RECIPE // Prosciutto and Artichoke Pizza

Prosciutto, artichokes, fresh mozzarella, orange and yellow peppers, kalamata olives, and fresh basil leaves on a chewy multigrain crust.

Ever since returning from a recent trip to Italy I have been craving pizza with no sauce and a minimum of cheese on thin, chewy, flavourful crust. Lately I’ve been hooked on this combination. It’s not exactly like what I had in Rome, but it’s super delicious and very easy to make. I used Whole Foods multigrain pizza dough (available fresh or frozen behind the pizza counter) rather than baking my own, simply because theirs is easy and delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 T coarse ground corn meal

multigrain pizza dough

1-2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 t garlic salt

2 t fresh parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup chopped basil leaves

Half a chopped orange or yellow pepper

1/2 lb thin-sliced prosciutto

3 canned artichoke hearts, quartered

1/2 cup diced fresh mozzarella

8-10 kalamata olives, halved

DIRECTIONS:

1. Arrange oven racks so that one is one the bottom and another is in the middle, then preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it rise for about 15 minutes.  During this time, sprinkle corn meal over a pizza stone or baking tin.

2. Stretch the pizza dough over the pizza stone or tin, forming crusts around the edges.  Brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese.  I prefer grate the parmesan straight from the block, as I find it to be much more flavourful.  Sprinkle with the 1/4 evenly with a very thin coating of the grated mozzarella, then put it in the oven on the bottom rack for 5 minutes.

3. Sprinkle the pizza evenly with the remainder of the ingredients in order (starting by putting the basil on the bottom). Return the pizza to the oven – this time on the middle rack – for another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.