White Pizza

Nothing makes a hard, long week better than having some of your besties over and chowing down on some white pizza.

I also like to serve it with a side of garlic infused broccolini (thank you for the inspiration Zu's!) which provides a fresh counterbalance to all of the chewy cheesiness.

The pizza is pretty simple and you can adjust according to your own tastes. This time I used pizza dough from Whole Foods, which was good but VERY chewy as it was whole wheat. Sometimes I make my own, last nite I didn't feel like being a hero, I was just trying to feed people ;)

So, I use:

Garlic Oil (make by frying up about 8 roughly chopped cloves until golden in 1 c. olive oil, strain)
Italian Fontina
Parm Reg
Mozzarella
Whole Milk Ricotta
Fresh Herbs, chopped fine- Savory and Oregano from my porch

I hit the dough with oil, pile on as much cheese as you want, sprinkle on some herbs, hit w/some more oil and bake. When it comes screaming hot out of the oven, I hit it w/a few more herbs and pass around the Parm Reg so every one can cheese it up to their own tastes.

A winner, every time!

Grilled Pizza

If you ask me my favorite thing to grill, I'll always say pizza, hands down. It's the closest I can get to brick oven at home. Not to mention easy, tastier and cheaper than take out.

I do make my own sauce, but you can certainly keep it easy and buy prepared sauce. I also make my own dough, which I'll be providing a recipe for here. But, you can purchase a store bought dough and use it just as easily. The trick is lightly oiling your grates, really cranking the grill to get things started and making sure to oil up the dough. I also think making "personal" size pizzas keeps things manageable and moving right along.

Typically, I will make the dough the night before and let it rise in the fridge so it's ready to go when I am. (I do let it come to room temp for about 45 minutes to an hour before handling).

I use a pizza cheese mix that I throw a little oregano into as well. When I'm ready to top the pizza, first goes on the sauce, then I top w/ meats (we used canadian bacon and pre-cooked sweet turkey italian sausage) and then cheese.

This is the recipe that I've found so far to work best:

Grilled Pizza Dough
Gourmet June 2003

Chris Bianco, the owner of Pizzeria Bianco, in Phoenix, makes our favorite pizza dough. He showed us his technique for our October 1999 issue, and we've been building on it ever since. Here, we've adapted his recipe slightly to make it work on the grill. This recipe is an accompaniment for Grilled Pizza Margherita.

Makes 1 lb dough, enough for 2 (9-inch) pizzas. (I make 4 from this)

1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 3/4 to 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading and dredging
3/4 cup warm water (105-115°F)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Stir together yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1/4 cup warm water in a measuring cup and let stand until mixture appears creamy on surface, about 5 minutes. (If it doesn't, discard and start over with new yeast.) Stir together 1 1/4 cups flour and salt in a large bowl, then add yeast mixture, oil, and remaining 1/2 cup warm water and stir until smooth. Stir in enough of remaining flour (1/4 to 1/2 cup) for dough to come away from side of bowl.

Knead dough on a work surface with floured hands, reflouring work surface and hands when dough becomes too sticky, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 8 minutes. Divide dough in half and form into 2 balls(I did 4-- 2 a piece inside of oiled gallon zip top baggies), then generously dust balls all over with flour and put each in a medium bowl. Cover bowls with plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours. Dough can be allowed to rise, covered and chilled, 1 day. Bring to room temperature before kneading.

Form pizza rounds:

Do not punch down dough. Gently dredge 1 ball of dough in a bowl of flour to coat, then transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Holding 1 edge of floured dough in the air with both hands and letting bottom touch work surface, carefully move hands around edge of dough (like turning a steering wheel), allowing weight of dough to stretch round to roughly 7 inches in diameter.

Lay dough round flat on floured surface and continue to stretch by pressing dough with your fingertips, working from center outward to edge, stretching it into a 9-inch round. Transfer to a large floured tray and make another round in same manner, then place it next to other round. Lightly rub a long sheet of plastic wrap with flour, then invert loosely over pizza rounds and let them stand to puff slightly while preparing grill, 10 to 20 minutes.

To prepare gas grill:

Preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderate.

To grill pizzas:

Remove plastic wrap from both rounds of dough and lightly brush dough with some oil. Carefully flip dough rounds, oiled sides down, with your hands onto middle of lightly oiled grill rack and brush top of each with oil. Grill crusts, uncovered, until undersides are golden brown (rotate them if 1 side of grill is hotter than the other), 2 to 3 minutes on gas grill or 4 to 6 minutes on charcoal grill.

Flip crusts over with tongs and a spatula and top each crust with half of tomato sauce, spreading evenly over dough and leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over sauce and grill pizzas, covered with grill lid, until undersides are golden brown and cheese is melted, about 3 minutes on gas grill or 5 minutes on charcoal grill.

Scatter basil over pizzas. (If using meat-- place pre-cooked meat on pizza after sauce and then cover w/cheese).

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Pizza

This post is dedicated to the hubs who loves this pizza. I honestly could take it or leave it. I mean, it's tasty and all, but there are other things I like better. IE: if you put some in some GOAT CHEESE & take the ranch out....I'm there! ;)

In this post I would also like to declare that I am the Queen of Making Tasty Stuff With Leftover Crap. Seriously. If it were an olympic sport, I would be a hardcore competitor.

So, I had some leftover calzone dough and pizza sauce lounging around the freezer along with a lone chicken breast. All of a sudden the pistons started firing as I remembered I also had some bacon hiding in my cheese drawer---and voila! We have Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Pizza!

I know there's got to be a recipe or two out there for this, but I don't follow any, I just slap it together until it looks tasty! Go by your own tastes-- everyone is particular about amt. of sauce, cheese, etc.-- just use this recipe as a guideline.


Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Pizza

1 roasted chicken breast*

4 slices cooked bacon
1 c. pizza sauce (I make my own)
1/2 c. ranch dressing
1 Tbsp. dry ranch dip mix
Lite Provolone Slices
Shredded Monterey Jack
2 rounds of thawed calzone dough, at room temp

Place pizza stone(s) in oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Heat pizza sauce over moderate heat, adding 1 Tbsp. ranch dip mix.

Roll out your dough very thin w/a little flour. Place it on parchment and then parchment/dough onto a pizza peel. I don't have a peel, so I flip a cookie sheet upside down and use that.

Top w/sauce (go light, you don't want to make the crust soggy. Top with a little ranch, your meats, then your cheeses. I sprinkle w/the Monterey Jack and then cover with Provolone slices. Makes for an ooey gooey, but not too much, cheesy slice.

Knock oven back to 450. Slide pizza(s) onto pizza stone(s) carefully. I usually pull out the oven rack w/the stone on it, grab the parchment closest to the stone and slide it quickly onto the hot stone surface. Quickly push rack back into oven and close door.

Bake for approx 12-15 minutes. Depending on your oven and how done you like your cheese. Crust will be super crispy!

*Cook's Note-- I roast my chicken breast at 400-425 for approx. 35 minutes after rubbing it down w/some olive oil, a generous amt. of kosher salt and pepper.