Ricotta pizza
This ricotta pizza with cherry tomatoes and basil makes a simple yet fresh and delicious vegetarian pizza that everyone will LOVE!
Servings: 2
Ingredients
Pizza dough
Ricotta pizza topping
- 1 cup (250 grams) full-fat ricotta
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- ¼ teaspoon fresh garlic clove, grated
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt, season to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup (240 ml) tomato pizza sauce
- 10-12 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
- a handful of fresh basil leaves, to serve
Instructions
Pizza dough
- You can use this stand-mixer dough (ready in about 3 hours), this easy no-knead dough (ready in about 1 ½ hours), or your favorite dough enough for 2 servings. If using my dough recipes, follow the recipe link and method.
Ricotta topping
- Make the cheese mixture: Add the ricotta, olive oil, garlic, seasoning, and mix with a spoon until fully combined and creamy. Taste and adjust the seasoning and overall flavor to your liking; add a bit more garlic or chili flakes if you like. Once the ricotta is well combined with the other ingredients, set aside.
- Preheated the oven: When the dough is ready and fluffy, a pizza stone in the oven and preheat at least 230 ℃/450℉ – a hotter oven leads to a better pizza!
- Shape the dough: Place the parchment paper onto a baking tray. Then stretch the dough starting from the center, gently press it out with your fingers until you get a round circle (11 inches/30 cm in diameter) and place it on the paper. Please note, if you make my no-knead recipe, you'll get approx a 9×13 inch pizza instead, not two round pizzas.
- Add the topping: Top with the pizza sauce and add small dollops of ricotta cheese using two small spoons, then top each dollop with halved cherry tomatoes and gently press them to spread the ricotta mixture.
- Bake the pizza: When the oven is hot, use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza and parchment paper onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the crust is nicely browned, approx 10-15 minutes. But each oven is different, keep an eye on it ( in a forced fan oven it will take about 8-10 minutes).
- Serve: allow the pizza to cool for a minute or two before serving, then scatter with fresh basil leaves and sea salt flakes (optional), drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil. Slice, serve immediately, enjoy!
Notes
What to use instead of a pizza stone? A rimmed baking sheet or a large cookie sheet that you can invert it and place on the lowest shelf of your oven work fine. When the baking sheet is right-side up, taking the pizza in and out of the oven will be easier and the preheated baking sheet will make a nice and crisp pizza crust.
How to measure flour? I use both US cups and grams. The cups of flour are leveled, which means you have to fill the measuring cup all the way to the top letting the flour flow over a little. Then, use the back of a knife to level the top off. But a digital scale is an excellent kitchen tool and gives a more correct weight.
Ricotta pizza leftovers: cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the refrigerator up to 1 day or freeze up to 3 months. Thaw and reheat the pizza leftovers in the preheated the oven (350 F/180 C) and bake for about 8 minutes or until warmed through, crispy and the cheese is melted. Enjoy!