White Pizza

I used to live in Florida back when I was 19.  There was this amazing pizza joint down the road from our apartment, and for the life of me - I can't remember the name of it.  Anybody in Cocoa Beach?  It started with an A.  That's all I can remember.  But anyway, it was there that I experienced my first white pizza.  Different from the traditional tomato-based pie, a white pizza has a garlicky olive oil base and usually just simply topped with some ricotta (truly my favorite part) and mozzarella.  It's simple and heavenly. 

And so being a little nostalgic, and in the mood for pizza, I prepped myself a pizza dough this morning in hopes of having this beautiful pie for lunch.  It met every expectation. And while I didn't include any ricotta this time (I didn't have any in the fridge), I've got dough to spare, so I'll definitely be picking up some ricotta to make the "original" very soon!

So while the rest of America is ordering out, why don't you take a little bit extra time and make your own?  Seriously, only an hour and 45 minutes isn't half bad for a homemade pie.

Ingredients:
Adapted from a Food Network recipe

Dough:


1 & 1/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup all purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt


Topping:

4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup olive oil
zucchini shavings (or any other topping you'd like)

To make the dough, combine the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil in a medium bowl.  When yeast is dissolved, add in all purpose flour and 2 cups of whole wheat flour.  Add in salt.  Mix until dough comes together and slowly add in remaining cup of wheat flour until a soft dough forms.  Knead dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.

Grease a medium bowl and add dough.  Cover with a warm kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, add 1/4 cup of olive oil, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes.  Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, making sure that garlic does not burn.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 500 F.

Divide dough into 6 pieces and place dough on a cornmeal dusted baking sheet.  Cover with a warm towel and let rise for 10 minutes.  You can now either use all 6 pieces of dough immediately, or do what I did and make one pizza and freeze the rest of the dough.  I just placed the remaining dough in a freezer bag with a little bit of olive oil and it can keep in the freezer for up to a month.  (Some sites say more, but seriously, pizza dough never last too long in our house!)  When you're ready to use it again, just thaw out in the fridge for about 1 hour, or until you're able to knead it a little bit.

Stretch the dough ball into an 8 inch circle and place on cornmeal dusted baking sheet.  (I only made 1 pizza, but you could easily do two per baking sheet).

Brush each pizza with the garlic oil and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle pizzas with cheeses and drizzle a little bit more garlic oil over top.  Then top with zucchini shavings (just take a peeler and literally "shave" some zucchini)  Bake pizzas for about 10 to 15 minutes or until crusts are browned and crisp.

This was a perfect Friday (or any day) lunch!  And would be perfect for one of those stay-in Friday pizza nights!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!