Yup, those are the Christmas dishes in the background. We haven't put them away yet.
This afternoon Mr. Smith, while Thing One was crashed out for his afternoon nap (taken under protest), held the fort while and I took a little siesta. He even dealt with Thing Two and her non-stop moaning/whining, which miraculously does not happen when I am not around. Grrrrr.
My incredibly decadent slumber was disrupted by an extremely vivid dream about White Pizza. I have tried several versions of White Pizza. It is a mostly eastern phenomenon and there are no longer any places, that I know of, in Southern California that can do it justice. Unfortunately, several restaurants insist on putting ricotta cheese in giant lumps on the pizza. This results in a soggy mess that can be pretty bland. There was one place in Rancho Santa Margarita that was great, but they are no longer around. I can't even remember the name of the place, but it is sorely missed by me.
Here is the pizza dough recipe. It will absolutely CURL your hair! It was nice and light, thicker crust than I usually prefer, but it was so light that, honestly, I did not mind the thickness at all. It is definitely worth a try, but if you have favorite, by all means, use it instead.
Most importantly, it got the thumbs up from my ENTIRE audience. That almost NEVER happens. Even Mr. Smith, a notoriously picky eater (self diagnosed, I am not calling him out on this...he admits this on a daily basis) said it was one of the best pizzas he has ever had. Now that is some high praise. I plan on basking in it for several days. I also plan on making more pizza crust so that we can have this regularly.
Here is the sauce recipe for the White Sauce. It is similar to basic Alfredo Sauce, but I add some italian herbs to add some zip and additional flavor.
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Melt butter or margarine in a saucepan. Stir in flour and garlic to form a roux. Gradually wisk in milk and cook, stirring constantly until sauce begins to thicken. Wisk in Italian Seasoning, parmesan cheese and red pepper.
Get your pizza dough and shape on the pizza sheet, stone, cookie sheet, whatever shape you wish. I put mine on a big rectangular cookie sheet and it worked just fine. I would imagine that this amount of dough could easily make 2 nice size round pizzas.
From here on you decide what you want. If you want red sauce, go for it. If you want pepperoni, peppers and spicy sausage, have it. This crust is sturdy enough to handle lots of toppings.
We put the white sauce above on the whole crust, diced pepperoni on half. When it came out of the oven, we added chopped Roma tomatoes and chopped artichoke hearts. Needless to say, it was very tasty. Add a nice salad and you have an easy dinner that you can customize to fit your family's preferences.
A word of caution, I baked the pizza at 500 on a cookie sheet for about 10-12 minutes and it was right at the brink of burning. Next time, I will shorten the baking time to avoid the darkness issue.
The other sad news, we landed on this pizza like a pack of jackals, so there is no photo. Sorry! But that should tell you what a hit it was. I will make sure to capture it next time...if I can.
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