TM
strengthing families from within
POWERED BY FOUR BARREL FITNESS
By Adam &
Kristin Kleinert
FAMILY PIZZA
NIGHTS
ven the healthiest families
find themselves eating
pizza more frequently
than they are comfortable
admitting. Our own family
is no exception. We can
offer explanations ranging from the ease of
obtaining a quick dinner to the reasonable cost
of feeding a family, but if we’re all being honest
with ourselves, we must admit the truth: Pizza is
simply delicious.
In addition to being tasty, pizza is most often
a bonding experience. It is, by nature, a shared
dish – a coming together and a partaking. In this
way it can be a vessel for time spent together as a
family, thus making pizza (in our humble opinion)
a worthy indulgence.
Pizza doesn’t have to be all-together unhealthy.
Crusts can be adapted and toppings substituted
to suit preferences and even dietary needs. Below,
you’ll find examples of the way we do pizza in
our household. We’re hoping it’ll inspire you to
create your own concoctions, even traditions, to
share with your family!
Everyone in our crew loves pizza night, but
the finished product varies from plate to plate.
Amongst us we have one lactose intolerance, one
tomato allergy, two who claim to dislike veggies
on pizza, one who claims to ONLY like veggies on
pizza and several meat lovers.
This may sound complicated but in reality is just
the opposite. You see, another virtuous beauty of
pizza is its versatility.
We always start with a homemade crust (see
recipe). If you aren’t a scratch-bread enthusiast,
don’t let this deter you. There are tons of options
available at your grocery: ready-made crusts, roll
’n‘ bake crusts, flatbreads and pre-baked naans,
for instance. We just like making our own. It’s a
bit healthier that way, and pizza crust is an easy
bread to throw together.
E
24 EXTOL : FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019
While the crust rises, we chop whatever veggies
we plan to use – usually onions and peppers –and
sauté them. This is just a matter of preference,
but we’ve learned our “I don’t want vegetables”
duo never complain if said veggies are diced,
sautéed and spread among other toppings. There’s
usually enough time here to fry up some sausage
or Canadian bacon if we want as well.
When the crust is ready, we roll out two or
three pies, depending on our current preference
for thickness (this is sometimes a debate) and
place them on greased and dusted pizza stones.
Dusting may sound fancy, but it’s simply a little
cornmeal and salt sprinkled onto the baking
stone and it makes our homemade dough taste
more authentic.
Now comes the time when we satisfy the masses.
First, we add sauce. Traditional marinara on most
with pesto on the rest; our daughter Sydney can
no longer eat tomatoes without adverse reactions.
Next up, the cheese, which is a bit of an art form
in the Kleinert house: fresh buffalo mozzarella for
traditionalists Adam and Syd, heaps of shredded
mozzarella for cheese-loving Eli and Brahm, and
sparsely-sprinkled parmesan for lactose-intolerant
Kristin and cheese-selectivist Molly.
We top it with our onions and peppers, sausage,
Canadian bacon and pepperoni. Molly, Eli and
Adam’s portion gets black olives, and sometimes
Adam will throw on a few banana peppers. If fresh
basil is in season, you can bet it’s getting added,
and if fresh spinach happens to be at hand, we
usually throw some on there too.
We bake our pizzas on lower oven racks because
we like our crust a little crisp on the bottom. We
slice it and serve it drizzled in our favorite basil
olive oil (available from The Olivet in New Albany),
sprinkled with shaved parmesan and – if we’re
feeling “extra” – with Dean Martin music playing
in the background. We sit down together, we enjoy
and indulge, we laugh and argue. Family pizza
night, for our tribe, is an experience we’ve come
to treasure. And at the risk of sounding cheesy,
we hope you will, too!