Pizza Pie

de gustibus non disputandum est - you cannot argue about taste - a phrase that signified, historically, the universality of taste, meaning that any judgment formed via gustibus was simply true, for everyone, at all times, so it was indisputable. Today, the self-same phrase is applied with a blithe unconcern when tastes are found to be widely and wildly variant, when no sensus communis is found or even sought after, as if to say 'what's the point in arguing about something for which there can be no agreement?'

If the traditional use of the phrase is to be recovered, and if we are to save ourselves from the degenerative forces of apathy, indifference, and relativism, so as to form a communal and communicative bond that is beyond question, we must turn to pizza. If the universality of taste is in operation anywhere, it is with pizza. Then with pizza, we will find our social, ethical, and epistemological ground.

It all begins with a simple pizza dough (click link to find my favorite dough). I like to use 25-50% whole wheat flour in addition to using whole wheat flour on the work surface for kneading and rolling out.

The trick is to roll it until it is very thin. When using a standard tomato sauce, I like to bake the dough 5 minutes at a high temperature (450 degrees) before flipping it and topping what was the bottom.

Choice ingredients, including fresh garlic and mozarella.

The pie: tomato sauce, mozarella, sweet red pepper, and garlic.

Get creative: basil pesto sauce, chilli & cumin spiced black beans, mozarella (or feta), and red onions.

Stuff it: one crust topped high with sausage, ham, red pepper, onion, & mozarella, then draped with another crust and topped again. de gustibus non disputandum est.