A Chef at Work and at Home
Nancy Hollister, the co-owner and chef of Breadzilla (now in its 20th year!), is self-taught. She and her business partner and ex-husband, Brad Thompson, used to be marine biologists. They work side by side at Breadzilla, where he does the baking, and are the best of friends. So much so, that when she hosts her bimonthly pizza parties at home, he is often a guest. To take it a step further, he even helped Nancy and her husband, Owen Jander (her high school sweetheart), build an addition to their 700-square-foot house in Springs to accommodate a beast of a pizza oven.
Encased in brick in the center of their small but super-efficient kitchen, the pizza oven was built from a Wildwood Ovens kit, with refractory cement inside to withstand 980 degree heat. It takes three to four hours, and plenty of firewood, to get up to temperature and continually requires feeding as cooking commences.
On this particular evening, guests arrived bearing gourmet treats and wine. I felt compelled to bring one of my favorite pizza toppings: Taleggio cheese and sauteed wild mushrooms, a la Cittanuova.
Nancy’s friend Steven Salzman, a jolly fellow and clearly a superb cook too, came with his home-smoked bacon. He cut it into thick slabs, placed it in a cast-iron skillet, and topped it with some turbinado sugar. The speed with which food cooks in this Luciferous furnace is staggering. Caramelized and crisped within a minute, the bacon was then cut into cubes and served with a variety of mustards for dipping: whole grain, honey, and others from Maille.
Next up, fresh bay scallops took a turn in another cast-iron skillet. These cooked faster than it took you to read this sentence. They were slipped into a serving dish and doused with fresh lemon juice and a bit of salt and pepper. By this time, the Kampf family had arrived, as well as Kyle and Reed Karen, all the way from Shelter Island on this moderately snowy but very slippery evening.
Nancy’s kitchen is scrupulously organized, with space above, below, and in between utilized as if in a ship’s galley. When I arrived, little balls of pizza dough were gathered in a tub on the counter with an array of toppings — frisee, cheeses, pepperoni, more scallops, tomato sauce, herbs, apples, and red onions, among others.
Owen was in charge of the oven, frequently checking the temperature with a digital thermometer, cleaning the “deck” inside, and sliding the pizza peel and paddle in and out. Nancy’s pizza dough is a variation of the “squishy” doughs she makes for Breadzilla’s popular lunches using King Arthur’s Sir Galahad flour, French instant yeast, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Her tomato sauce is simple perfection: San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, onions, marjoram, sugar, and salt.
Finally, the first pizza “baby” went in. It is small and covered only with a thin layer of sauce and cheese, and cooks in less than two minutes. Watching the dough blister and bubble is a thrill, eating it even more so. Then the real fun began.
Frisee with more scallops, parmesan, and a little salt and pepper with a spritz of lemon to finish was next. The cheese turns to what might be described as napalm and we have to wait a few minutes before digging in. The mushroom and Taleggio version, I am thrilled to hear, is a hit with everyone. Steve then makes a pizza with homemade tomato jam, Halsey Farm buttercup squash cubes that have been roasted with sake and honey, more Taleggio, and some rosemary. At some point a calzone gets made but I forget what was in it.
I ask the gang what their favorite pizzas are: Brad loves clam and mushroom, Owen’s is sausage and peppers, Nancy’s is apple slices with red onion and Gorgonzola. I notice that she makes this one last, when most of the guests are full. She has also made a Thai-style dipping sauce, more sweet than salty or hot, with kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, sirarcha, rice vinegar, garlic, cilantro, and scallions, kind of a nam jim-nam pla prik mash-up. It is surprisingly good with pizza!
If you’ve ever been to Breadzilla or read reviews of it online, you probably understand the juxtaposition therein. The breads, sandwiches, soups, cheeses, and pastries are divine, the signage throughout reminiscent of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. “Please! It’s cheese, not a T-shirt sale at the Gap!” and “Mean people not welcome.” All of this cracks Nancy up, especially the reviews that refer to her as “the wife” or “the one with no people skills.” Even her friend Steven says she may be better suited for forensic science than retail.
Maybe it was because they welcomed this stranger into their house for a story, or because we were giggling and sharing recipes within minutes, but my perception of this dynamo is more of a cross between Olga Korbut and Dorothy Parker, petite and pretty, relentlessly energetic, and witty as all get out.
And those were the best damned pizzas I’ve ever had.