Khana Spotlight is a series that focuses on some food that I had, and what I thought about it. Yummy!

My wife made homemade pizza back in August and I had been craving it recently. So I asked her to make it again and she did. Yeah it was sick, alhumdulillah, but what was it that made it so solid? There’re three things I noticed.

Firstly, the dough; she used Tiseo’s Pizza Dough.

It’s made by this super Italian dude named Louis Tiseo from Monte Cassino, Italy. In 1985 he decided to make high-quality dough and sell it from a base of operations in Sterling Heights, MI. Today, you can hit up your local Meijer’s frozen section, grab a sack for less than $2, and bring it home to make some splendid pizza. Apparently, it can also be used to make bagles, coffee cakes, or whatever your mind can conjure up using dough. Homemade pizza making enthusiasts seem to agree that it is the choice for quality premium frozen pizza dough.

I really cannot recommend it enough! It defrosts super fast, is so easy to roll and stretch out, and it cooks up BEAUTIFULLY. It’s the closest thing to a decent Donato’s-style cracker crust I have ever encountered. - allrecipes.com reviewer Caroline; Columbus, OH

Second, solid toppings. One pizza had qeema (ground beef) and bell peppers. Another creation was alfredo sauce and chicken. The best combo, hands down, was what I call Pepperonchickenfeta Pizza: chicken, pepperoncini (banana peppers), and feta cheese. This is the pie of perfection pictured at the top of this entry.

The toppings were moderate but fulfilling. When I have pizza at the zabiha halal places, they load them with tons of meat, taking away from the pizza; feels like eating it for the meat and not the actual pizza itself. Also, since these places are owned by Desis, the meat is seasoned to the maxtreme. You either eat spicy gyro pizza, or tandoori chicken pizza. After two slices, your stomach feels heavier than a Peterbilt.

The key is to have lightly seasoned meat, not to use too much, and mix it up with some other vegetables and toppings. That way, your pizza is both easy in, and easy out. I’ll let you decipher what that means.

Thirdly, you gotta keep it Eye-talian. My wife oiled up the pizza with olive oil and spread basil alongside the crust. The pizza sauce was plain old out of the can style, but because it’s so simple and light, it sealed the deal.

Summary: Tiseo’s Pizza Dough and the combo of solid ingredients and moderate seasoning make it happen.

I think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle inside me has been revived. Cowabunga, dudes.