Yo! Tony, gimme a slice o’ dat pie.
In truth, I did hear these kinds of exchanges between fellas in Brooklyn. When in Carroll Gardens. . . . In an attempt to illustrate the point, when 
Bobby DeNiro’s character in “Goodfellas” is waving the Renne Russo character down the block to pick up some dresses and the camera pulls back to reveal the street signs of Smith and W 9th, well, that’s the other side of the block where I lived. Carroll Gardens, capisci?
At the minimum white pizza ought to start, or at least include, ricotta cheese. I’ve seen it be at its worst a poorly made cream sauce with parmesan cheese (not Italian) and too much garlic. Ooof!
I really do love a great white pizza. I have discovered more and more, outside of NYC, if I want that, I have to make it. So, I did.
It’s all about the basics
This is the basic recipe I use. It has the fabulous ability to adapt to whatever I add or subtract from it as long as ricotta is the base. Do your best or worst, whichever is the one you like. Post some pictures.
You can find my pizza dough recipe here.
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White Pizza
Not a tomato in sight (unless you want one) white pizza captures a different aspect of what pizza can be. It can handle a few toppings but the jewel is the cheese mix. That's the secret to make this pizza sing.
Ingredients
White Pizza Cheese mix
- 8 oz Whole milk ricotta
- 4 oz Shredded mozzarella
- 2 oz Grated Pecorino Romano
- 2 oz Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Sub Provolone is you wish
- 2 oz Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T Fresh chopped oregano or marjoram Or both!
- 4 oz Heavy cream
- q.b.* Salt and pepper
Instructions
Mix the topping
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Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon or in a mixer on speed 1. Check the seasoning. Cheeses tend toward salty so you might not need salt.
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Using an offset spatula, carefully spread the cheese mixture on the rolled dough. The dough will be a bit soft and non-compliant. No worries. Spread the cheese by placing large mounds of the cheese at the center and the even numbers of a clock face. Push the cheese toward the other mounds. If there are a few spots where the cheese
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Place your toppings on top. Bake on a stone and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake until the crust is done and the cheese turns golden brown and delicious.
Recipe Notes
*q.b. means quanto basta, or as needed. The cheeses may tend toward salty, so taste the mix before adding additional salt. Pepper you will almost certainly want.
These weights are a guide. That means I don’t measure the cheeses for this all that well. I am a stickler for measuring when measuring matters. In the case of this topping, it just does not matter. If you prefer more or less of this or that, make the topping as you wish. You are eating it, not me.
I find it of importance to make sure that some ingredients do not go on pizza raw. Raw peppers or mushrooms contain a lot of moisture and will ruin a pizza by all that water running out onto your pie. Cook them first. Then place the cooked peppers, mushroom, bacon or sausage on the pie. Onions are fine cut thin. I like broccoli on pizza, but I cut mine small so they get well caramelized. Cauliflower too. I avoid sliced tomatoes but do use halved grape tomatoes. Both have an incredible amount of water, but the grape tomatoes, place cut side up, allow the skin to retain the majority of that extra water and it doesn’t ruin the pizza.
A moment of cooking philosophy: Details matter when they are important. Recipes matter for the details. But, sometimes, when they don’t matter and you can make a dinner better as you see it by making it to your tastes, then that is absolutely what you should do. If you prefer pesto and not oregano, use it. If you hate provolone but love gruyere, use it.
