Description
This Pizza Bianca, or White Pizza, starts with a base of garlic-infused olive oil before being topped with a blend of creamy Ricotta, soft Mozzarella, and salty Parmigiano Reggiano. After baking, this creamy white pie is topped with a lightly dressed peppery arugula salad and additional shaved Parmesan.
Ingredients
Scale
For the pizza:
- 1/2 recipe Easy Same-Day Pizza Dough
- 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil - OR - 2 tbsp olive oil + 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 164 g (about 2/3 cup) whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- Cracked black pepper, to taste
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese ball, sliced
- 1 1/2 oz (about 1/2 cup) Parmigiano Reggiano "Parmesan" cheese, shredded
For the salad to top:
- 50 g (about 2 cups) arugula/rocket
- 3/4 oz (about 1/4 cup) Parmigiano Reggiano "Parmesan" cheese, shaved
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic-infused olive oil - OR - 1 1/2 tsp olive oil + 1 clove minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- Optional: 2-3 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F / 260 degrees C and set a baker’s half sheet to the side.
- Shape your dough. If you prefer a classic pie-shape with a thicker crust compared to the center of your dough, I suggest hand-stretching your dough. If you prefer your pizza to be an even thickness, I suggest rolling your dough out with a rolling pin.
- If you are hand-stretching your dough:
- I like to rub a small amount of olive oil into my hands first; this allows me to shape the dough easier without it ripping accidentally from friction.
- Press the dough down with the palm of your hand into a disk shape, then use your fingertips to gently press down on the dough disk, further flattening it.
- To further extend the dough, I prefer to press one palm on top of one side of the dough and with the other hand lift the alternative side of the dough and gently work the dough outward, pulling very gently with the tips of my oiled fingers (like a very discrete “come hither” motion) to slowly stretch the dough out. Rotate slightly and repeat until the dough is shaped and stretched to your liking. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again. Transfer your stretched dough to a sheet of parchment paper.
- If you are using a rolling pin:
- I prefer to place my dough between two sheets of parchment paper to avoid the dough sticking to my rolling pin, but if you prefer you can also sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough ball as well as wiping some over your rolling pin by hand to prevent sticking instead. Once the dough has been rolled to your preferred size and shape, peel the top layer of parchment paper off (if using). The bottom layer that the dough is resting on can be utilized for your baking sheet. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again.
- If you are hand-stretching your dough:
- Transfer your shaped dough to the reserved baking sheet.
- Brush garlic-infused olive oil (or olive oil + garlic powder) onto the pizza dough lightly and evenly. This can be done with a pastry brush or the back of a spoon
- Top the pizza with ricotta cheese. I find that this works best if you portion the ricotta into 6 or 7 dollops across the pie first, then gently smooth them with the back of a spoon until the pizza is evenly covered. Top the ricotta with the sliced mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle the top with the shredded Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the crust has reached your preferred level of crispness and the cheese is well melted and beginning to blister and brown slightly. I find that pizzas that have a thinner topping layer take less time to bake and heavier-topped pizzas generally take a bit longer to bake so watch your pizza closely after the 14-minute mark and adjust as desired.
- A few minutes before the pizza is removed from the oven, gently toss the arugula salad ingredients together in a medium bowl and reserve to the side. Once the pizza is done baking, top with the reserved salad, slice the pizza as desired and serve.
Notes
Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4th of the pizza
- Calories: 630
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 849 mg
- Fat: 35 g
- Saturated Fat: 14 g
- Carbohydrates: 50 g
- Protein: 29 g
- Cholesterol: 78 mg