It’s pretty much a given that if it has garlic on it, I’ll eat it.

This vegetarian pizza is no exception.

It gets its rich, mellow flavor from slow-roasted garlic and fresh, baby spinach. Fontina and Parmesan add depth and a little salt. The tangy white sauce balances out the flavors.

Vote Hungry Mouse!

OK, so here’s the deal.

This is my entry in the Breakstone’s Battle of the Kitchen Bloggers, hosted by Sandra Lee. . (Yep, the same folks who hosted last year’s Triple Churned Challenge.) Check out my appetizer, Sweet & Spicy Coconut Shrimp.

For the Showdown, Kraft invited me and 2 other bloggers to duke it out. Picture American Idol meets Iron Chef and you’ve kind of got the idea. (Our secret ingredient? Breakstone’s sour cream.)

I picked pizza because it’s something that’s easy to throw together on a weeknight if you have dough on hand. (And if you don’t, grab a ball at your local market or pizza joint on the way home.) You can get pretty creative with ingredients–and you’re almost always guaranteed to have something you can use on hand.

Don’t believe me? Go take a peek in your fridge and come up with a pizza. (Leave a note in the comments below!) I’m bracing for that artichoke heart, bacon, and broccoli pizza. (Ya know, I’ll bet it would be delicious.)

The participating bloggers have a chance to win a cash prize (1^st place is $350, 2^nd place is $250, and 3^rd place is $150).

Enter to win!

As part of the Holiday Showdown, you can enter win a handful of different prizes. If you enter, you’ll have a chance to win a $50 gift card (one winner each week).

You’ll also automatically be entered to win a grand prize of $2,500!

Sound enticing? I thought it might. Click here to enter to win. You can go back and vote and enter every day!

Alrighty, to the ovens!

Roasted Garlic & Spinach Pizza

1 large whole head of garlic
good quality olive oil
½ cup whole milk ricotta
1/4 cup Breakstone’s sour cream
1 ball pizza dough
Fontina cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup fresh baby spinach

Makes 1 large pizza, serves 4-6

Roast the garlic

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Whack the garlic head in half horizontally.

Put it in a small baking dish (paper and all) and drizzle with olive oil.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Roast for 25-40 minutes, until soft, golden brown, and fragrant. Remove from the oven & uncover the pan.

Yank the roasted garlic cloves out of the skin with a fork and put them in a small bowl.

Mash them into a paste in a small dish with a fork.

Strain the oil (that’s pure roasted garlic flavor), pop it in the fridge, and reserve it for another use. (Add to salad dressings, brush bread before toasting, rub a roasting chicken with it, you name it…)

Make the white sauce

Put the ricotta, Breakstone’s sour cream, and roasted garlic in a small dish. Whisk together until uniform. Set aside.

Assemble the pizza

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Roll the pizza dough out on a lightly floured board.

Transfer to an unlined, nonstick pizza pan. Stretch it out with your hands so it covers the whole pan.

Spread the dough evenly with the sour cream & roasted garlic mixture.

Sprinkle with a thin layer of Fontina.

Add a thin layer of baby spinach.

Sprinkle with another thin layer of Fontina. Dust with Parmesan cheese. I tossed on a little freshly cracked pepper, just for good measure. You get the idea. (Pizza is a great canvas. Don’t be afraid to improvise.)

Bake the pizza

Bake the pizza in your preheated, 500-degree oven for 10-12 minutes, until crisp and lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and slide it onto a wooden board. Slice and serve immediately.

Serving tip

Add more protein to this pizza with thinly sliced, leftover roast chicken or par-cooked shrimp. (And a handful of crispy, crumbled bacon couldn’t hurt, either…)

Please vote for The Hungry Mouse!

Click here to enter to vote and enter to win.

Related posts:

1. Simple Spinach Salad with Toasted Walnuts & Gorgonzola So, a handful of years ago, I worked out of...
2. Maple Roasted Figs I put figs in the same camp as black licorice:...
3. Sweet & Spicy Coconut Shrimp (Plus, enter to win $2,500!) This is my appetizer entry in the Breakstone's Battle of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you’ve ever met me in person, even once, you’re almost guaranteed to know at least one thing about me: I love cheese.

With autumn coming, I’m starting to swing into baking mode. It’s something that I look forward to every year.

This cheese bread is moist and dense, and packed with cheese-y flavor.

