Bitterroot Pizza

Bitterroot Pizza

This pizza is inspired by one I’ve eaten at Bullman’s in Kalispell, Montana. You can read my review of Bullman’s in my post from 7/7/13 titled Kalispell Trip. It has a thin crust, olive oil base (no tomato sauce) and is topped with mozzarella, pistachio, red onion and rosemary. This recipe is enough for two large pizzas.

Pizza Crust:

4 cups bread flour (regular will do)

1.5 tsp sugar

1 envelope dry yeast

2.5 tsp salt

1.5 cups water

2 tbs olive oil

Combine dry ingredients in a stand mixer and slowly add water and oil while mixer is running. Beat until the dough forms a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until it comes together in one ball. If it is too dry, add more water. Then scrape the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes. Grease a large bowl and let the dough sit covered until it doubles in size (about 1 hour). Then turn it out onto a floured surface and split into 2 equal pieces.

Toppings: (half for each pizza)

4 Tbs. Olive Oil

2 tsp sea salt-coarse grind

8-10 oz fresh grated mozzarella (pre-grated will do)

¾ cup of crushed/chopped pistachios

2 Tbs. chopped rosemary

¾ cup of diced red onion

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with the pizza stone inside. While the stone is preheating, roll one of the dough balls out into a large circle. Make sure to get the crust nice and thin. Once the stone is preheated, take it out and quickly place the rolled out dough on the stone. Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the salt over the rolled out crust evenly. Then top with the grated cheese and sprinkle the 3 toppings evenly over the crust. Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly (about 10 minutes).

Tips:

Don’t try to move an already topped dough onto the stone, put toppings on while on the stone. If you top it then try to move, it is a hassle and the crust starts to mush together while moving it.The dough gets too thick and then the pizza ends up a bit dry.

Don’t put too much oil on or it will start to drip off the sides and burn in the oven causing a lot of smoke. Just put enough oil to moisten the top of the crust. If stuff starts to drip off the sides, put a cookie pan underneath to catch the drips.

Variations:

Obviously, you can make any kind of pizza you want with this process, but some alternatives for this type include using a pesto sauce base instead of the olive oil base. Adding prosciutto or bacon also takes this up a notch.