We can all agree that pizza is a universally accepted dish. We can’t say that everyone loves pizza 100% but we’re pretty close. It’s 99.9%. The 0.1% that doesn’t love it doesn’t hate it but simply don’t love it as much as we do. The point is, pizza is good and we all accept it for what it is. Pizza, you’re wonderful.
But have you ever tried pizza with seasonal ingredients? Have you tried pizza with some of the most seasonal ingredients, turned into great toppings such as wild garlic pesto?
Hang on, kids. You’re in for a culinary ride.
I’ve heard Clean Cut Pizza before. What does it mean?
Clean Cut Pizza is the newest kind of pizza quirks that the world has now bestowed upon us. We said earlier that everyone appreciates pizza but we all don’t exactly agree on everything about pizza.
Some argue about thick or thin pizza. Some argue about whether or not pineapples are acceptable in pizza. And now, this: Roller pizza cutter used for every pizza vs. Clean Cut Pizza.
First, let’s define what Clean Cut Pizza is. Clean Cut Pizza is cutting the cooked pizza with a freshly washed or clean pizza cutter.
On a regular night of ordering pizzas, these pizzerias are usually jam-packed with orders. Preparing hundreds of pizza orders means that you must find ways to get that pizza out to the customer. Many pizzerias have a lot of pizza cutters but usually; the same blade goes through a number of pizzas before getting washed. Sometimes, the pizza cutters are often soaked in a bowl of hot water to “wash” off the ingredients from the previous pizza.
A clean-cut pizza is a way of making sure that cross-contamination doesn’t happen. If ingredients are cross-contaminated into other dishes, it’s likely that germs can transfer or that allergens like nuts and crustaceans might land on someone’s pizza that is allergic.
Use a pizza stone!
A pizza stone of one useful tool you can have in order to produce a really good pizza crust. You can make the best recipe for pizza dough but if you use it on a pan, the pizza may not cook evenly and the crust might flop.
A pizza stone conducts and holds heat evenly throughout the baking period of the pizza and makes the crust crispy and crusty. Not only does the pizza stone work well for pizzas but it also works well for other breads.
Ingredients
- All-purpose Flour. All-purpose flour is a good flour to work with for pizza dough most especially if you’re a beginner or if you can’t be bothered using a different kind of flour. Pizza experts may use other kinds of flour such as whole wheat or bread flour but all-purpose flour is the Switzerland of all flours for pizza.
- Instant Yeast. If you’re not making sourdough pizza flour, instant yeast is your friend. It’s fast and easy to make pizza dough with instant yeast. All you have to do is mix it with some warm water.
- Olive Oil. You could use extra virgin olive oil for this or pomace. The olive oil is a good and subtle flavor addition to the pizza dough as well.
- Salt. We’re strong believers of sea salt.
- Parmesan Cheese. We can’t go wrong with the classic, Grana Padano. If you don’t have this, regular Parmesan cheese would work. Although what could be more regular than Grana Padano?
- Cherry Tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are topped on this pizza because it brings freshness and tomato zing into the dish.
- Tomato Passata. This is basically tomato puree for pizza. You may make your own tomato passata by mixing crushed canned tomatoes with some oregano, basil, salt and pepper.
- Fresh Mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella is our top pick for this pizza because it matches the pesto ever so well. Fresh mozzarella is a lot lighter than ages mozzarella that’s yellow.
- Prosciutto. You can use any kind of prosciutto you wish but prosciutto di Parma is on top of our list.
- Wild Garlic pesto. Either make the pesto yourself or buy it at a store if you can find it!
How to make wild garlic pesto pizza with prosciutto and Parmesan?
You must first make the dough since it’ll need some time to rest. Since most of the ingredients are instant in our recipe, you can mix all of the ingredients for the dough in one mixing bowl and knead by hand or stand mixer. Once the dough is formed, let it rest for 1.5 hours.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven up to 500F with the pizza stone. Remember the pizza stone because it is what will make the pizza be amazing (other than the awesome toppings, of course!)
Make the tomato passata if you must. If you don’t have ready-made tomato passata, combine a can of crushed tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and some oregano. Set aside.
Assemble the pizza by stretching out the rest pizza dough. Smear the tomato passata onto the pizza dough, leaving an empty crust around the pizza. Lay the torn-up fresh mozzarella over the tomato passata then place the halved cherry tomatoes on top of the cheese. The pizza is now ready to be baked. Scoop the pizza off the table then onto the pizza stone in the oven. Allow to bake for 10-15 minutes, until the crust turns golden brown. Remove from the oven then place on a serving plate. Drop a couple of teaspoons of the pesto over the pizza and then cut the pizza into 8, placing one slice of prosciutto for every slice of pizza.
How to keep your pizza warm!
You may keep your pizza warm by keeping it on the pizza stone. If you don’t have that option, you can easily reheat it in an oven toaster or back in the oven.
You may also wrap each pizza slice in aluminum foil to retain the heat but that wouldn’t look too nice.
If you’re fancy and you have a heat lamp, you may place your pizza under the heat lamp.
How long is my leftover pizza good for?
Just like any cooked food, leftover pizza is good in the chiller for up to about 7 days. Remember that the quality of the pizza won’t be as good as when you first had it, fresh out of the oven. You can easily reheat chilled pizza in an oven toaster or the microwave.
Wild Garlic Pesto Pizza with Prosciutto and Parmesan
Equipment
- Pizza Stone
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2.5 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Instant Yeast
- ¾ cups Warm Water
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
Pizza
- 6 pieces Cherry Tomatoes halved
- 250 g Fresh Mozzarella torn
- 2 cups Tomato Passata
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 8 slices Prosciutto di Parma
- 3 tbsp Parmesan Cheese grated
- Wild Garlic Pesto as much as you want
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the pizza dough. Mix in the all-purpose flour, yeast, salt, olive oil, warm water, and salt. When the dough forms, place it in a floured bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rest for 1.5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 500F with the pizza stone in it.
- Make the tomato passata by mixing the tomato puree with salt and oregano.
- Stretch out the dough into a 10” circle and smear the tomato passata around the dough, leaving an outer layer of naked crust.
- Add the torn fresh mozzarella on top of the tomato passata then add the cherry tomatoes. Using a large pizza wooden spatula, scoop the pizza from the table onto the pizza stone in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes until it turns golden brown.
- Scoop the pizza out of the oven and into a serving plate, or you may use the same pizza stone (to keep it warm), and then drop teaspoons of pesto around the pizza. Sprinkle some Parmesan over it and slice into 8 slices. Place one slice of prosciutto for every slice of pizza.
- Serve on the pizza stone or a serving plate.
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