What are you having for dinner? Whatever it is, I guarantee it’s not as bad-ass as this pizza version of the Necronomicon made by Elizabeth at blogofthefed.com. If you’re having some friends over for an Evil Dead marathon or just want to bring a little more Lovecraft in your kitchen you’ll find the recipe inside… just don’t read it backwards like I did unless you want to spend the rest of the night apologizing to your wife for ruining dinner because of your last minute deadite guests.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 TBS Active dry yeast
1 TBS Sugar
1 Cup warm water (105-110 degrees F) {You can replace your water with a cup of warm beer and your sugar with honey for a bit of a change of flavor.}
1 tsp salt
2 Cups flour (I do one cup unbleached all purpose and one cup whole wheat)
(If you want to make a thin crust pizza, just halve this recipe.)

Directions:
1) Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large bowl. Allow to sit until the yeast forms a layer of foam on top of the water-about ten minutes.
2) Mix in salt, and flour- stir with a spoon, or mix with dough hook if using a mixer, until it forms a uniform ball. Add flour if needed to keep if from being too sticky, and then knead by hand on a smooth surface, or knead with dough hook until well mixed.
3) Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise for an hour.
4) Punch your dough down and briefly knead on a smooth surface. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
5) Roll out your dough to fit your pizza pan, or baking sheet- should be about a quarter of an inch thick.
6) Add your sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake for 12 minutes. Slice and serve.

My suggestions for sauce:

I usually use a can of UNSALTED tomato puree, 16 oz… And simmer that with a couple cloves of minced garlic, dried basil, 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano. I let that simmer over low heat until the volume is reduced by about half… 30-40 minutes depending on how low you have your heat set. This makes a fair amount of sauce, so depending on how much sauce you want on your pizza, you may want to save some. I also occasionally make a green sauce of garlic, and steamed spinach I have put through the blender.

My cheese preferences lean towards fresh mozzarella, but I’m not above using the stuff that comes pre-shredded in a bag because it makes for a lot less work. Provolone and parmesan also work quite nicely.

I don’t reccomend only topping your pizza with garlic and black olives… My favorite toppings are banana pepper, spinach, fresh basil, onion, mushroom, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, broccoli… I could go on forever. I would have toppings 6 inches thick if I thought I could do it. But the toppings depend on what kind of sauce you are using, and the other toppings you are putting on.