Pepperoni Pizza with Ricotta and Hot Honey
An upgraded version of pepperoni pizza topped with dollops of creamy ricotta, a drizzle of hot honey, and fresh basil.
Ingredients
New York Style Thin Crust Pizza Dough (adapted)
- ¾ cup warm water about 105 degrees F
- 1½ cups bread flour
- 0.125 ounces active dry yeast
- ¾ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus ½ teaspoon for coating
Pizza Toppings
- ½ cup pizza sauce
- 4 ounces shredded mozzarella
- 11 slices pepperoni
- 1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 3 ounces ricotta cheese
- ½ to 1 teaspoon hot honey see notes for homemade recipe
- 2 to 3 leaves fresh basil finely chopped
Instructions
New York Style Thin Crust Pizza Dough (adapted)
- Add warm water and bread flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. Gently combine using your hands (wet them first to prevent sticking) and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Next, add the yeast, sugar, salt, and extra virgin olive oil to the dough. Mix until combined, using your hands (wet them again to prevent sticking) or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer on low speed. Then, let the dough rest for another 30 minutes.
- Next, use the dough hook attachment on the stand mixer to knead the dough on low speed for about 10 minutes. You may have to coax the dough off the hook every few minutes (turn the mixer off first!) if it gets stuck.
- Once the dough is soft and resilient, roughly shape it into a ball. Coat the inside of a second bowl with about a half teaspoon of olive oil, then transfer the dough ball to this bowl. Roll the dough around so that it gets evenly coated in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.
Assemble & Bake
- Remove the pizza dough from the fridge about an hour before you want to bake it, so that it warms up to room temperature. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
- Next, prepare your toppings. If you're making homemade hot honey (see Notes section below), whisk together and set aside. Then, make a piping bag for the ricotta:Fill a small plastic bag with the ricotta, pushing it down towards one corner of the bag. Then, twist the opposite corner to lightly seal the cheese in the bag. Using a pair of kitchen shears, snip about a quarter inch off of the corner of the bag with the cheese so that you can pipe the ricotta out onto the pizza. Set aside.
- Once the dough has warmed up, stretch it to fit the pizza pan. Here's how:Generously flour a clean work surface and your hands, and lightly dust the pizza pan and the top surface of the dough with flour. Carefully pick the dough up out of its bowl and transfer it to the work surface. Now, slowly and gently use your fingers to spread the dough out into a circular shape on the work surface - be careful so as not to pop any of the air bubbles trapped in the dough. Since this dough has a higher hydration level, it will want to spread out naturally, so shaping should be fairly easy.Then, transfer the dough onto the prepared pan and gently finish shaping it into a 12 to 14 inch round to fill the pan.
- Next, add the toppings. Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the dough, leaving about a quarter- to a half-inch of space around the edges for the crust. Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese, add the pepperoni, then sprinkle with grated parmesan and a pinch of salt. Then, pipe the ricotta into small dollops (about a half-inch tall) spaced out evenly across the pizza.
- Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the mozzarella is bubbly and browned and the ricotta is lightly browned on top.While the pizza is in the oven, finely chop a few fresh basil leaves for finishing the pizza. You don’t want to do this step too early, as the basil will oxidize (turn brown) the longer it sits after chopping.
- Finally, top the pizza with a drizzle of hot honey and the fresh basil. Slice and serve hot!
Notes
Pizza dough: There are many kinds of pizza dough out there, which is why we like to make it from scratch - this lets us customize the dough type to the pizza we're trying to create. You can use store bought dough for this recipe, but note that the baking time may vary.
Note that you can cold rise the dough in the fridge for up to 48 hours if you want to prepare it 2 days in advance. The dough's flavor will continue to develop the longer it rises, so 2 days of cold fermentation will yield more flavorful results.
Pizza sauce: We recommend trying our easy recipe for homemade pizza sauce here. It's more flavorful than any store bought brand we've tried, and it only takes 10 minutes to prepare. Freeze the leftovers in half-cup portions and you'll have sauce ready to go next time you make pizza!
Hot honey: You can easily make your own hot honey at home with a few simple ingredients. Whisk together 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 tsp chili oil, and 1/2 tsp white vinegar in a bowl until well combined. That's it! It'll make more than you need for this recipe, but hot honey is delicious drizzled on pizza, sandwiches, grilled cheese, and more.
Notes on baking: A lot of factors can affect how quickly your pizza bakes, so keep an eye on it during baking and use visual cues to tell when it's done rather than relying on a timer. You'll know it's done once the cheese is nice and bubbly and the crust looks crispy.
Storing and reheating leftovers: Wrap leftover pizza in aluminum foil (or store in a food storage container) and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 650mg | Potassium: 248mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 358IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 155mg | Iron: 1mg