White Pizza
Prevent your screen from going dark
Makes 1 large or 2 or more small pies 1x
Time about an hour with premade dough
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Pizza Dough
- All-purpose flour for shaping the dough
- Olive oil as needed
- Kosher or coarse sea salt
- 1 tablespoon or more roughly chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Instructions
- If you have a pizza stone, put it on the lowest rack in the oven; otherwise put a rack in the middle of the oven. Heat the oven to 500°F. Form the dough into a ball for one big pizza or divide it into as many pieces as you like for smaller pizzas. Cover lightly with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest until the dough puffs slightly, about 20 minutes.
- Roll or lightly press each dough ball into a flat round, as thin as you like, lightly flouring the work surface and the dough as necessary; use only as much flour as you need to. Let the rounds sit for a few minutes; this will relax the dough and make it easier to roll out. If you are using the pizza stone, shape the pizza on a peel, turning it occasionally and sprinkling it with flour as necessary. If you’re using baking sheets, oil them, then shape each pizza directly on a prepared sheet.
- Sprinkle the top(s) with salt and the chopped rosemary, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Slide the pizza onto the stone or slide a baking sheet onto the middle rack. Bake until the bottom is crisp and browned and the top is bubbling, 6 to 12 minutes, depending on your oven and size of the pies. If you’re baking more than one pizza, repeat with the next one after you remove the first from the oven. Let the pizza(s) cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before slicing. Serve hot or at room temperature; these will keep for a few hours.
– Recipe from How to Cook Everything: Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Recipe variations
Margherita Pizza
The classic Neapolitan pizza: Top the pie(s) with sliced fresh tomato, olive oil, a little mozzarella cheese, preferably fresh, fresh basil leaves, salt, and grated Parmesan.
Marinara Pizza
All tomatoes, no cheese: Top the pie(s) with sliced fresh tomato or Fast Tomato Sauce, thinly sliced garlic, olive oil, and if you like, a few chopped black olives or whole capers.
White Pizza with Prosciutto and Parmesan
Omit the salt and rosemary. Instead you’ll top each pizza with a few very thin slices prosciutto, a drizzle of olive oil, and some grated Parmesan cheese; wait to add the toppings until the crust is no longer doughy on top, 3 to 6 minutes. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if you like.
White Pizza with Clams
Also good with diced peeled lightly cooked shrimp or shelled lightly steamed mussels: Omit the rosemary. Top each pizza with a few freshly shucked littleneck clams and a drizzle of their juice, if you have it, a few very thin slivers of garlic, a little coarse salt, and some minced fresh parsley leaves.