Skip to main content

White Pizza with Lemon Arugula and Prosciutto


Now I know what you're thinking, why go to the trouble of making pizza when its just so darn easy to pick up the phone and have a perfectly good one delivered?  I'll tell you why.  Once you discover the fun and the flavor of making your own homemade pizza, you'll never want to order a delivery pizza again. 

The drawback of making your own is of  course the time factor.  But if you do it in steps, then it is possible to make your own faster than it would be to call in your order and have it delivered.  I do it like this:  on a weekend or a day when I am lucky enough to have time sans crawling toddler at my feet, then I make the pizza dough.  Making pizza dough is pretty fast and simple.  You take a handful of ingredients, mix it up and then let it sit in a bowl for an hour.  After it rises, you have not one, but two large (14 inch) pizza crusts.  That means if you freeze the other crust, all you have to do is pop the dough out of the freezer in the morning, pull it out of the fridge when you're ready to roll it out, and top it and then you truly would have pizza in less time than it would be to order it and have it delivered to your door. 

The other bonus of making your own pizza is customizing it to your whimsy.  Look at the pizza up there, just look at it!  When was the last time you had a pizza that pretty delivered to your door?  I'm going to say never.  I made this pizza with "white" sauce, instead of the traditional red, and I decided to add my favorite ingredient, prosciutto, as well as a salad on top of the pizza.  I know, crazy talk.

The other plus, you can make it somewhat healthier than the takeout alternative.  Especially when you realize you ate a pizza that didn't just disintegrate the bottom of a cardboard box with grease.  You can make it as healthy or as sinful as you desire.  The point being, you get to be in control of your dinner destiny, and what is better than that?

Pizza Dough

3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope instant dry yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.

Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

At this point, I wrap both balls of dough in plastic wrap, put in freezer bags and freeze or refrigerate if I will be using later.

White Sauce

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 crushed garlic clove
1 1/2 cups milk
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in saucepan, add garlic and saute over low heat until golden.  Stir in flour to make a smooth paste.  Cook over low heat until bubbly.  Add milk, gradually, stirring constantly.  Add seasonings and cook, stirring until thickens and comes to a boil. Add parm and stir.

Topping

Scamorza cheese (this is my secret ingredient.  You can buy block mozzarella but scamorza is velvety, stringy goodness.)
Arugula, I bought a few handfuls from the farmer's market
juice from half a lemon
prosciutto
mushrooms (or whatever other toppings you desire.)

When you are ready to cook the pizza, roll it out onto a lightly floured surface.  I then take the pizza with my hands and, as though the pizza were a steering wheel, with my hands at 10 and 2, I turn the dough until it stretches to the desired 14 inches.  On a pizza stone or baking sheet, lay a layer of cornmeal.  I use a thin cutting board to transfer the dough to the stone.  Top with a layer of the white sauce, mushrooms and whatever other toppings you might like, top with cheese, as much or as little as you like. 

Bake at 475 for 18 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned in spots.  Top with prosciutto and arugula that has been tossed with lemon juice.

It sounds like a lot of work, but mainly the work is in the clean up.  But it's worth it, it really is.  And nothing makes me feel more Italian then when I'm eating my own pizza made from scratch.  Except maybe my made from scratch pasta...but that is for another post.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Letters to Bunny

Wow.  I didn't think I would ever be writing these letters, but I am so happy I am!  When I was pregnant with your big brother, we called him Pumpkin when he was in my belly and now I have started calling you Bunny, so that is why I call these, Letters to Bunny.  I didn't think I'd be writing these letters because it took almost 5 very long years to have you!  Now that you are here, I'm still in disbelief, but so happy I get to be a mom all over again!  Thank God! Being a mom is something I wanted to be my whole life.  When we had your big brother, Nate, it was the happiest time!  I knew right away that I wanted to have another baby.  Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy for me to get pregnant.  I didn't understand why.  We did lots of things to try to have a baby.  I went to many doctors, took many tests and x-rays, and after awhile of doing all these things, I kind of lost hope that I would ever be able to have another baby...

Horseradish Encrusted Salmon

I know I've been touting easy, fast meals lately, but this one really takes the cake in simplicity and taste.  Joe took one bite and said, "this tastes like something I would get at a restaurant."  As I've mentioned, the only other adjective I've ever gotten from him on a meal before was "good."  This was a revelation.  Besides being all of the above, this is a healthy, low fat meal.  Definitely something you should be making soon! Horseradish Encrusted Salmon (based on Real Simple recipe) 4  6-ounce pieces skinless salmon fillet kosher salt and black pepper 1/4  cup  bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned breadcrumbs) 1  tablespoon prepared horseradish 1  tablespoon olive oil Heat oven to 400ยบ F. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with tin foil for easy clean up. In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, horseradish and oil. Top the salmon wit...

Italian Cream Soda

It's too darn hot to cook.  That doesn't mean though that you can't make something great from your kitchen.  This isn't really much of a recipe but I'm addicted to these right now.  I had one at a great Italian restaurant recently and I couldn't see why I wouldn't be able to make this at home.  Italian cream sodas can be made with any flavored syrup.  My favorite is raspberry.  The cream with the raspberry flavor is an unbeatable combination.  If you wanted to make this a little lighter, you can make an Italian Soda by simply omitting the cream.  This is a perfect summer drink.  Refreshing, uncomplicated and simple to whip up - no cooking required! Fill a glass with ice.  Pour about a half an inch of syrup into the bottom of the dish.  Use any flavor of Torani syrup you wish.  (These can be found at most markets by coffees or teas.)  Fill the glass with club soda and add a splash of cream (or half and hal...