I have a new love for pizza, granted I have ALWAYS loved pizza, but since discovering white pizzas I just love them. I love to order them both out and make them at home.

When hanging out with my mom a few weeks ago she told me about a new white sauce recipe she had discovered. When she told me it was mayo, Parmesan, and ranch dressing I didn’t really believe her. But then again she has never lead me astray. So I went for it.

It made an AWESOME sauce, you could not taste the mayo, it was more a parmesany ranchy taste. Very yummy, and went perfect on the white pizza. I also tried a new dough recipe… actually Adam tried a dough recipe. It was a good dough, but didn’t brown up quiet like other doughs I have made.

Whole Grain Pizza Crust (From: Branny Boils Over)

• 1.5 cups warm water, divided
• 1 T active dry yeast
• 1 t honey
• 2 cups flour (I used all white as I had no wheat)
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• ¾ t coarse salt
• 2 t olive oil

Stir yeast into ½ cup warm water.  Add honey and let stand 5 minutes.  Place flours in food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Add salt and pulse.  Pour in yeast mixture, remaining water, and oil.  Process 1 minute until dough comes together.  Let rest 20 minutes before rolling out.

White Pizza Sauce (From: My Mom)

• 1 cup ranch dressing
• 1 cup mayo
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix all together and top on crust.

I baked my crust for about 5-10 minutes then topped with white sauce, shredded chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, and cheese. Of Course onions on Adam’s half.

When Adam and I sat down to plan our menu we wanted to buy as little groceries as possible. We were making a whole chicken that was in the freezer and I had some leftover pesto from Cream Cheese and Pesto Stuff Chicken and decided this would make a simple pizza. But our chicken turned out to be a diaster last night so we subbed ham in.

This was the BEST pizza we have ever had, the crust was no soggy at all something I normally don’t like about homemade pizza, the toppings were yummy. And I think we both have a new passion for pesto.

For toppings on our pizza we put a thin layer of pesto, ham, spinach, sauted mushrooms with garlic, and mozzarella cheese.

Basic Pizza Dough (From: Annie’s Eats)

• ½ cup warm water (about 110°)
• 1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast
• 1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.  Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.  

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed.  Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms.  Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Press the dough to deflate it.

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven.  Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal.  Top as desired.  Slide the dough onto the pizza stone.  Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.  Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

I know I posted my menu and we didn’t get around to half the stuff we planned too. We ended up eating leftovers to try to clean out the fridge. One thing we did get around too was grilled pizza. I have wanted to tried this since I heard it talked about on the nest. I was overall not impressed with it, nor the pictures, but wanted to post on my experience anyway.

I made my own dough, recipe here in my blog. I then baked it in the oven for about 8 minutes because I was worried about just throwing it on the grill. We went went out, put it on the grill. Added our toppings and let it cook on low on the grill. It tasted just like regular pizza to us, except with a crispy crust. For us living in an apartment it’s a hassle to go out to grill.

I have been in the mood for pizza, but have became somewhat of a pizza picky. So I made my own tonight, I tried two new things today. I made my own pizza sauce, and also made stuffed crust pizza. It was VERY GOOD.

For the crust, I used Trader Joe’s crust because I had one in the freezer to use, but next time I will make homemade. I used string cheese and cut it into 4ths and then laid around the outside edge then rolled the dough around it. I prebaked the crust for about 8 minutes. Then added toppings then finish the baking process. Pizza Sauce (From: Chelley325)

**This recipe yields enough sauce for two large pizzas.

We were invited to my Dad’s for a 4th of July BBQ, I decided to bring a fruit pizza. I made one a few years ago, but have been in the mood to make it again. I used fruit to make it a little more festive. But you can use any fruit.

Fruit Pizza (From:Myself)

• 2 tubes of sugar cookie dough
• 2 pkg. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 lemon (you could use vanilla extract)
• strawberries
• blueberries

Spread the cookie dough in pan. I used 2 tubes because I used a large cookie sheet, but you could use a round pizza pan to do it. Bake as directed on package. Let cool

Mix cream cheese, sugar, a little lemon juice (I used almost the whole lemon) and some lemon zest.

Spread across the cookie then top with fresh fruit of your choice.