Many of us have been possessed by hunger, but it’s seldom that we’re possessed by the actual food we’re eating. That’s probably going to change when you make this Necronomicon Ex-Mortis pizza.
The pizza was created by painter and horrific chef Elizabeth on her Gastronomicon, the Blog of the Fed “as an homage to HP Lovecraft, and the Evil Dead movie trilogy.” It’s seriously amazing how much the pizza looks like the Book of the Dead. She includes easy instructions, so go ahead try your luck with the book, but as you go to take that first cheezy bite, beware. The pizza will likely take a bite out of you. After that you can forget about making this dish again. Have you ever tried to knead pizza dough with a chainsaw hand? It’s impossible.
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.
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 recommend 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.
