PROSCIUTTO, SUNDRIED TOMATO & GOAT CHEESE PIZZA

It's Friday, so that can only mean one thing: PIZZA FRIDAY! I’m dedicating this pizza to my dear friend, Ellen, who I think I’ve served pizza to at least 50% of the time she’s visited. This is a spin on a traditional margarita pizza. It's truly delicious and super simple. It reminds me of a fancy flatbread one might order at a chic and trendy restaurant. Goat cheese pairs really well with a few foods, and I believe sundried tomatoes is one of them.

When I’m eating prosciutto alone, I like San Daniele, so I tend to use it on my pizza, as well. But any prosciutto you like will do. You can often purchase sundried tomatoes already julienned. If they’re in oil, make sure you rinse and drain them first so you don't have an oily pizza. I’m giving you permission to use a ready-made sauce because I do. My one rule about using store-bought ingredients is that you should be able to recognize everything in the ingredient listing, and there are tons of tomato sauces that meet this criterion. The best thing about pizza is that you can add as much or as little of any topping as you want, making it a low-stress meal option.

If you made pizza dough from last week's pizza (Bobby Flay's dough on attached recipe card) and froze the other half, now is the time to unthaw it. But I'm also giving you permission to purchase ready-made frozen or fresh pizza dough. Whole Foods makes a great multi-grain frozen dough. Or you could swing by a local pizzeria and purchase their dough. The recipe below assumes you’re using a pizza stone, but feel free to use a good old-fashioned pizza pan or cookie sheet if you don’t have a stone. You’ll just need to adjust the baking temperature and time. 

6 slices                     thinly sliced prosciutto, roughly chopped
½ cup                        sundried tomatoes, rinsed and drained, julienned
12 medium                 fresh basil leaves, julienned (about ½ cup unpacked)
4 – 6 oz                     goat cheese, room temperature
1 ball                          pizza dough, room temperature
1 teaspoon                 olive oil
1 cup                          tomato basil pasta sauce (store-bought or your own)
1/8 teaspoon              kosher salt
5-6 medium               fresh basil leaves, julienned, for garnish
                                   all-purpose flour for rolling out dough

Preheat pizza stone in oven at 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes.

Topping Prep: Roughly chop the prosciutto into 1-2 inch pieces. Rinse, drain, and pat dry the sundried tomatoes if in oil. Julienne them if not already cut. To julienne the basil leaves, stack them on top of one another flat. Roll them tightly into a cylinder lengthwise and then slice the cylinder about every ¼ inch.

Prepare pizza dough. Lightly flour a wooden cutting board or smooth surface and rolling pin. Roll out pizza dough into a large circle about 12 inches in diameter to form the crust. Lightly flour wooden pizza spatula and move crust onto it. Using your fingers, pinch a narrow rim around the perimeter of the crust.

Using a pastry brush, spread 1 teaspoon olive oil over the crust, followed by salt, avoiding the rimmed edge. Spread sauce over crust, avoiding the rimmed edge. Place prosciutto on top of sauce, followed by sundried tomatoes, and then fresh basil. Pinch off small pieces of goat cheese to sprinkle over pizza. 

Slide pizza onto pizza stone in oven and bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven using wooden spatula and allow to cool on cutting board for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle the rest of the fresh basil over entire pizza if desired.