With my last pizza creation, my chicken teriyaki pizza, I broke my pizza stone. I had got that stone from Pampered Chef a few years ago, and have never been thrilled with the results. I am kind of glad it broke, but it’s not like I intentionally threw it on the floor or something. I didn’t carelessly toss it in the sink, or even slam it on the counter. All I did was grab it, and lift if off the counter. It almost seemed as if the pizza was so heavy, the pitiful little stone just broke from the weight of the pizza. I am almost certain it happened because the stone got too hot. It seems to me if you can get those stones as hot as they need to be to cook a pizza, they are going to break.
To replace it, I got an Airbake pizza pan. It’s the type of pan that has little holes all in it. It seems to work really well. I got it because I have an Airbake cookie sheet I have had forever that I love. I wanted to make a really great pizza to test out the new pizza pan. I have never made a white pizza, so I thought I would start with this white pizza with fresh sauteed spinach, roma tomatoes and roasted garlic. It came out so well, but almost didn’t have enough garlic for my taste. When I do this again, I’ll use 2 or 3 heads of roasted garlic.
Yield: Serves 4
For the crust
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 – 4 cups flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
Toppings
1 head of garlic, or more, roasted (recipe follows)
3 - 4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 - 16 oz bag spinach, roughly chopped and sauteed in garlic and olive oil
1/2 cup freshly chopped basil
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 - 8 oz package fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
a drizzle of olive oil
For roasted garlic
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
a pinch of kosher salt
For sauteed spinach
1 - 16 oz bag fresh spinach, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1. Combine warm water, yeast, honey, salt, onion and garlic powder in your stand mixer. Mix until yeast dissolves. Turn mixer to low and add flour until dough starts to pull away from bowl. Knead for about 10 minutes. Dough should be sticky. Grease a large metal bowl with olive oil. Form dough into a ball and transfer to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise about 2 hours in a warm place. Punch down, from into a ball again and let rise again until it doubles in size.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off of the head of the garlic, and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Wrap in aluminum foil and place on a cookie sheet or in an oven safe skillet. Roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until very fragrant.
3. Preheat oven to highest temperature, mine is 550 degrees. Spread pizza dough onto a stone or pan. Dough will make one thick crust, or 2 thinner crusts. Pre-bake crust in a 550 degree oven until lightly browned. Remove from oven.
4. Saute chopped spinach in a little olive oil and 1 clove of garlic, chopped.
3. Rub roasted garlic around on pizza dough. Add fresh basil first on top of pizza dough so it doesn't burn. Then add sliced mozzarella, ricotta in small dollops, sauteed spinach and Parmesan. Top with thinly sliced tomatoes and red onions.
4. Bake pizza at oven's highest temperature (mine is 550 degrees) until golden brown.
