Five White Cheese Pizza & Dough Recipe!

by Bob Levin, *Eat Life Before Life Eats You! Proudly buying local and baking with products from Bob’s Red Mill.
September 22, 2014 [Last update: 01.02.2023 7:42 PM PST] Bob Levin, nominated membership with the “Heroes of the Mill” since Nov. 2014.

Ingredients for same day Pizza Dough:

2 Teaspoons……. Organic Sugar
1.5 …………………… Cups Warm Water (120˚F)
2 Tablespoons…. Bob’s Red Mill Dry Yeast
3 Tablespoons…. Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons…. Honey or Organic Sugar
1 Teaspoon……… Salt
3.5 …………………… Cups Bob’s Red Mill White Flour
Note: *Use Bob’s Red Mill “Semolina Flour” to coat table surface for working the pizza dough when
ready to bake.
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Add your favorite spices in the flour for extra flavor:
3 Tablespoons…. Italian Herbs
6 Cloves …………… Minced Garlic
1/2…………………… Cup Romano Cheese
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Directions for making same day Pizza Dough:

1st Evolution:
Preheat your conventional indoor oven to 450˚F and place pizza stone on top
rack. Later spread out your pizza dough on the pizza peel to the desired size. The
peel must be coated with semolina flour or cornmeal so that the pizza will slip off
easily onto the hot pizza stone in the oven. You should be able to slide the pizza
off the peel onto the stone in one quick motion. Use the peel to lift up and spin
your pizza on same to ensure the bottom has cooked properly. *If you are
blessed with an outdoor (wood, charcoal or gas fired) pizza oven then you will
need a laser thermometer to test the temperature of the stone and will use the
peel to check the bottom of the pizza dough and spin the pie as needed. Outdoor
pizza ovens cook much faster than indoor conventional ovens and there are a
number of helpful videos I would encourage you to watch on YouTube.
*Note: Actually I purchased the pizza stone to use on the gas grill for baking homemade naan bread and
most often in our electric kitchen oven I use a square baking pan to make pizza and have also used the
round pans with holes in the bottom. One of the things that causes pizza dough to fail while baking is
too much moisture from toppings…less is more! That said, you may wish to partially pre-bake your pizza
dough before adding topping. *Partially pre-baking the pizza dough is the norm when making a five
white cheese pizza.

2nd Evolution:
In an adequate size container mix warm water, two teaspoons of dissolved
organic sugar, dry yeast, and let proof 10 minutes or until foamy.
3rd Evolution:
In a large mixing bowl combine flour and salt. Add the optional dry spice
ingredients if desired during this step (Italian spices, garlic, and ground Romano
cheese).

4th Evolution:
Make a well in the center of the flour. Add yeast mixture, olive oil, honey/organic
sugar, and mix thoroughly. Regularly I use chopsticks when mixing or cooking,
but you can perform this step by hand, with an electric mixer and a dough hook
or using any tool that works for you.

5th Evolution:
Knead the pizza dough until elastic and smooth. Add additional flour if the dough
is too sticky. Add additional water if the dough is too dry.

6th Evolution:
Using your hands, brush or spray coat the dough ball and bowl with olive oil.
Place the oiled dough ball back in the bowl.
*Note: If you are going to bake a pizza now then continue to the 7th evolution. If you are going to freeze
the dough then divide it into the desired sizes, coat with olive oil, wrap with plastic, label and date your
creation, and store in freezer safe plastic bags. If you have elected to freeze the pizza dough then do not
allow the dough to rise unless you are going to make half-baked frozen pizzas as a time saver.

7th Evolution:
Cover the dough with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm place until doubled in
size for about 1 hour.

8th Evolution:
When the dough is doubled in size place the dough on a surface sprinkled with
semolina flour (better than using cornmeal) and spread dough with a rolling pin
or by hand until it stretches to the desired shape. Square pizzas are traditional or
if you bake with a stone form the dough into whatever shape works for you.
Place the dough on a pizza pan that has been liberally coated with olive oil and
using a fork or spiked roller, poke many holes through dough to prevent air
bubbles while baking. Add your favorite toppings to the pizza.

9th Evolution:
In a preheated oven at 450˚F bake the pizza for around 20 minutes depending
on the thickness and until the crust has crisp golden edges and the cheese has
melted on the top.
Note: Remember moisture is the enemy of pizza dough so depending on your oven and location you
might have to adjust the temperature and cooking time to avoid burning the crust. Likewise depending
on the quantity of topping being used you might consider pre-baking those separately to remove
moisture content in advance of adding them to your pizza dough.
Directions for Toppings: To make my favorite 5 White Cheese Pizza.

*Note: Cooking removes moisture. Since the ricotta is a wet cheese it should be used sparingly as a base
and the pizza crust will benefit if partially cooked first. Using larger quantities of vegetable toppings will
require additional cooking time and could challenge you between removing moisture verses burning the
crust. Therefore you might want to consider partially pre-cooking certain vegetables like peppers and
onions to remove moisture content before using them on your pizza if using vegetables en masse.
Pepperoni can be degreased in the microwave while pressed between two plates with paper towels.
Meats should be precooked before placing them on your pizza unless you are using fast cooking items
like shrimp. One of my personal meat favorites on a personal size pizza remains kosher hotdogs.

1st Application:
Coat crust with extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic, minced anchovies (optional),
and pesto sauce. Omit the anchovies if your homemade ethnic version of pesto
already includes anchovies like mine.

2nd Application:
Spread on a layer of whole milk (not skim milk) ricotta cheese as the substitute
for tomato sauce on a white cheese pizza.

3rd Application:
Add the last four of the five cheeses, Swiss (my secret hidden flavor that causes
less to seem like more in a number of food recipes), mozzarella (mootz),
provolone, and ground Romano. *Also adding feta or changing the types of
cheeses altogether is up to you while captaining your own pizza destiny.

4th Application:
Add pre-blended Italian seasoning, garlic, fresh basil, fresh oregano, fresh
spinach, portabella mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts, thinly sliced onion,
diced peppers, pickled red peppers, sundried tomato in olive oil, fresh tomatoes
with the seeds removed, and sausage or other Italian meats.

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