This simple but tasty broccoli pizza is loaded with four cheeses including mozzarella, goat cheese, ricotta cheese and Parmesan. And even better, you get the veggies you need with the broccoli.
Pizza… you’ll soon realize it’s our favorite food. I’ve made more than my fair share of pizzas and will be sharing many more in the coming months as we have pizza once a week. For as much as I’ve enjoyed pizza over the years, it was just two years ago that I made my own dough for the first time. Before that, I would use naan or pita bread, which is still very good in its own right. However I recently came across a no-knead pizza dough recipe which really takes out the hard work. You literally just mix the ingredients in a bowl and then let it rise overnight.
One note on this dough. You can use it in a baking sheet or on a pizza stone. I found if you like to make pizza a fair amount, then a $30 investment in a stone is worth the price. While it’s no pizza oven, it gets the bottom crisper than a baking sheet. Early on when using the stone however, I had trouble transferring the pizza from the peel to the stone. I soon discovered that parchment paper helps transfer the pizza.
Growing up I was a pretty picky eater. One thing I really couldn’t stand was tomato sauce. I could handle it on a pizza if it was very light but otherwise, a pizza doused in tomato sauce was terrible to me, so no I would never even try a Chicago-style pizza! Because of my weird dislike of tomato sauce, I loved pizzas that didn’t have a tomato base. So naturally, a traditional white pizza was one of my favorites. I actually remember the first time I ever had goat cheese was with a four cheese pizza at Wolfgang Puck’s in Downtown Disney. Needless to say it was love at first taste with goat cheese and I’ve never looked back. With a sauce that is just olive oil and garlic, what could be better? Ironically the first vegetable I really enjoyed was broccoli, which goes against everything said about being picky. So today I’m sharing an adaptation of what I grew up on.
What Ingredients are in this Four Cheese White Broccoli Pizza Recipe?
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Mozzarella cheese
- Goat cheese
- Ricotta cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- Broccoli
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Italian seasoning
- Fresh basil
What are Keys to No-Knead Dough?
Honestly not much. Make sure you use lukewarm water for the yeast and then after you mix, just give it time to rise overnight. Probably the most important thing would be in a warm area, preferably around 72°F. After the dough has risen overnight transfer to a floured surface and shape in a ball, then let rise for a couple more hours. Obviously with a no-knead dough you have to plan on making the pizza the following day. So if you’re like us and have Pizza Friday’s, you just make the dough Thursday night. This dough really works great with this particularly broccoli pizza.
Do I Have To Make My Own Pizza Dough?
Of course not. I just like making pizza dough, but you can buy fresh pizza dough where you roll out yourself or pre-baked crusts. I still suggest buying the fresh pizza dough. Most grocery stores carry it these days, but Trader Joe’s has the best!
Other Pizza Recipes:
Four Cheese White Broccoli Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 tsp dry active yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
Four Cheese White Broccoli Pizza
- 5 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella, diced into 1" cubes
- 3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups broccoli
- salt + black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- sprinkle of cornmeal
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- In mixing bowl, combine yeast and warm water. Mix and then let sit for 10 minutes until foamy. (You want water temperate to be between 105°F and 110°F to activate the yeast)
- With paddle attachment, gradually add flour and salt and mix on medium speed until combined. Add just enough flour where the mixture goes from a batter consistency to dough consistency. It should be sticky, but not lumpy.
- Rub the same bowl with a little bit of olive oil and place dough in bowl, turning to coat it. Cover with saran wrap and a towel in a warm place, allowing it to rise for 24 hours. Transfer to a floured surface and shape into ball. Cover and allow to rise for another 2 hours before using with pizza.
Four Cheese White Broccoli Pizza
- Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500°F. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add broccoli along with salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes or until broccoli is bright green. Add crushed red pepper flakes and 1 clove garlic, chopped and cook for an addition 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
- In a small bowl combine two tbsp of olive oil with the remaining chopped garlic. (3 cloves)
- Lay out a piece of parchment paper on top of pizza peel. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Roll out the pizza dough on top of the parchment paper to your desired shape and thickness. You can use your hands to gently tug, pull and push the dough to how you want it to look as well. (Roller pin is better!)
- Add the garlic/olive oil mixture evenly over the dough, leaving the edges untouched. Sprinkle the cubed mozzarella and crumbled goat cheese. Add dollops of ricotta cheese throughout the pizza and finish with the parmesan. Finish topping with the broccoli. Sprinkle the crust with some Italian seasoning.
- Transfer pizza to pizza stone with parchment paper still underneath and bake for 15-20 minutes or until top is bubbly and bottom is golden brown. (The parchment paper makes it easy to be able to slide pizza dough off of peel, which I had much trouble with before discovering this trick)
- Remove from oven. Top pizza with fresh basil and serve immediately.
Big fan of four cheese pizza!