The wreath shape is really festive, and is an easy way to dress up any fall meal or celebration.

Sam’s Club & The Hungry Mouse

Before I get to the bread, I’m really excited to announce that The Hungry Mouse is working on a few special projects with Sam’s Club!

I’ll be doing some special recipe development, as well as hosting a bunch of awesome giveaways over the coming months. They’re even paying me for my time. (Thanks, guys!! Here’s to keeping The Hungry Mouse in cheese all year round…)

Stay tuned for more info. I’m so excited!

On to the cheese!

Sam’s Club recently sent me about 600 different kinds of of cheese and asked me to use some of them to develop a recipe. (Alright, I’m exaggerating. They sent me 14 big pieces of cheese, which is still an epic amount of cheese, especially for a mouse…)

If you don’t think that Sam’s Club is a place to buy cheese, think again.

I’m fussy (as in, really fussy) about my cheese, and I was beyond blown away by the quality of the stuff they sent me to test. I’ll definitely be heading there to pick up cheese when I need bigger blocks.

Have your cheese and eat it, too…in France!

Sam’s Club is running a contest right now, and the grand prize is a trip to France!

Check out their New Cheeses Facebook application for more info on how to enter, and to learn more about the cheeses they offer. You can also visit their Fall Harvest site.

Meet the three cheeses

So, out of all the cheeses Sam’s sent me, I picked the Parmesan, the asiago fresco, and the herbed gouda for this recipe. I wanted to use stronger cheeses to be sure my bread had really good flavor.

This asiago is actually asiago fresco, which means it’s not aged, so it’s softer and creamier.

The Parmesan is salty and nutty.

And the gouda is flecked with herbs, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic.

To the ovens!

Harvest Cheese Bread Wreath

1 Tbls. yeast
1 Tbls. white sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 cups grated cheese for dough (I used equal parts asiago, gouda, & parm)
1 cup grated cheeese for topping (I used the gouda)

Serves about 10

Proof the yeast

Take the time to do this. By proofing the yeast (i.e. mixing it with warm water and a little sugar), you’re confirming that your yeast is happy, healthy, and (most importantly) alive.

Put the yeast in the bowl of your mixer (or a large mixing bowl if making by hand).

Toss in the sugar.

Add the warm water. (You want warm water, not hot. Hot water will kill the yeast. Basically, use water warm enough to wash your hands comfortably in.)

Mix them up and let the bowl sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes, you should see that a “raft” of yeast has formed on the top. It will be opaque and creamy looking. That means your yeast is alive and happy.

(If for some reason you don’t see this, toss the mixture and try again. Either your water was too hot, or your yeast was already dead to begin with, in which case you’ll need to purchase fresh yeast.)

While the yeast is proofing, grate up the cheese.

Make the dough

When the yeast is proofed, toss the flour and salt into the bowl. (The cheese has some salt, too, so if you’re sensitive about salt intake, leave this bit out.)

I use my KitchenAid to mix the dough, so I always give it a preliminary mix by hand (well, by hook) to avoid flour flying everywhere when I turn on my mixer.

Slap the bowl on your stand mixer and mix with your dough hook until you have a rough dough.

With the mixer running on low, sprinkle the cheese into the dough.

When you’ve added all the cheese, crank up the speed for a minute or two, and knead the dough until it’s fairly elastic.

Round the dough up into a ball with your hands. (If there are crumbs of sorts in the bottom of the bowl, just smoosh them into the dough by hand.)

The first rise

Cover the bowl with a few damp towels. Set it in a warm place to rise for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

My dough looked like this after about an hour:

Roll out the dough

Sprinkle a little flour on a board or your counter.

Punch down the dough to smoosh all the air out of it. Round it up into a neat ball on the board.

Whack the dough into three relatively even pieces with a bencher or a large, sharp knife.

Take one piece. Roll it into a tube between your palms, just like you used to when you played with Play-D’oh when you were a kid.

Now, normally, I’m not one for weights and measures, but the thickness (and hence, length) of the dough affects how long the bread will have to bake. Roll the tube out until it’s about 2 feet long.

Yep, I said 2 feet.

Repeat with the other two pieces of dough.

Make sure they’re about even in width.

Braid the dough

Line a sheet pan or a pizza pan with parchment paper and set it aside.

If you know how to braid hair, you know how to braid bread dough. If you don’t, here’s a quick walk through.

