Hands down, this is the best pizza dough recipe — ever.

I don’t say that lightly, either. And believe you me, I’ve tried many others, some quite good.

But the one from “The Mozza Cookbook” (Alfred A. Knopf) by baker extraordinaire, Nancy Silverton, and her chef, Matt Molina, and food journalist Carolynn Carreno, is truly astounding.

It’s got so much character and developed flavor that I could eat the crust plain. How many pizza crusts can you say that about?

As Silverton explains in the new cookbook, of which I recently received a review copy, it’s not an exact replica of the one served at her Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles that she owns with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. But having enjoyed the real deal at Mozza every time I’ve visited Los Angeles, I can attest that the recipe in the book makes a pretty darn close approximation to the pizzas that come out of the restaurant’s ferociously hot wood-fired ovens.

They both sport one of the most varied crusts around — at times crisp, chewy and airy. Each bite of crust brings a new texture — from the edges, which puff up in the blistering heat of the oven, to the patchwork of air holes like that of a wonderful ciabatta to the cracker-like center. The flavor is that of a great artisan bread. And no wonder since Silverton practically single-handedly started the gourmet bread trend in Los Angeles when she opened her landmark La Brea Bakery.

I’ve loved this pizza crust from the first time I ever sank my teeth into it years ago in Los Angeles. I can’t be more thrilled to know that I can duplicate it at home now, too.

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I can’t stop staring at the newest addition to my dining room.

See that artsy canvas hanging on the wall with the two cherries?

That’s actually one of my photos — enlarged and printed on a 30-inch-by-40-inch canvas frame. You might even recognize that particular image from the post I did awhile back about baking “Cherry Focaccia with Rosemary.” Here’s what it looked like:

How cool is that?

The free canvas came courtesy of EasyCanvasPrints, which offered me the chance to try out the photo-to-canvas process. All I had to do was pay the shipping cost.

The company offers a range of images to choose from. But of course, it’s way more fun to use one of your own photos.The larger the canvas, the higher the resolution your photo will need to be. The EasyCanvasPrints folks are great at getting back to you, too, if a sharper image is needed. You also can choose from various borders for your canvas, as well as color effects and retouching services.

I chose my photo of cherries because I liked the simplicity of the image. It’s not so fussy that I’d get tired of looking at it quickly. And when enlarged to that scale, it has a real presence in the room. Plus, it matched my deep red dining room walls so well.

I couldn’t be happier with the results. In fact, I’m already toying with turning another one of my photos into a large canvas for another wall — even if I’ll have to foot the bill for this one.

But hey, it’s a small price to pay to be so thoroughly mesmerized by my once plain wall, isn’t it?

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win the opportunity to design a free 8-inch-by-10-inch canvas, courtesy of EasyCanvasPrints. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 25. Winner will be announced Sept. 27.

How to win?

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You gotta love a chef who opens a restaurant in the exact same spot in Oakland that his mother once dished up Thai specialties when it was her own establishment.

And you have to smile at a chef who wants to uphold the tradition of his mother’s casual cooking, but update it with modern techniques and flair while keeping the prices wallet-friendly.

That’s just what Chef-Proprietor James Syhabout has done at Hawker Fare, which opened earlier this summer in the Uptown district.

Syhabout, who also owns the more refined, Michelin-starred Commis in Oakland, has put in charge here none other than Justin Yu, who knows a thing or two about elevating Asian street food from his days at Momofuku Ssam Bar in New York.

Recently, my husband and I enjoyed a weekday lunch here on our own dime.

Lines out the door to get inside are the norm here. But we lucked out on a Monday, timing it so that we got a table without a wait.

If Hawker Fare were an ensemble, it would be faded jeans with holes in the knees, paired with Vans skateboard shoes and a screaming, neon-green hoodie. It’s casual with street attitude. Just take a look at the wall emblazoned with in-your-face graffiti letters, as well as old posters of Bruce Lee and the Grateful Dead.

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If you’ve lamented never being able to make it to Ad Hoc in Yountville for one of its famous fried chicken nights, you’re now in luck.

The newest addition to Chef Thomas Keller’s gourmet empire is Ad Hoc Addendum, a take-out operation, where you can enjoy the fried chicken, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.

You’ll find the Addendum kiosk by walking behind Ad Hoc restaurant, past a small parking lot to a pretty picnic area complete with tables and chairs, plus lush trees for plenty of shade, and a small vegetable garden that grows provisions for the restaurant.

Addendum, which opened opened two months ago, offers a choice of the superb buttermilk fried chicken or a barbecue entree, such as tender, spicy baby back ribs with pulled pork when I was there last Friday. Of course, I had to buy one of each.

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If I am ever in the vicinity of the East Bay, there is one place I always have to stop — the Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley.

It doesn’t matter if I happen to be headed to Oakland or Emeryville. I gladly make the detour, put up with finding parking in Berkeley’s congested Gourmet Ghetto, and happily wait in line at this bakery.

Because the baked goods are just that good.

I’m talking sourdough cheese rolls so incredible that I almost always inhale one right when I get back into my car; the freshest English muffins with a plethora of lovely nooks and crannies; sweet, crumbly corn cherry scones the color of sunshine; and moist, deep, dark, wonderful chocolate cake loaves with a hint of coffee.

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