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In The (Recipe) Box: Yorkshire Pizza

My mother was a teacher and on the nights she was running late from meetings or extra traffic, I knew there was a pretty good chance she’d be making Yorkshire pizza for dinner. It was just as good the next day as an after-school snack. Now that I’m coaching, I probably make this once a week. It’s just so easy and pretty quick to whip up.

This is probably my favorite pizza, to the point where I now skip the artisan ones in the frozen aisle at the supermarket. I was never big on takeout pizza anyway and this is far more economical but the real beauty is you know exactly what’s in it: no gross chemicals or preservatives. You get to control the fat and salt, too. You could probably make a gluten free one but I haven’t tried. Additionally, you can use lactose-free milk or a substitute like soy milk if regular milk bothers your stomach; the same goes for the butter and cheese.

Half the fun is in getting creative with toppings. I’ve thought about trying to make a dessert version with sugar in the crust as my fruit and cheese ones so far have been successful. When we were in Boston last year for the NCAA championships, we went to a pizza place at the stadium and had one with fig, arugula, and balsamic glaze which is what first inspired me to go crazy with combos.

I’ll list ingredient ideas later but for now, we’re going to start with the base recipe itself. Also, the recipe calls for a 13×9 baking pan which I use sometimes (my mother relinquished her old one which I swear makes everything taste extra buttery and good) but when I’m doing two different flavor profiles that I don’t want mixing, I split the batter and butter into two 8” round cake pans. You can use one if you only want to do a half batch.

  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup flour

This will produce your crust. Whisk the milk and eggs in a medium bowl until blended. Stir in flour and beat until smooth.

Place 4 tablespoons of butter in your desired pan(s) and melt in the oven while preheating to 400 degrees. Remove and tilt pan to coat the bottom evenly with butter. Pour batter into pan and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake 10 minutes longer after putting desired toppings on semi-baked crust.

Traditionally, one would spoon some pizza sauce on and then pile on the cheese but don’t feel constrained by the classics. Personally, I like white pizza just as much and since this crust is so buttery and pliable, often I don’t even bother with a sauce and just go straight to cheese and veggies. Other times, especially in the summer when our garden is overflowing with tomatoes, I’ll just chop them up and substitute that for pasta sauce and make it a Margherita pizza instead. Indeed, my mother often used this dinner as an excuse to clean out the fridge of leftover meat, seafood, and vegetables so the finished product was usually a surprise.

Toppings I’ve used: chopped tomatoes, chopped garlic or onions (raw or sauteed), roasted peppers (blackened in bacon fat is best!), spinach, arugula, watercress; sliced apples, pears, peaches, figs (fresh not dried), Balsamic glaze, assorted herbs and spices.

Cheeses: cheddar, Colby, pepperjack/horseradish, Monterrey, sliced mozzarella, Gouda, Swiss, Gruyere, goat, bleu/Roche-fort, Parmesan, Havarti

I use this as one of our vegetarian meals for the week, “Meatless Monday” if you will, to cut back on animal consumption but feel free to add shrimp or sausage or leftover beef. With certain toppings like the lettuces and more delicate cheeses, add them at the very end or stay by the oven to make sure they haven’t wilted or over-cooked.

Cooking and painting allow me to use creativity that I normally wouldn’t have an outlet for. There is no wrong answer when it comes to Yorkshire pizza. Just don’t be surprised if you start craving it weekly!

Brittany Prouser
Epoch Women Author

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