Grab the three ends of the dough.

Put them together like this and smoosh them so they stick together.

You braid from the outside in. Take the piece on the left and cross it over the center piece.

Take the piece on the right and cross it over the piece that’s now in the center.

Keep going like this until you get to the end of the dough.

Gather the ends together. Press them together and tuck them under, so they stick together.

And…voila! You should have one massively long dough braid.

And now (wait for it), curl both ends up together until they meet in a circle.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Take a look now at the place where the two dough ends meet. Smoosh them together so they stick. Don’t make yourself nuts with this. Just get them to stick together. As the dough rises, the circle will become more secure, as long as the ends were loosely connected to begin with.

Let the wreath rise like this, uncovered, in a warm place for about an hour, or until it’s doubled in size.

About 15 minutes before you think it’ll be done, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

After about an hour, you should be looking at a nice, plump wreath.

Brush the dough with egg wash

Beat up one egg in a medium-sized bowl.

With your hand or a pastry brush, gently brush the dough with beaten egg. Be careful not to press too hard, because you’ll squeeze the air out of the dough.

Don’t be fussy…just cover the whole braid with beaten egg. The great thing about bread is that, no matter how messy it looks before you bake it, it almost always looks beautiful when it comes out of the oven.

Sprinkle the top of the bread with 1 cup of grated cheese (I used the gouda).

Bake the bread

Pop the pan into your preheated, 350-degree oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

When it’s done, yank it out of the oven.

Let it cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then slide it off onto a rack to finish cooling.

.

Slice. Serve. Inhale.

Enjoy! Happy fall, everyone!

*Please note that Sam’s Club compensated me for my participation in this campaign.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This past weekend, our esteemed friend the Baron von Hammer came to dinner.

Now, the Baron is one of my favorite people on the planet to feed, so I always try to put together an extra special, stick-to-your-ribs menu when he comes calling.

I also seem to be making a tradition of stuffing him with brontosaurus-sized slabs of meat.

Last time, it was Steakhouse-Style Pan Roasted Sirloins. This time, I did much the same thing, but with thick, bone-in rib-eyes. There was a cheesy noodle dish. There was a chocolate cheesecake (more on that in a few days).

And there was Fougasse. (Because you can’t invite a baron for a feast and serve him store-bought bread, right?)

Fougasse is a traditional Provencal bread that’s studded with olives and fresh herbs. It’s chewy and flavorful and (you guessed it) totally my new favorite bread.

Since I decided to make this on the fly, I made due with what I had on hand: Marinated green olives and dried rosemary and thyme.

You can definitely do the same. This bread would be fabulous studded with anything from smoked salt to fresh dill or even toasted walnuts.

The bread is rustic and so pretty to bring to the table—and really easy to make. Serve one or two with dinner, and send the rest home with your friends.

To the ovens!

Fougasse

(Provençal Bread with Olives & Herbs)

Adapted from Saveur

1 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/3 cups water
4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for brushing dough
1 tsp. kosher salt
Cornmeal, for dusting
1/2 cup kalamata olives, minced
1/4 cup green olives, minced
2 tbsp. parsley, minced
2 tbsp. thyme, minced
1 tbsp. rosemary, minced
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Yields 5 loaves (they’re on the thin side, so it’s not a totally unmanageable amount of bread)

Proof your yeast

Grab your yeast.

Put the yeast and sugar in the bowl of your mixer (or a large mixing bowl if you’re mixing by hand).

Toss in the water. (It should be warm enough to wash your hands, but not hot. Water that’s too hot will kill yeast, and your bread won’t rise.)

Whisk it together. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Take the time to do this. It’s the test to check and make sure that your yeast is alive and happy. I always do, even though it seems unnecessary, because I’d hate to add all the other ingredients, then find out that my bread won’t rise.)

After about 10 minutes, your yeast should “bloom.”

In other words, you’ll see a little opaque raft floating on the surface of the water. That means your yeast is alive and happy.

Make the dough

Toss in the flour and salt.

Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

Give it a quick  mix to start the dough. I do this so that the mixer doesn’t throw flour all over my counter when I turn it on.

Knead for about 5 minutes on medium high, until you have a firm, dry-ish dough.

The first rise (about 1 1/2 hours)

Round up the dough in a rough ball in your bowl. Cover with a few damp paper towels and let it rise for about an hour and a half, or until it’s doubled in size.

