Although a ‘Recipe Guy,’ His Pizza Is Ever-Changing

On a recent afternoon, with the homey smell of fresh dough and the soft strains of piano solos filling the air, Bill Gunnin led a visitor into the office of his Los Alamitos home--”my second favorite room in the house,” he said.

Gunnin’s favorite room is the kitchen, a fact betrayed by the shelves of cookbooks and stacks of Cuisine, Gourmet and Food & Wine magazines lining his office walls. For the 57-year-old assistant bell captain at the Disneyland Hotel, cooking is “a hobby and a wonderful form of relaxation.” And, during 35 years of marriage to “a wonderful woman who can’t boil water,” it’s been part of his daily routine.

Gunnin prepares dinner for his wife Jean, a registered nurse, and himself every night of the week.

“I’m a recipe guy. I follow instructions,” Gunnin says. But he does experiment--with ethnic cuisines, gourmet pastries and unconventional recipes. And he likes to mix and match ingredients and procedures from various recipes. To make pizza, for example, he uses a hybrid of recipes he found in the cookbooks of two of his culinary heroes: LA’s Wolfgang Puck (Spago) and Berkeley’s Alice Waters (Chez Panisse).

“I cook pizza about once a week,” he says, “but I don’t think I’ve ever put the same topping on twice. You can use all kinds of things. . . .” Each Thursday, Orange County GUNNIN-PUCK-WATERS TASTY DOUGH PIZZA Ingredients

cup rye flour

1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 Tsp. salt, pinch fresh rosemary

1/2 cup water

1 pkg. quick-rising yeast

1 Tbsp. cream

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. honey

Additional oils Cooking Mix flours, salt, yeast and rosemary in food processor. Heat water (to hot, but not boil); Mix in remaining liquids. Pour liquid ingredients into processor and mix until dough forms a ball. Brush with olive oil and let rise in warm place for approximately one hour or until doubled in size. Roll out, brush with olive oil or Chinese chili oil and then add topping.

(Suggested toppings:sliced prosciutto, mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced onions, sliced tomatoes and a sprinkling of fresh basil.)

Place on pizza stone or perforated aluminum pan. Bake in 450-degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Serves four.