In Balchik, friends and I make Bulgarian and non-Bulgarian food together to share our recipes, culture, and spend some time together. No one speaks English, and this makes the experience more enjoyable, as sometimes we have to be creative with the Bulgarian language.

The first cooking journey was pizza, as friends, colleagues, and students asked me to make it. To be honest, I am bamboozled by Bulgarian pizza. Bulgarians put lots of ketchup and mayonnaise on top of the pizza, they have crazy toppings like eggs and corn, and they don't really use lots of cheese. With this in mind, I decided to teach two colleagues, along with some of their friends, how to make American pizza.

I never thought that making pizza would be such an enlightening experience for my colleagues. The pizza dough had them speechless. My friends were amazed that I used no milk, no eggs, and only two small spoonfuls of oil in the pizza dough. They asked me five times why there were no eggs or milk in the dough, even though I kept telling them I don't use any eggs or milk. They were mystified when I added basil to the dough, as basil is a spice that Bulgarians rarely use for this purpose. The pizza sauce was easy to translate, as we used homemade lutenitsa as our sauce base.

We made three pizzas with mushrooms, peppers, and onions. We ran out of kashkaval, so we were creative and used sirene for the third pizza. Surprisingly, the sirene pizza was quite tasty even though it never melted.

When eating the pizza, I forbid ketchup and mayonnaise at the table. The issue caused lots of disgruntlement among all, but the upset faces quickly turned into smiles as they tried the food. The Bulgarians tasted the pizza and the ingredients bez ketchup and mayonnaise and actually enjoyed it. Not one slice of pizza was drowned by these toppings, and this was the biggest accomplishment of the evening. We ate until no one could eat any more, and there were six very satisfied people.

In the end, I may not break the habit of ketchup and mayonnaise on pizza, as I know my friends secretly make this recipe, and then bury the pizza with these condiments, however they learned a new method of preparation and now use it with their friends and family.

Pizza from the Peace Corps cookbook

3 cups flour
1-2 finely chopped tomatoes
1 cup warm water
Homemade lutenitsa, or 1 teaspoon salt Lutenitsa from the store
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons oil
One-half block of frozen yeast (called Maya)

Toppings:
3/4 cup grated kashkaval
Your choice of vegetables and meat

Dough: Mix water, yeast, and sugar together and let stand for five minutes. Separately, mix together dry ingredients. If you desire, add 1 tablespoon garlic powder, oregano, or basil with dry ingredients. When yeast is dissolved in water, add this to oil and dry ingredients. Knead 15-20 times, until you have smooth dough. Place a towel over the bowl, and put in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes.

Place dough in a greased pan and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 5-10 minutes. Take pan out of oven and put sauce and toppings on dough. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Take pizza out of the oven, let cool for a few minutes, and eat.

Joseph Herr is a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer currently working in Balchik. His column appears weekly.