(I did this in a new bowl, since I was using my mixer for something else and needed the bowl clean. If you’re not, you can just leave it in the bowl you mixed it in.)

(Sidebar: Penelope is really turning into a Kitchen Dog. She loves to hang out with me while I’m cooking! Isn’t she getting big?)

Shaping the loaves

When your dough has about doubled in size, you’re ready to shape your loaves. Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.  Toss a little flour on a board.

Grab your dough. Smoosh it around in your hands to get the air out of it. It should be on the dry side (as in, it won’t stick very much to your hands).

Round it up in a ball and set it on your board.

Whack it in 5 even wedges with a bencher or sharp knife.

Grab one wedge.

Roll it out so it’s about 8 inches long and 5 inches wide at the base.

Cut 3 long slits and 1 short slit in it like this:

Take the dough and transfer it to one of your prepared parchment lined pans. (Toss a little cornmeal on the paper if you like. I completely forgot to do this.)

When the dough is on the pan, pull the slits apart. This is going to be pretty representative of your finished bread, so be sure you’re happy with how the dough looks.

Repeat with the rest of the dough. I could fit 2 breads on 1 sheet pan.

Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let them stand for about 30 minutes. They will poof up a little, but not dramatically. That’s just fine.

Bake the fougasse

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees about 15 minutes before you’re ready to bake. Chop up the olives and herbs. Like I said, I used dry herbs in a pinch here.

Lightly brush the surface of the dough with olive oil. Sprinkle with chopped olives.

Toss on a little salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Bake the bread

Pop them into the oven and bake at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.

I split my dough between 3 pans, so I baked 2 pans at once, then did the last pan afterwards.

Let cool on a wire rack, if you can bear to wait to tear into them. Enjoy!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sooner or later, all my conversations inevitably turn to food.

Don’t believe me? Call me up sometime and try to, say, sell me some insurance. I guarantee that before we get off the phone, I’ll be giving you my recipe for blackberry jam. I can’t help it. It’s just how I work.

Perfect example: I was in a meeting a few weeks ago at the office. We finished up our conference call, started chatting as we wrapped up—and somehow wound up talking about stuffed breads. (Really. I have a recipe loosely jotted on the cover of a folder.)

What was the best way to make them? What kind of dough should you use? How can you keep them from bursting, etc.

Ah, the Frankenroll

This recipe borrows heavily from two fairly unrelated things. The stromboli, that rolled and stuffed bread extraordinaire—and the cinnamon bun.

To make these rolls, spread pizza dough liberally with melted butter, sprinkle it with cheese and spices, roll it up like a stromboli—then slice and bake like a pan of cinnamon buns.

The result? The rolls are soft, savory, and totally buttery and delicious. They’re topped with a layer of crispy, brown cheese, and shot through with molten cheese.

Fill them however you like

The best part about these rolls? You can stuff them with anything you like. Different cheeses (use any that melt well). Chopped pepperonil, olives, and spinach. Fresh herbs. Bits of leftover bacon or ham.

This is what I always refer to as a Sliding-Scale Recipe. Basically, that means it’s a recipe that works whether you put in a lot of effort—or hardly any at all.

You can toss it together with a ball of pre-made dough and a bag of shredded cheese from the grocery store—or you can go all out and make the dough from scratch and grate your favorite cheeses by hand. It’ll be delicious either way.

I like to throw these rolls together on a weeknight. All you need is a ball of pizza dough (grab one at the grocery store or from a local pizza joint) and a bag of shredded cheese.

It’s a great way to get fresher-than-storebought bread on the table when you have kids running around—or, say, a brand new puppy—or have just had a long day and are in the mood for some carb-laden goodness with dinner.

So, this one’s for you, Scott. It’s not *exactly* a stromboli, but it’s definitely a delicious first cousin.

Cheese Pinwheel Rolls

1 ball pizza dough
2 Tbls. butter
1 – 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
Parmesan cheese, grated
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
garlic powder

Makes about a dozen rolls

Lightly grease an 8-inch x 8-inch glass baking pan. Set it aside.

Roll out the pizza dough

Grab your dough (homemade or store bought).

Plop it on a lightly floured board.

Smoosh it flat and roughly in the shape of a rectangle.

Roll it out in a rough rectangle.

(Be sure to make your junior kitchen staff feel included.)

