I know that a lot of people make homemade pizza, so this isn't anything earth shattering, but I wanted to share my new favorite pizza topping - ricotta cheese! My husband and I eat homemade pizza once a week - it is easy (now that we have a great dough recipe) and it is relatively cheap (the cheese is the most expensive part). We normally do a pesto pizza and a red sauce pizza with black olives. I wanted to do something a little different and thought about putting ricotta cheese on it and skipping the sauce. It turned out to be my favorite pizza of the night!
The first time we made this pizza, we used sauteed mushrooms and red onions with garlic, ricotta cheese, fresh rosemary, and olive oil. Tonight we didn't have any red onions, so we added sauteed spinach. It was equally yummy. Besides the creamy texture of the ricotta, I love the slight sweetness that it brings to the pizza.
So here is how you make it. I don't give exact amounts for the veggies, so just chop up as much as you like on your pizzas. Remember that both spinach and mushrooms cook down a fair amount. The pizza shown in the picture is only half of the dough recipe below.
Dough (recipe taken from here)
1. Mix 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, 2 teaspoons honey, and 1 cup warm water. I make my dough in a KitchenAid stand mixer with a dough hook. You can also do it by hand with a bowl and a wooden spoon. Let this sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.
2. Add 3 cups of bread flour, one cup at a time, along with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. I normally add some dried basil also - about 1 teaspoon.
3. Knead until dough is soft and pliable - the texture of your earlobe or a baby's bottom. (Isn't that sweet? Not my own phrase.) If it is too dry, add a little warm water. If it is too wet, add a smidge more flour. We have found that the dough is easier to work with and rises more if it is on the wetter side.
4. Pour about 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a glass or stainless steel bowl. Put the dough ball into the bowl and turn around so the oil is distributed over the dough and on the sides of the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place. I put it in the oven on WARM for a couple minutes and then turn off the oven and leave the door closed. It should at least double in size. For me, that normally takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Pizza
1. Preheat oven to 450 F. It is important that your oven is HOT when you put the pizza in, so do this now.
2. Wash and chop mushrooms. Saute in olive oil on medium heat with about 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook down until soft, but not mushy. Set aside.
3. Wash and chop fresh spinach. (Can also use frozen, but then don't chop until after cooked.) Saute on medium until wilted. Set aside.
4. Grate cheese - we used mozzarella. Dice fresh rosemary.
5. Divide pizza in half. We make two pizza because one big one would not fit on our pizza peel, plus we top them differently. Using a rolling pin, roll dough into whatever shape you like. Ours are more free form than perfect circles.
6. Spread the mushroom mixture and spinach mixture on the dough. Sprinkle on the grated mozzarella. Using a spoon, place globs of the ricotta on top. If baking on a cookie sheet, place dough on sheet before topping. We use a pizza peel, so we top ours on the table, then transfer to a baking stone that is pre-heated in the oven.
7. Bake at 450 F until crust is just browned, about 10-12 minutes.
8. Let cool a minute or two, then slice, and enjoy! Simple, gourmet pizza.
The only thing that could make this pizza better is if I made the ricotta myself. Making soft cheeses is one of my goals for this year, so stay tuned!