Quad Cities

A genuinely regional oddity: malt syrup in the dough gives a dark, nutty, almost bagel-like crust, the sauce is spiked with chilli and cayenne, the sausage goes on as a solid sheet under the cheese, and the whole thing is cut into strips with kitchen shears.

Method

1. Warm the malt syrup slightly so it pours, and dissolve it in the water before the flour goes in.
2. Mix and knead to a smooth, moderately firm dough. It will be noticeably darker than a plain dough.
3. Bulk an hour, ball, then cold ferment one to two days.
4. Warm the balls, then hand-stretch or roll thin, leaving a small lip at the edge.
5. Sauce with the chilli-spiked tomato, then lay ground fennel sausage in a continuous layer, then cheese over everything.
6. Bake, then cut into long strips with scissors, corner to corner.

Fermentation

Times are a guide. How to read the dough instead of the clock →

The bake

On top

Sauce

Tomato with red pepper flakes and ground cayenne, more spicy than sweet.

Cheese

Mozzarella over the meat, never under it.

Toppings

Fennel sausage as a solid layer, no gaps.

You got it right when A dark, sweet-nutty crust and a slow chilli heat that arrives after you swallow.