Festive fusion: a red and green cross-cultural pizza for Christmas.

I wasn't sure what to get you, so I made you a pizza.
 
This is a special, lazy dude’s holiday pizza.
 
What could be more Christmasy than a red and green pizza inspired by a city sometimes considered the heart of Yankee yuletide ceremony, Boston, Mass?
 
What you don’t see coming here is the Greek angle with almost zero representation of my own Anglo-Saxon holiday heritage. 
 
When I lived in Boston, I used to work next-door to Boston House Of Pizza. (Don’t bother Googling it. The one I knew is gone. And there are something like 237,000 Boston Houses Of Pizza, each independent of the others.)

The crust is crispy, the crumb is airy and tender, and the crunch on the cornicione is otherworldly. This pizza is a guilty pleasure.
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​In that house of pizza (which looked like neither a house nor a pizza but a generic Commonwealth Avenue storefront) were two Turkish brothers making New England-style Greek pizza. They were great guys, gregarious and always good for a laugh. 
 
If you’re unfamiliar with New England Greek-style style pizza, it’s a thin-crust pan pizza, well sauced, lots of oregano, and plenty of cheese--low-moisture mozzarella and white cheddar.
 
Today’s holiday pizza is a mere 8 inches in diameter. (I like that size for experiments. And the 8-inch Lloyd's Pan is kinda cute.)

In the cheese bill, I’ve ditched the white cheddar for pecorino Romano. I enjoy either on this pizza, but today seemed like a hard-aged cheese day.
 
I’ve also added Serrano chilis (I’m pretty sure that’s a very non-Greek topping), red bell pepper, and pepperoni (invented by Italian immigrants in New York circa 1919).
 
I quartered the pepperoni slices so you don’t have to endure screaming-hot flaps of oily cased meat product flopping onto your chin. Merry Christmas.

Above, the raw pizza in its 8-inch Loyd's pan. 

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This pizza is nothing like what would be deemed authentic in Naples. 
 
I call this a lazy dude’s pizza because it’s made with a no-knead dough, which requires very little effort beyond assembling the ingredients. It’s also baked in a pan, which requires zero practice (unlike its more direct Naples descendants, which require stretching dough on a board and launching from a peel and you freaking out so it becomes the dreaded accidental calzone).

Above, the raw pizza baking in a 500-degree oven atop a baking steel, which helps make the bottom of the pie crispy.


​This pizza has a crispy crust that gets crunchy from the oil in the pan. The tender airy crumb is delightful. The extra cheese and sauce are a guilty pleasure, and the toppings are optional. I like 'em. You don't have to. It was more about holiday decorating. 
 
In case you’re interested in trying it, I’ll be codifying this Lazy Dude recipe soon. Probably after New Year’s. If you’re interested, reach out to me here in this form with the comment, “Christmas pie, please.” And feel free to say anything else your little heart desires.

​I’ve been wondering about this New England Greek Pizza Project and its authenticity. I’ve decided that it’s authentic to nothing more than how I remember it.

​Inspired by memory. Call it authentic-ish.
 
I can’t tell you that it’s authentic to the Turkish brothers’ recipe. I know that a lot of New England Greek pizza is made with milk instead of water. I don’t know if theirs was. Mine is not.

But what I’ve evolved here is easy. It’s also tasty, it's fun, it requires almost no special equipment (you'll need at least a pan, and if you use a stone or steel, that's a bonus), and as my wife said after taking a bite, “This is what Ellio’s wishes it could be.”
 
And it’s colored red and green for the holiday. How’s that for a smattering of Yankee authenticity? 

​Merry Christmas! ​

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