Gourmet Pizza Recipes

GOURMET HOMEMADE PIZZA

Steps:

• In a large bowl (dough will rise considerably!), combine all the dough ingredients and stir well, until smooth. It will be stiff, but be sure all the flour is incorporated. Cover the bowl and let stand at room temperature approximately 18-24 hours. Doing this the night before is best.
• Using a silicone bowl scraper, scrape the dough onto a well floured surface. It will seem very loose and sticky at this point still. That's normal. Generously dust the top of the dough with some flour, then use the bowl scraper or a bench scraper to roll the dough around a bit in the flour on the work surface, to coat thinly. You will find it should quickly become workable and no longer sticky. Divide the dough into two equal pieces (or four, for mini pizzas). Shape each piece into a ball, then cover with a clean towel and let rest for 1 hour.
• Prepare your oven: Place your pizza stone into the cold oven on a rack in the lower third of the oven. I like to remove any top rack at this point, too, just to not have that obstacle when transferring the pizza into and out of the oven. Preheat oven to the highest setting, typically 500F. Let the oven preheat while your dough rests.
• Prepare your sauce: If you are making your own pizza sauce, prepare that when the dough is resting as well. Using a fine mesh strainer, drain the juice from the canned tomatoes, then gently squeeze the tomatoes to let some of the juice inside the tomatoes drain off as well. Place the tomatoes into a food processor, with the garlic, olive oil, spices and a generous pinch of salt. Pulse a few times, to break it up, but not so much that it is completely smooth. A few small pieces of tomato visible is about right. Set aside.
• Dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour or cornmeal. Take a ball of dough and gently stretch it out a bit. Place it on your prepared parchment and gently, using just your fingertips so you don't deflate the dough too much, press and stretch outward to shape the pizza and make it bigger. If it seems to not be enlarging much, lift it up by the outside edge and let it hang in the air. The weight of the dough will stretch it out. Rotate around the edge and let it stretch in the same way. Return the dough to the parchment and finish stretching and shaping. If you like a thin crust pizza, your dough will need to be quite thin. Leave the outside edges thicker, for the lovely bubbly edge crust.
• Spread the pizza sauce on the dough. Place 2-3 slices of prosciutto onto the pizza. I like to twist it a bit so it doesn't lay flat on the sauce. This helps to get some lovely, crisp prosciutto as it bakes. Scatter some goat cheese on top, then some shredded mozzarella (not too much, just enough to fill in here and there).
• Bake your pizza:
• Trim the parchment paper close to your pizza, so there is little excess that might scorch in the hot oven. Using a pizza peel, transfer your pizza on top of the parchment paper and onto the hot pizza stone. Allow to bake 7-8 minutes. If you like, you can very carefully pull the parchment paper out from under the pizza at this point. Allow the pizza to continue baking until the crust underneath has some good colour, the topping are bubbly and the top edges of the crust are quite dark in spots. Remove pizza to a cutting board and allow to rest a couple of minutes. Top with fresh arugula to serve.

GOURMET WHITE PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a small bowl, mix together the butter, olive oil, garlic, pesto, basil, oregano, Parmesan cheese and Alfredo sauce. Arrange the chicken on top of the pizza crust. Pour the Alfredo sauce mixture evenly over the chicken. Top with tomato and feta cheese.
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crust is lightly browned and toppings are toasted. Cut into wedges to serve.

GOURMET PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Roll out dough. Brush olive oil on dough.
• Arrange remaining ingredients on dough.
• Place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
• Let sit 5 minutes before slicing.