Pizza Gadget and Real Pizza

Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing points us to this countertop pizza cooker, highligted at Tokyomango:

This open-air, ovenless pizza cooker will cook up to a 12-inch pizza using its upper and lower electric heaters. The flavor might not be as good as the conventional brick oven, but who has the money — never mind the space — to install one these days? This one's just a little under $70. Available here.

(That "pizza" looks suspiciously like a tortilla covered with grated cheese and hot peppers, in effect an open-faced nacho.)

Who needs a brick oven to turn out high-quality pizza? Just yesterday I made for my guests delicious pizza, baked on the baking stone I use in my very conventional gas oven. The baking stone costs $40, slightly more than half the price of a silly gadget that clutters up your counter when not in use. Earthenware tile from a building supply store is even cheaper, and gives results just as good.

I make my pizza crust out of the same dough that I bake into sourdough bread. One batch makes enough dough for nine 12-inch pizzas (or for three 12-inch pizzas and two batards of bread, which is what I made yesterday). For a sauce I just simmer some canned whole tomatoes over low heat, together with a couple of cloves of minced garlic, a teaspoon each of basil and oregano, and a bay leaf, for half an hour, then I purée it. That batch of sauce, three cups of grated mozarella cheese, half of a pepperoni, thinly sliced, from The Fatted Calf artisanal charcuterie, and some shiitake mushrooms made three tasty and elegant 12-inch pizzas that our guests gobbled up with much gusto.