recipe, I'm constantly trying to improve it." (to prevent other ingredients from leaking through the pizza shell) and fresh herbs." The idea of chic pizza came to Puck while he was working at a three-star restaurant in the South of France. "When I had my day off, we'd go to this place where they had pizzas and an open chimney. So when I came here with a friend of mine, we said we would open up one luxurious restaurant and next to it make really good pizza." As it turned out, he combined the two, with amazing success. He even has a frozen line selling well in groceries across the USA. Right now, Puck is getting ready to introduce whole-wheat dough.

He'll do so through Trader Joe's, an L.A. chain of wine stores. That way, he can see how it sells before investing too much. After all, it's tough to make dough just so. way I wanted the first time, and I had cooked for many years before I made pizza.

So the word is: Practice makes perfect. You read a recipe, but you have to find out yourself. "Try it out first. Stretch it out, don't put everything on it, and cook a little. Maybe you need a little salt, a little pepper, some herbs." Puck favors a thin crust, "though I don't like it when it has no edge.

It's interesting when you are eating cheese or vegetable toppings and all of a sudden you eat a piece of bread." Other keys to great pizza: Add the yeast last, so it's not harmed by other ingredients, like salt. Always sprinkle your work surface with flour or cornmeal so the dough doesn't stick (see Puck's detailed instructions at right). Set pizza shells on a well-floured board, too, so you can slide them easily into the oven. "If you don't, you'll wind up Perfect Pizza Dough 1 package fresh or dry yeast 'A cup warm water 1 tsp. salt 1Tb.

honey 2 Tbs. olive oil 'A cup cool water 3 cups all-purpose Jlour Dissolve yeast In cup warm water, and let proof 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the salt, honey, olive oil and cool water In a small bowl or measuring cup. Mix well. Place flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.

Pour hon-' ey-water mixture and proofed yeast into well. Slowly incorporate flour into wet ingredients, working outward from the center. When dough it formed, transfer to a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth. Place in a buttered bowl; let rest, covered, for 30 minutes. Divide dough into four equal parts.

Roil Into smooth, tight balls. Place on a flat dish, cover with a damp towel Refrigerate at least 2 hours. One hour before baking, remove dough from refrigerator. Lightly flour work surface. Flatten each ball of dough Into a circle about 6 inches in diameter, making the outer edge thicker than the center.

Turn dough over and repeat. Lift the dough and gently stretch the edges, working clockwise to form a 7- to 8-inch circle. Before you are ready to bake the pizzas, preheat a pizza stone In a 500-degree oven for 30 minutes. Top individual pizzas with the desired ingredients. Bake pizzas on the pizza stone for 10-12 minutes.

Serve immediately. Serves 4. FOR INTIMIDATED COOKS: Still think you're all thumbs when it comes to pizza dough? Well, relax. Now even non-cooks can make pizza at home. Pizza dough and plain pizza shells are available In many supermarkets and from local pizzerias.

Let dough or shells come to room temperature. Brush shell with vegetable or olive oil (to avoid sogglness), then add toppings. Bake in a preheated, oven 450 to 500 degrees 8 to 12 minutes. By Pat Hilton This weekend, throw a pizza-making party At your next party, let everyone get in on the pizza-making act. The logistics are simple.

You prepare the dough (up to a day ahead) and form pizza shells. Set them on a floured board and brush the tops with olive oil. Set out bowls of toppings. Have at least two or three cheeses (fresh mozzarella, fontina, Parmesan, feta), sliced and seeded tomatoes, olives, marinated artichoke hearts, thinly sliced onions, red or green pepper rings, fresh herbs (basil, marjoram, coriander, thyme). Some ingredients need to be precooked: mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini.

For hearty appetites, add raw, peeled shrimp, slices of cooked sausages (chorizo, lamb, duck, Italian), and slivers of good ham or prosciutto. Serve the pizzas with a salad of mixed greens tossed with oil and vinegar. USA WEEKENDOCTOBER 13-15, 1989.