Pizza Today - June 2016 - 40

* Strawberries. Biting into a

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locally picked strawberry can renew
anyone's faith in how beautiful life is!
My favorite activity is freaking folks out
by making a pizza with stinky Gruyere
or white cheddar. After the oven, top
with julienne of country ham, speck or
prosciutto below sliced strawberries and
toasted almonds! Also toss sliced strawberries with a balsamic glaze and coarse
black pepper for a beautiful topping.
* Asparagus. Oh, let me count
the ways! My ultimate favorite treatment for asparagus is either making
a pinwheel on a pizza for dramatic
effect or mixing ricotta, whole grain
Dijon mustard, crushed pistachio and
Parmigiano-Reggiano into a wonderful
pudding that is stuffed into a fougasse
(a calzone variant with more slits).
* Blackberries. I used these to
win the trophy at the 2013 European
Union Championships in Belgium.
Depending on the season, the choice
is simple for me as I sell a lot of what
I call "Berry Me in Bacon" Turkishstyle pizzas called pide (Pee-DAY). The
simplicity belies a perfect match: aged
mozzarella and provolone mix, guanciale (or smoked pork jowl), blackberry
and maple syrup. Boom!
* Sweet red peppers. Farmers are
growing all sorts of peppers; the
pimento, Italian sweet and Toro are
some of my favorites. I just run them
through my ovens at 500 F to roast
them almost black, and then I stick
them in a lexan to steam the skins off.
After peeling, deseeding and slicing
them, the peppers are perfect with goat
cheese, fontina, Parmesan, basil, garlic,
white beans and zucchini. If you add
a little balsamic, just toss this sweetness on any pie after the oven for a real
shocker.
* Romaine lettuce. The beginning of summer brings large boulders
of romaine to my door. After stripping
this hardy lettuce of its outer leaves, the
heart is all mine! The crunch of the
inner core leaves is perfect for braising in butter or a combination of oil,
anchovy, fresh garlic and lemon juice.
* Cherry bomb peppers. These
aren't for blowing toilets up at school

anymore. Cherries are medium-hot
peppers perfect for cutting the top off
of and stuffing with polenta and baking
for a killer look on pizza and a delicate
balance of savory-spice flavor. They also
make great pickles.
* Garlic. Getting whole garlic cloves
seems like a pointless task in any pizzeria, but because I get "dumped on"
with massive garlic hauls from local
farmers, I've devised a simple plan: I
cut the top off the garlic clove ensuring
to just cut into each clove. Then I place
them face-up in a large pan and drizzle
extra virgin olive oil on each one and
pass through my conveyor or deck oven
at 475 F for an initial bake of seven
minutes, then a rest of 15 minutes, then
back in for another 10 minutes until
the cloves are tender. When cooled, just
squeeze the whole bulb and the cloves
just pop out. Grind up with potato for
a fabulous pudding then add cream for
an unforgettable sauce for pizza.
* Grapes. Nothing beats a
local, seedless grape. I love to make a
flatbread with grapes that is so popular
in Tuscany. I just make a high-hydrated
dough and press the individual grapes
by the handful into the dough, let
proof, press the grapes in again and
bake at 550 or 600 F. The grapes pop
and leave a beautiful taste and color
with the focaccia. Sometimes I will put
peanuts in the dough for a PB and J
flavor profile.
* Peaches and apricots. Late May
and June bring on these sweeties. I like
talking up my orchard guy to give me
deep discounts on the hard, secondhand ones he has hidden and then let
them sit for a week or two until they
ripen. Peaches get a little mushy in a
pizza oven so I usually toss them on
after the fact. One of my favorites is a
pizza with aged mozzarella and lardo
then topped with ricotta, peaches and
jalapeño! n
JOHN GUTEKANST owns Avalanche
Pizza in Athens, Ohio and has a pizza
blog called Pizza Goon. He is an awardwinning pizzaiolo, baker, teacher, speaker
and author.
http://www.robotcoupeusa.com http://www.robotcoupeusa.com http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - June 2016

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