Three Cheese White Pizza

I wanted something quick and easy for dinner recently and since I had some homemade pizza dough in the fridge from a few days earlier, pizza seemed like an obvious choice. The only problem was I realized I didn’t have any tomato sauce handy. I did have the ingredients on hand to make a quick batch but I wasn’t in the mood. I started browsing through my Baking Illustrated book and came upon a few recipes for white pizza which sounded delicious, and more importantly, simple. I combined bits and pieces of a few recipes to come up with one that worked with the ingredients I had available. I haven’t included quantities in the list of ingredients below because I don’t believe any two people like exactly the same amount of cheese on their pizza. So, feel free to use as much or as little as you like to achieve the right level of cheesiness. I used about 1/3 – 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/4 – 1/3 cup ricotta cheese and a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese.

I liked this pizza so much more than I expected to when I dug in! Something about the simplicity of the dough with a little olive oil, garlic and cheese just really worked for me. I ate it for dinner one night and then had leftovers for lunch the next day I liked it so much!

Three Cheese White Pizza
adapted from Baking Illustrated by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated

1 recipe for pizza dough (recipe can be found here – please note, this recipe makes enough for 3 pizzas – the remaining 2 pieces of dough can be frozen for up to several weeks)
extra-virgin olive oil for brushing the dough
1 garlic clove, sliced very thinly
shredded mozzarella cheese
ricotta cheese
grated Parmesan cheese
dried thyme

Make the pizza dough (or use store bought for an even quicker meal!). Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 500 F.

Lightly brush the dough with olive oil. Scatter the garlic slices around the dough. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the mozzarella cheese, leaving a 1/2-inch border uncovered. Dot with the ricotta cheese and sprinkle with dried thyme, if desired.

Slide the dough onto the heated pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and the cheeses are golden and bubbling, about 8 to 12 minutes. Remove pizza from the oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.