White Pizza

White Pizza with Yogurt Sauce was a recipe designed for a National Kidney Foundation cooking class. Removing tomatoes and using a yogurt-based sauce was the main goal. Pizza made with dough and cheese will never be the healthiest option, but this recipe is a step in the right direction without replacing every aspect of a pizza. Sure, there are different options for the dough such as a cauliflower crust but not everyone is ready to go from zero to sixty overnight.
Pizza is the first love of Chef Brian, as a teenager he worked at Phil’s Pizza for years, where he was taught by the owner and learned countless skills. It was there where the owner entrusted him to be a manager at a very young age. If Chef had to point to a mentor that kick started and armed him with the proper tools to succeed, it would be Phil.
Pizza, on the surface, seems pretty basic and straight forward. There is some truth to that, anyone can make pizza. However, very few can make great pizza. The dough, the sauce, the quality of the cheese and the toppings, how it is cooked, the oven or fire that it is cooked with can take a very basic pizza and turn it into a masterpiece.
This White Pizza with Yogurt Sauce may not be a masterpiece, but it is very good, and it comes with half the amount of guilt that people on a restricted diet have to live with after eating a red sauce, extra cheese, and pepperoni pizza.
To make this White Pizza with Yogurt Sauce recipe, start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a mixing bowl, dissolve your yeast in warm water. Sugar feeds yeast, so you can add your sugar into the bowl if you’d like or add it to the dry ingredients in the next step. The yeast will puff and be fully activated after about ten minutes.
In a separate mixing bowl, mix the flour and the sugar together. You can add one teaspoon of salt here if you are not on a restricted diet.
Combine the flour and sugar with the water and yeast. You can either mix these ingredients together by hand or use an electric stand mixer. The mixer will help to develop the gluten and add air more quickly and easily but working by hand will give you the same result, especially after kneading. Once the ingredients are mixed then you will want to lightly flour a surface and knead your dough for about ten minutes. If the dough becomes too sticky add a touch of flour and if it becomes too dry add a sprinkle of water.
Kneading dough is a crucial step in making pizza dough, it adds air, elasticity, structure, and consistency. It basically gives it that chewy texture and keeps it from being dense and flat.
Form the dough into a dough ball and place it back into the mixing bowl. Lightly oil the top of the dough, cover it, and place it on your warm stovetop (warm from the oven being on) until it doubles in size. This will take a couple of hours, but you can check for doneness by poking it with your finger. If you poke it and it immediately bounces back, then it needs more time. If you poke it, it leaves an indent that takes a few seconds to bounce back then it is most likely done. If you poke it and it leaves an indent that never bounces back then congratulations, you are the most patient person on the planet.
After the dough has risen and is ready to form, remove it from the mixing bowl and place it on a floured surface. Press, pull, and stretch the dough to make your desired shape and thickness. You can place the dough on a sheet pan, a pizza pan, a pizza stone, or even press it into a cast iron skillet. Be sure to lightly oil the pans OR use a bit of cornmeal on the pan/s.
You can make a crust by pinching the outer edge of the dough before adding your sauce, cheese, and other toppings.
To make the yogurt sauce, combine Greek yogurt (full fat), minced garlic, and black pepper together. Fresh herbs like dill, basil, and oregano would be a nice touch too. Spoon your yogurt onto the dough and use the back of the spoon to spread the yogurt to within about a 1/2″ away from the edge of the pizza. Some people like very little crust and sauce all the way to the edge, if that’s your preference then go for it but make sure you put something under your pizza while it cooks to catch any drippings.
White pizza isn’t typically yogurt sauce, it is usually a garlic, herb, parmesan, and oil based sauce but this is an alternative option that is sharing a name for the time being.
Add your cheese to the top of the pizza first, get your cheese as close to the crust as possible and be sure to overlap any sauce with the cheese. Add the onion and red bell pepper to the pizza.
Bake the pizza in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese and the pizza dough are golden brown. Remove the pizza from the oven and let rest for ten minutes to allow the cheese time to cool and make the pizza easier to cut.
Finish/garnish the pizza with fresh parsley, red pepper flake, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Slice your pizza then dig in!
Enjoy your White Pizza with Yogurt Sauce!