Kendra's Treats

We had another round of snow + ice this weekend and I’m running out of things to do. Thank goodness I have my own treadmill/home gym so I haven’t had to miss any of my workouts. The house is super clean, the laundry is caught up, and I’ve got 6+ blog posts ready to publish. Of course, I could always study….or I could make homemade pizza! 😉 I love homemade pizza. There’s just something so satisfying about making your own dough and topping it just the way you want. It’s also nice to know exactly what’s in your pizza. Quality ingredients – especially the cheese – can really bring your homemade pizza to the next level.

A few weeks ago, Jordan ordered an Old-World 5 Cheese Pizza from Snappy Tomato. It was essentially an alfredo pizza – or at least that’s what it tasted like to us. It had a layer of white cheese sauce topped with mozarella cheese. It was delicious and rivaled our favorite pizza from Snappy, the BBQ Hawaiian. (Here is my homemade version.) I decided to make my own version of their 5-Cheese Pizza. I started with my absolute favorite pizza dough recipe. It’s easy and comes out perfect every single time! You can use part whole wheat flour (as I did here) or you can use all white/bread flour. Either way it’s delicious. Next, I made some alfredo sauce. Many alfredo sauce recipes call for lots of butter and heavy cream, but I decided to try and lighten it up a bit by using skim milk and reducing the amount of cheese since I was topping my cheese sauce with more cheese! It turned out great! You don’t miss the heavy cream at all, especially when you top your alfredo sauce with some quality mozarella cheese. I sprinkled some crushed red pepper flakes over top for some added flavor and color (optional but recommended!). This pizza does not disappoint. Give it a try! Enjoy!

Cheesy Alfredo Pizza

for the dough:
1-1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water (80-90 degrees)

for the alfredo sauce:
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp all-purpose flour
dash of salt
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (or mixture of parmesan and romano)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup skim milk (or whatever you have on hand)

toppings:
1-1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

1. Begin by preparing the dough. Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in small bowl or measuring cup. Stir until yeast is dissolved. In bowl of stand mixer, combine flours and salt. Add yeast mixture and olive oil. Using dough hook, knead dough for 3-4 minutes or until dough is elastic and smooth. Dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a smooth ball. (If this doesn’t happen, you may need to add another tablespoon or so of warm water or additional flour until you get a smooth ball.) Place dough in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size.
2. While dough is rising, prepare the alfredo sauce. In saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour, garlic powder, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Whisk in milk and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in parmesan cheese. Set aside to cool.
3. Once dough has doubled in size, place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Punch dough down and place on large piece of lightly floured parchment paper. Form/roll dough into large circle. You can roll the dough as thin/thick as you want. I like my crust pretty thin, so I rolled my dough into a 15 inch circle.
4. Once your crust is formed, pour alfredo sauce over crust and spread evenly. Top with shredded mozarella cheese. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper flakes (if desired). Remove pizza stone from oven. Slide parchment paper – with pizza – onto hot stone. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.