Garlic White Pizza with Rosemary Crust
Pizza Night! Who doesn’t love pizza? There are so many varieties that for me its hard to just pick one as my favorite.
I love the smell of a freshly baked pizza. When we open the pizza box when it first arrives the aroma of the freshly baked pizza fills the house.
My husband and I created our own pizza night in our house years ago before the babies even arrived. We would create our own pizza, toss up a salad and grab a good movie.
Now I love creating our pizza in our home capturing the fragrance of the pizza baking once I put it in the oven. There is no need to dial the local pizzeria to create a quick dinner.
I like making several batches of dough at once (usually I’ll make ahead 2 or 3) and pop them in the freezer. On pizza night, grab a dough out of the freezer in the morning and by the evening the dough is ready to be rolled out. Once the dough is ready, add the toppings, bake in the oven and dinner is ready in the same about of time as it would take for the local pizza delivery to come knocking at the door.
Grab the kids, and pull up a stool its time to create a pizza!
For this recipe I am featuring my Garlic White Pizza with Rosemary Crust. The smell of the rosemary wavering thru the house is simply intoxicating. This is the perfect light pizza for the summer months, even though I love it all year long. Its light and tasty and simple to make. After a day at the beach or a hike in the woods, this is delicious dinner to prepare.
White Pizza
Makes 8 slices
16″ pizza pan
Ingredients
For the dough
3 Cups all purpose flour plus additional for dusting
2 Teaspoons rapid rise or instant yeast
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Cup warm water
1 Cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil plus additional for coating bowl
1 Teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
For the topping
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained OR 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced OR 2 tomatoes sliced
1/2 Cup red onion, sliced
4 Cups Italian Shredded Cheese
Pinch of freshly cracked ground pepper
Non stick cooking spray
Directions
Preparing the dough
In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt, sugar and rosemary and mix. Add in water and olive oil. Stir ingredients together until mixture is stiff and then use hands until dough is formed.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and knead dough for about 4 minutes, flour more if necessary. Knead until dough is smooth.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Add the dough and coat with olive oil. Cover bowl with kitchen towel and let dough rise (double in size) for an hour.
After dough has doubled in size either freeze ball or if ready to use, punch dough down and roll out.
Making the pizza
Preheat oven at 375 degrees
Preparing the crust and toppings
Roll dough out on a clean surface using a rolling pin until dough is even. Spray 16″ pizza pan with cooking spray. Place on pan. Wisk together extra virgin olive oil and minced garlic and use a pastry brush to brush over the crust with mixture evenly. Add cheese, tomatoes, red onion and top freshly cracked ground pepper.
Bake in preheated oven for 19 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.
Let sit for 4 minutes and serve.
Note~ The dough can be prepared omitting the rosemary if desired.
The cost to prepare this pizza is just $8.00!
Enjoy!
Ciao! Beautiful blog! I love that you use fresh, healthy ingredients. As an American living in Sicily, Italy, I’ve come to appreciate all natural flavors and cook with only those! Stop by and check out some of my yummy authentic Sicilian recipes I’ve learned from my neighbors! Buona giornata! (Have a nice day!) anamericaninsicily.com