I may or may not have eaten this pizza for breakfast.
By “may or may not,” I mean I most certainly did eat this pizza for breakfast.
I’ve picked up the habit of saying “may or may not…” as a noncommittal way of admitting to things I don’t want to flat-out admit.
Example: I may or may not have eaten a GIGANTIC red velvet cookie ice cream sandwich Saturday night and called it dinner.
Mmmm, yup. That happened.
I may or may not have sent a work email to about 30 co-workers that, I thought, said “These images have been previously uploaded.”
… It actually read, “These images have been preciously uploaded.”
I may or may not have then received a reply email from one of said co-workers which said, “I’m glad you take such good care of our images, they are quite precious.”
Goodness.
For the record, I would just like to point out that the letters “C” and “V” are precariously close on the keyboard. Just sayin’.
I may or may not wear my sunglasses on the T (Boston subway), even if the train is going underground and there is absolutely no need for sunglasses.
I may or may not have worn that skirt out in public on several occasions, only to realize that it’s too short.
I may or may not wear yoga pants instead of socially-acceptable pants (i.e. jeans) out of the house because I’m just too lazy to change and because these yoga pants are just too comfy.
There – I admit it all. Guilty as charged!
This pizza doesn’t try to imitate authentic New York pizza. That’s just something that I, personally, don’t believe can be done without the proper (industrial) equipment, NY water, and pizza-making finesse. That said, it does have all of the characteristics that a homemade pizza should. Crisp but chewy crust: Check. Bubbling-like-lava melted, stringy cheese: Check. Saltiness: Check. An unexpected element to highlight the base flavors: Check. (Thank you, parsley and scallions!)
And yes, pizza can (and should) totally be eaten for breakfast. (Might I recommend topping your slice with a fried egg? Ironically, I tried that combo for lunch and it was CRAZY GOOD.) Breakfast. Of. Champions.
White Pizza with Scallions and Parsley
Dough barely adapted from Jim Lahey, via Shutterbean
Dough:
– 3 ¾ C. all purpose flour
– 2 ½ tsp. instant or active dry yeast
– ¾ tsp. table salt
– ¾ tsp. granulated sugar
– 1 1/3 C. warm water
– extra virgin olive oil for pan (I used about ¼ C.)
Assembly:
– 1 portion pizza dough (1/2 recipe above)
– 1 C. whole milk ricotta cheese
– 1/3 C. freshly grated romano cheese
– salt, to taste
– 4 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
– fresh ground black pepper, to taste
– ¼ C. finely sliced scallions
– ½ C. finely chopped fresh parsley
Make the Dough:
In a bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water, and using a spoon, your hand, or a baker’s plastic bench scraper, mix together until blended and forms a smooth ball — this should take a couple of minutes. You may have to knead the dough about 8-12 times to reach this point.
Cover the dough and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours.
Assemble and Bake:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Dump out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut it in half. You’ll only need one portion for this recipe; wrap the other up and save in the refrigerator for up to 1 day (you can also freeze the dough in a Ziploc). Oil a rimmed baking sheet liberally with good extra virgin olive oil (my baking sheet is 12” x 17” – you probably don’t want to go much smaller). Then gently plop the dough on the pan and stretch and press it out to the edges. If it springs back wait five minutes and then proceed. The dough is very thin. If it tears, piece it back together. (Note: I didn’t stretch my dough to cover the entire surface area of the baking sheet. I stretched mine to approximately a 10” x 17” oblong. What you’re mainly looking for is a really thin base – no holes – with a bit of a lip for the crust. This isn’t supposed to be perfect pizzeria pizza – this is freeform and rustic.)
In a small bowl, mix together ricotta, romano, and salt until combined. Spoon mixture over top of the dough; using the back of the spoon, spread evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving about ¾ of an inch at the edges for the crust. Lay mozzarella evenly over the top of ricotta layer. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbling. Remove from oven. Immediately, add desired amount of black pepper, followed by scallions and parsley. (Note: The amount of scallions and parsley you add is to taste, too. I used all of the scallions and closer to 1/3 C. parsley, but it is always better to have more ingredients prepared than to not have enough.) Slice into 8 pieces (or desired number of servings) and serve right away.
Yields 8 Slices
The Moonlight Baker 