Spread the dough with butter & cheese

Melt the butter. (I do this in the microwave. About 20 seconds on high usually does the trick.)

Pour it in the center of your rolled dough.

With your hand or a spatula, spread the butter to cover the dough.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

Sprinkle the dough with an even layer of finely shredded cheese. I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar.

You want to lay it on thick (cover the Parmesan so you don’t really see it), but not too thick.

Sprinkle with a little kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and garlic powder. If you want to add other ingredients (herbs, olives, etc.) add them in a thin layer now.

Roll up the dough

Roll the dough up like this, so you wind up with a long tube. Tuck the cheese in as you roll, like you would when rolling a burrito or a spring roll.

Next, whack it into about 12 pieces.

I make them about an inch or so wide.

The end pieces will be kind of scrawny. That’s just fine. You’re going to stick them together in a corner of the pan to form one roll.

Take one roll carefully, so that it doesn’t unroll. Set it in the corner of your prepared pan.

Repeat with the rest of the rolls, until you’ve nestled them all in.

Stick the ends into a corner together. They’ll sort of bake together into one roll.

Let rise for 3o minutes

Cover with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

They won’t poof up much after 30 minutes.

Bake the rolls

Pop into your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

They’re done when the dough is lightly browned, and the cheese has bubbled up and formed a nice, golden brown crust.

(Here are those ends you stuck together.)

The bottoms should have a similar, golden brown cheese thing going on, as well.

Cool them in the pan for about 10 minutes.

Then airlift them out with a spatula or two. Serve warm, or let cool to room temperature.

Pull apart. Serve and enjoy!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Pizza is the great unifier.

I mean, you can take a handful of motley, leftover ingredients (say, a little spinach, some cooked bacon, the last bits of a few different kinds of cheese), put them on a pizza, and…presto! A delicious meal with very little effort.

It’s my ultimate I-have-no-idea-what-to-make-for-dinner-tonight meal.

This is also my second entry in the Breakstone’s Triple Churned Challenge. If you like what you see, please consider voting for my menu! (When you vote, you’ll be entered to win $300!)

Homemade pizza dough versus store bought

For this pizza, you can go all out and make the dough from scratch—or, if you’re short on time, swing by your local pizza joint and ask them to sell you a ball or two of dough. Most places are happy to oblige.

Or grab a ball of fresh dough at the grocery store on your way home from work. (Pizza dough also freezes really well. You just need to plan ahead a little to thaw it out.)

I’ll often make a batch of dough at the beginning of the week, so I have it on hand when inspiration strikes.

My favorite pizza dough recipes

If you want to make your own dough, here’s a list of my favorite pizza recipes to date. I used the dough from the Thin-Crust Pizza for this pizza.

• Thin-Crust Pizza—great flavor, chewy texture, needs to be made the night before
• Nice & Easy Pizza Dough—quick dough, aged less, good in a pinch
• Thick Crust Sausage & Cheese Pizza—thicker, breadier crust

Less is more (the secret to good thin-crust pizza)

Go light on toppings. Use as many as you like, but don’t pile them on by the metric tonne. When you’re tempted to add more: Stop. You can do it. You’ll thank yourself later.

Your restraint will help keep the crust from getting soggy.

Pizza is a good way to use up leftover ingredients

Or stretch a small amount of pricier ingredients to feed a crowd.

For this pizza, you build layers of flavor by quickly sautéing the shrimp in a little bit of bacon fat and freshly cracked black pepper. The bacon adds a subtle smokiness that pairs really well with the asparagus.

Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to peel and devein fresh shrimp. (Scroll down.)

I used 16/25 count shrimp for this recipe, but by all means, use any size you like—or whatever’s on sale.

Bigger shrimp just make a more dramatic presentation.

The white sauce is a mixture of ricotta and Breakstone’s sour cream, which adds a really nice tang to the pizza.

I used whole milk ricotta, but it would be good with skim, too.

For this recipe, I used my favorite Black Forest bacon from Whole Foods.

The Black Forest bacon is totally worth hunting down, and not really more expensive than a pound of regular bacon that’s not on sale. (Alright, I’ll readily admit that I’m probably addicted to the stuff.) But by all means, use your favorite bacon.

The fresh chili pepper adds a little heat (if you’re not crazy about hot stuff, just leave it off).  I also used asparagus, one of my favorite springtime veggies—not to mention an excellent companion to bacon.

This particular combination of ingredients makes a great springtime pizza.

