summer pizza with arugula

One of our favorite things to do in Todi, for dinner, is make pizza. We’ve got a great pizza oven and Domenico and I make a perfect team. He takes care of the fire side of things, and I’m in charge of all things edible.

Although I’ve played around with various doughs over the years I always go back to my friend Evan Kleiman’s master recipe from her book Pizza, Pasta, Pannini. This year I’ve been tweaking it a bit, switching in a cup of rye or whole wheat flour for one cup of white.

Toppings? That’s always a work in progress. Cheeses from the local caseifici for sure. Vegetables from the garden in abundance. Bits and pieces of this and that: pancetta, garlic, onions, salame. My pizzas have seen it all.

The other night my sister and brother-in-law were visiting with my nieces. They are all big time pizza eaters so I went a little over board in the dough department. There’s nothing worse than running out of pizza dough mid meal, right? As it turned out, 12 pizzas for 8 people was even too much for us to handle.

I decided to cook up the leftovers anyway, with a simple coating of olive oil, salt and rosemary. But I took the last ball of whole wheat dough, and topped it with a good coating of a local cheese called l’Intruso. Made from cow’s milk, it is the local equivalent of parmesan, only better. Even more buttery and nutty.

The next day for lunch, instead of just cutting it up and putting it in the bread basket along with the other leftovers, I used it as a base for a summer pizza.

Heaped with freshly harvested arugula from the garden and a good handful of L’Intruso shavings it was delicious. In fact, everyone said it was their favorite. It’s too bad my sister and family aren’t here tonight to enjoy it again. They’ll just have to content themselves with the extremely silly video my brother-in-law Phil made for his friends John and Daniela who are coming to stay at our house in September.







Summer Pizza with Arugula

Evan’s Pizza Dough Recipe – Tweaked with Whole Wheat
Makes Four 10-inch pizzas

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (I use 15 grams lievito di birra)
1/4 cup luke warm water
2 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup cold water

In small bowl add yeast to water and let fizz for 15 minutes (I skip this, and just disvolve the cake of yeast in the water)

In large bowl combine yeast and water with 1 1/2 cups of the white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour salt, olive oil and cold water. Stir to form a thick batter. Add the rest of the flour a little at a time, eventually transferring it to a floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should be soft and a bit sticky, but elastic.

Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes, covered.

Divide the dough into four balls, place on a board and cover. Let rise for about an hour.

Topping:

Grated parmesan cheese
Parmesan cheese flakes
Arugula
Olive oil
Salt

Roll out a ball of dough thinly.
Sprinkle with about a 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in pizza oven.

When pizza is done, top with argula, which you have dressed with olive oil and salt. Scatter parmesan cheese flakes on top and serve.