Spinach and Ricotta Pizza

Submitted by ratherbeswimmin

"A classic"

 

• Ready In: 58mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 15 ounces pizza dough, at room temperature (New York-Style Pizza Dough)
• unbleached bread flour, for dusting
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup pizza sauce (New York-Style Pizza Sauce)
• 1⁄2 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 1⁄2 cups lightly packed fresh spinach leaves, torn into large pieces
• 1⁄2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 2 cups coarsely shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1⁄3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 ripe tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced

directions

1. Position an oven rack on the 2nd-lowest level in the oven; place a baking stone on the rack; position another rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat oven to 500°.
2. Coat a 12-inch pizza screen or perforated pizza pan with cooking spray.
3. Lightly dust pizza dough with flour; lay dough in prepared pan and gently stretch into a 12-inch round.
4. Top the pizza: brush the dough with 1 tablespoons olive oil.
5. Spread the pizza sauce evenly over dough, leaving a ¼-inch border.
6. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top; distribute the spinach evenly over the top and sprinkle garlic over the spinach.
7. Cover the spinach with the mozzarella.
8. Using a teaspoon, arrange little globs of ricotta evenly over the top.
9. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoons olive oil.
10. Place pizza in oven on the upper rack.
11. Bake 10 minutes, until crust is crisp and golden brown.
12. Using a pizza peel, lift pizza off the pan and place the crust directly on the baking stone; remove pizza pan from oven.
13. Bake about 3 more minutes, until bottom of crust is golden brown.
14. Using the peel, remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board.
15. Arrange tomato slices over the top; slice and serve.

Reviews

[jessi_mcg]

This is absolutely delightful. It reminded me of pizzas I ate from street vendors in Rome, minus the tomato sauce of course! I have to admit that I "healthed" it up a bit, but to little to no detriment IMHO. I used 1 t olive oil on the crust and 1 t on top, doubled the garlic, and used 1 1/2 c part-skim mozzarella. Like BigNanc, I put the tomato on before the last minute of baking and put it back in the oven to heat the tomato, too. I also added fresh basil from my garden, and I think this was actually essential to my enjoyment of the pizza as the flavor became pesto-like. While it is tempting to skip the oil altogether I have to advise that you not--it really adds a special something if you use quality stuff. Also, I didn't have multiple pans available to use so I just baked it on one sheet pan. I did, however, use the two levels in the oven which is a great approach to getting evenly cooked crust. Thanks so much for posting this; it is a keeper and then some!

 

[BigNanc]

Wow! This pizza was delicious. DH had been to an Italian restaurant that served pizza with ricotta, spinach and tomatoes and asked me to find a recipe. He said this was better than the restaurant pizza. I used more garlic and put the pizza back in to oven for a minute to heat the sliced tomato. It was wonderful!