Run out of pizza sauce or life lead to a road unexplored? Make the best of white pizza with or without sauce!

When we are after white pizza, we expect nothing more than a pizza crust with melted cheese on top with maybe a bit of extra topping but definitely less sauce on it. How wrong we are!

What’s white pizza?

Not because white pizza is not just plain cheesy bread without the tomato, because it is, but because we could do so much more using white sauce on the crust. Some recipes have already tried to substitute the emptiness between the cheese and crust with bechamel sauce or ricotta cheese, not knowing that their search for perfection is in vain.

It isn’t because they can’t find it but because there is already something in the World that’s ready to take over the reins and lead white pizza to the stardom it really deserves.

The success of pizza lies in its ability to appeal to the most diverse audience imaginable (in the case of cauliflower pizza it’s even beyond) without breaking its main character.

It doesn’t even need to stick to its form factor or many of its ingredients. As long as we can spread the soul of the pizza somewhere, we can have pizza even if it’s monkey bread, pull apart bread or something really weird like Roscon de Reyes.

Yet, soul and body can’t be totally separated without shattering its whole existence into pieces. Pouring pizza sauce on pasta would make something totally different so does filling pizza bread with tzatziki.

The jury is out there if trading one’s soul would be worth an eternity in the service of the devil but as pizzas put their fate into the hands of their maker so have we, to trust in the path designated to us.

If our path leads on a road spread with sour cream or crème fraiche, we have to make the best of it.

As traditional pizza comes with cheese basil and oregano as a base or purist even would say only with those ingredients sour cream topped white pizzas have their pure form too. Bacon, red onion and cheese make up the essential toppings, but we should never shy away from possibilities that are coming in our way.

Ingredients

(6 x 8 oz / 230g Pizza)

Starter

⅞ cup / 100g Flour
½ cup / 100ml Water
1g Fresh yeast

Dough

6¼ cup / 750g All purpose flour
½ oz / 10g Fresh yeast
2 cups / 500ml Lukewarm Water
¾ oz / 20g Extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon / 10g Salt

Sauce

7oz / 200g Sour Cream

Topping

10 oz / 300g Cheese of choice ( Gouda, Edam…)
4 oz / 120g Bacon, pancetta or guanciale (sliced)
1 red Onion (sliced)
5 oz / 150g Mozzarella (fresh sliced)

How to make White pizza

Starter

Making a starter is not absolutely necessary but it will provide a more complex flavor for the dough. Combine flour, water and the yeast in an airtight container and put it into the fridge for 4 – 6 hours. It will double in size so choose a big enough box.

Dough

Measure flour into a kneading bowl and sprinkle fresh yeast on top. No need to dissolve the yeast.
Pour in the olive oil and at least half of the water.
Add the starter in too. It tends to stick to the box but mixing it with some flour from the bowl will help salvage every bit without much effort. If starter is not used, just add the equivalent amount of flour and water to the bowl.
Knead the dough until it comes together gradually adding the remaining water and the salt. We are after a sticky humid dough as we are going to bake the pizza in a low temperature home oven. Flouring our hand will prevent the dough to stick to it.
Cover the dough and place it to a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C corner to raise.
It could take anything from 40 – 90 minutes depending on the temperature to double in size.
Take the dough out onto a floured surface.
Separate it into two and shape the dough into elongated forms for easier measuring.
Cut the dough up into 6 equal parts that will results 8 oz / 230g pizza dough.
Sprinkle a bit of water on a cleaned surface then flour our hands.
Roll balls from the dough. Check out how to roll dough
Place the rolled dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle water on top.
Cover it with a kitchen towel then sprinkle water onto the kitchen towel too. If we are lucky, this will prevent the dough sticking to it. Alternatively we can use a high walled container with a lid, anything that will let the dough rise while not letting it to dry out.
Place it into a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C corner again for 60 – 90 minutes until it doubles.
Dust a spatula with flour and take a dough off the tray.
Place it onto a floured working surface upside down then flour the top of the dough and our hands too.
Start shaping the pizza by pressing down the top of the dough by moving from one side of the dough to the opposite. Check out How to shape a pizza!
Create the side of the crust by leaving out a ½” / 1cm part of the dough down along the side of the crust.
Press down gently the middle the second time.
Flip the dough then repeat the shaping process on this side too.
It’s time to give the dough its final shape. Hold the dough still with one hand while grabbing the dough with the other and stretching it mildly about double of the original size.
Rotate the dough a quarter and stretch that side as well.
Repeat the turning and stretching until the desired size is achieved. A 10″ / 30cm size pizza can easily achievable with this method. Alternatively use a rolling pin.
Spread about 2 tablespoons sour cream on top of the dough.
Sprinkle some grated cheese, sliced bacon, and sliced fresh mozzarella.
Sprinkle over some crucial red onion and the white pizza is ready to slide onto the pizza peel. Don’t forget to sprinkle flour onto the pizza peel so it won’t stick.
Slide it onto a baking steel or preheated metal tray.
Place the dough into a preheated oven at maximum temperature which means 480°F / 250°C in most cases for about 6 – 8 minutes. Turn around the pizza after 4 minutes if necessary.
Slice it up and serve!

Enjoy!

Note: Home ovens aren’t really made to bake pizza so we have to try our best to imitate a real oven. Place the baking tray on the top shelf and place the pizza there. The best results can be achieved by using pizza baking steel but in lack of that we can use the standard metal baking sheet. If we don’t have a pizza peel to move the dough into the hot tray, in the oven preheat a baking tray. Once its hot, take it out with a heat resistant glove, slide the prepared pizza onto it and put it quickly back into the oven.