My second recipe for the Breakstone’s Triple Churned Challenge

So, we’ve been challenged!

That’s right! The good folks from Breakstone’s threw down the gauntlet, and we picked it right up (mice love found things, after all). Here’s the scoop on The Breakstone’s Triple Churned Challenge.

Vote today and be entered to win $300

Breakstone’s challenged me and three other gals to create an appetizer, entree, and dessert using their Triple Churned Sour Cream.

This contest is sponsored by Breakstone’s and the winner will be chosen by reader vote. Readers can vote for their favorite recipes here once a day. The grand prize is $3,000 (how cool is that?)!

And every time you vote, you’ll be entered to win a $300. The more you vote, the greater your chances to win. (Thanks, Breakstone’s!)

If you missed it, here’s my entry in the appetizer category: Panko & Chili Crusted Oven Fried Chicken Fingers.

The basic technique for this pizza

The short version of this recipe goes like this: Fry the bacon and par-cook the shrimp. Roll the dough out. Slap a little sauce on it. Arrange your ingredients. Bake in a super hot oven for about 12 minutes. Inhale.

Read on for more detailed instructions.

Spicy White Pizza with Bacon, Shrimp & Asparagus

1 ball pizza dough (see note above)
coarse cornmeal for the pizza pan
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta
1/4 cup Breakstone’s sour cream
1/4 lb. bacon, diced
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
6-7 spears asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 chili pepper, seeded, deveined, and sliced into thin strips
shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
freshly cracked black pepper

Makes 1 large pizza

Bring your dough to room temperature

For this recipe, I’m assuming that you either bought a ball of pizza dough somewhere—or made your own. If you’ve refrigerated your dough, take it out and let it come up to room temperature before handling.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.

Prep your veggies

Nip the bottom quarter-inch or so of the asparagus off and discard. Chop the spears into pieces about a half an inch long. Whack the top off your chili pepper.

Cut it in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and the ribs. Discard them.

Slice the pepper lengthwise into thin strips.

Make the white sauce for the pizza

Put the ricotta and the Breakstone’s sour cream in a small bowl.

Grind on a little fresh black pepper. (I don’t add any salt here because the shredded cheese is usually plenty salty.)

Mix until uniform. Set aside.

Fry the bacon

Dice the bacon up. Put it in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat.

Stir occasionally, cooking until the bacon is crisp.

Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon. Set it aside in a bowl (line it with a paper towel, if you like, to catch any leftover grease).

Pre-cook the shrimp

Discard most of the bacon fat from the frying pan. (Save it in the fridge and use it to fry potatoes!)

Toss the shrimp into the pan. Season with a little freshly cracked black pepper. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.

This is important. You just want to get a little color on the shrimp at this point—but not cook them all the way through.

When they’ve just turned pink on both sides, yank them out of the pan and put them in a bowl. (See how they’re a little blueish and translucent in places? That’s what you want. It means they’re still raw inside.) They’ll finish cooking in the oven.

Roll out the dough

Sprinkle a little coarse cornmeal on a large pizza pan (round or rectangular…up to you!

Set your ball of dough on a lightly floured board.

Stretch it out (or roll it…sacrilege, I know…but also pretty darn effective) so it covers your whole pizza pan.

Assemble the pizza!

Grab your cheese out of the fridge. It’s time to assemble the pizza.

So, by now, your counter should look about like this. Pan covered in dough. Ricotta/sour cream white sauce. Fried bacon and shrimp. Sliced asparagus and chili pepper. Grated Parmesan and shredded mozzarella.

Spread a thin layer of white sauce on the dough. (Depending on how large your pizza is and how thin you rolled the crust, you may or may not use all of the sauce.)

Sprinkle with half the chopped bacon.

Sprinkle with a little shredded mozzarella.

Arrange the shrimp so they’re spread out.

Add some slivers of pepper.

And the asparagus spears.

Sprinkle with the rest of the bacon, a little more mozzarella, and some grated Parmesan. Topping a pizza like this (cheese, toppings, more cheese), helps the toppings stick to the pizza better when you bite into a slice.

Bake the pizza!

Pop the pizza into your preheated 500-degree oven.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbly and the crust is crisp.

Yank the pan out of the oven. Slice immediately and serve.

Enjoy!

If you liked this pizza, please vote for me!

You can vote daily, and be entered to win $300.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.