Dorothy Lane pizza highlights speciality crust

HANDOUT A Naples-style pizza from Dorothy Lane Market's Washington Square store.

By Mark Fisher, Staff Writer 9:12 PM Friday, December 16, 2011

WASHINGTON TWP., Montgomery County — I can still recall my initial disappointment after ordering my first plate of pasta in a tiny restaurant in Florence, Italy, in 2001, the only time I traveled to Italy.

The pasta noodles had just a very light coating of sauce. Having been raised with bottled spaghetti sauce here in the U.S., I was sure, based on its appearance, that the dish was going to be bland and boring. It was, of course, anything but. The sauce was made of such high-quality ingredients, and was so intensely flavored, that the measured amount that dressed the pasta was spot-on perfect.

Fast-forward 10 years: Dorothy Lane Market’s Washington Square store has started serving Naples-style pizza from a specialty oven that reaches an interior temperature of 1,100 degrees and can cook a pizza in two minutes or less.

The pizzas are excellent — but not everyone will agree. If you’re a fan of “edge-to-edge toppings” piled high as if they were in a dish of lasagne, you will be disappointed in the DLM Naples-style pizzas. The crust is the star here, made from low-protein dough that has fermented for 24 to 36 hours, so it cooks up slightly chewy, but not overly so, and with several charred spots on the edges and bottom.

DLM tops the pizzas with high-quality ingredients — Tuscan olive oil, Prosciutto di Parma (the real stuff), store-made fresh mozzarella, store-made Italian sausage, to name a few. But those ingredients are used sparingly, as they are in Italy. And the end result is both delicious and, I suspect, authentic.

The pizzas are available in only one size — about 10-11 inches — and cost $9-$12. The specialty pizzas include the traditional classic Margherita ($9), with house-made tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, whole basil leaves and extra-virgin olive oil; an intensely flavored, for-blue-cheese-lovers Mushroom Gorgonzola ($12), with wild mushrooms, the Italian blue cheese, goat cheese and black pepper; a surprisingly delicious Brussels & Balsamic ($12), with bacon, Brussels sprouts, fontina cheese and balsamic vinegar; and a distinctive “Rocket Ham” ($12), with Prosciutto di Parma, basil leaves, fresh mozzarella and red sauce, topped with dressed arugula leaves after baking.

Perhaps the most inventive choice is the a Fig & Goat Cheese pizza topped by fig preserves, Gorgonzola, goat cheese and pancetta, the round slices of Italian-style bacon. The sweetness of the fig jam, saltiness of the pancetta and tangy bite of the cheeses marry beautifully, and you’ll be surprised how fast you’ll reach for another piece.

DLM expanded the seating in its cafe area to accommodate shoppers who want to eat their pizza in the store. The pies also are available for take-out — but you really should reheat the pies on a preheated pizza stone for a minute or two at home to get a Naples-like experience.

“This is the most exciting thing I’ve been involved with at DLM in the last 10 years,” said Calvin Mayne, whose family owns the three-store grocery chain. Visits to Italy and the success of Naples-style pizza shops in cities such as Seattle convinced Mayne and other DLM officials to try the concept here. “And I’ve been surprised at the number of people who know what it is and why it’s special.”

• Dorothy Lane Market’s Naples-style pizzas are available from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week at the DLM Washington Square store, 6177 Far Hills Ave. in Washington Twp. For more information or to place an order, call (937) 434-1294.

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