This pizza got rave reviews last Saturday when it was taste tested.

Pizza dough ingredients (makes 4- 12″ round pizzas; adjust amounts for a smaller quantity)

• 1 cup very warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• approx. 3 cups while flour

Dissolve sugar in water in mixing bowl.  Sprinkle yeast on top and wait for the yeast to bubble to the top.Add 1 cup flour + salt and stir.  Continue to stir in more flour until it begins to form a ball.  Scrape sides of bowl and turn onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour only as needed to keep dough from sticking to surface and hands. Continue kneading until the dough is very elastic.  Let rest on floured surface or place in oiled bowl twice the size and cover. Be sure to oil the top of the ball.

Sauce:

A basic Bechamel white sauce formed my base. For speed and simplicity I used a St. Hubert Fine Cuisine mix which we sell for under $2.00 at our store.  But you can also make the sauce from scratch using these instructions. The mix is easy because you don’t have to make a roux.  You just add the mix to the milk whisk or stir until it comes to a boil. Then let it simmer for a few minutes. 1 package will make enough sauce for 4 -12 inch round pizzas. The instruction link will make enough for 2 pizzas. For a lactose free pizza be sure to use lactose free milk.

Toppings for each pizza:

• Fresh basil chopped (The packages you can find in the produce department will be enough for 4 pizzas.  If I don’t use the entire pkg, I take the leaves off the stems, wash and put the rest of the pkg in the freezer. Then the frozen leaves can be crumbled into recipes.)
• 1/2 cup Agropur lactose free caraway gouda grated
• 50 gm  Chevretine unripened soft goat’s cheese cubed finely
• 1/4 cup chopped red pepper
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes sliced thin across the centers

Assembling the pizzas:

If you have made enough dough for multiple pizzas divide dough into smaller balls.  Roll out each ball into a circle.  Stretch the dough to the right size. This little video shows how to do this like a professional pizza dough thrower.  I stretch the dough first like he demonstrates by letting the weight of the dough pull the edges outward.  But I don’t get dramatic by throwing the dough around… I let the dough to lie on my work surface with my hands underneath and my knuckles pulling to the sides. The important tip here is that stretching the dough gives you that signature chewy crust.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and place a rack on the bottom level. Many people swear by pizza stones. But I have found that cheap well darkened tins on the lower rack of a very hot oven give great results. Make sure that the oven is totally preheated before you put your pizza in and oil the pan well…not so much that the oil drips off the pan while it bakes.  But enough to “sizzle” the crust into crisp perfection.

Place your stretched pizza dough on your oiled pan. Spread each pizza with 1/2 cup Bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with chopped basil and red peppers. Cover with lactose free gouda and goat cubes. Place mini tomato slices on top of the cheese.

Bake for approx. 10-15 minutes. When the cheese is melted and the bottom is golden and crisp it is ready.