4 Cheese White Pizza Recipe (Baked on a Baking Steel)

Recipe by PizzofArt · Tested and edited by Andris Lagsdin, founder of Baking Steel

Quick Answer: This 4-cheese white pizza bakes in 7-8 minutes at 550°F on a Baking Steel preheated for 60 minutes. It uses fresh mozzarella, low-moisture mozzarella, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, and a seasoned whole-milk ricotta mixture with garlic, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Recipe by Pizzof, baked on the original Baking Steel.

Recipe by @pizzofart for Baking Steel

A white pizza done right is one of the best things you can pull out of a home oven. No red sauce to hide behind, just four cheeses, good dough, a hot Baking Steel, and the kind of crust most pizzerias can't touch.

This is Pizzofarts 4 Cheese White Pizza: fresh mozzarella, low-moisture mozzarella, shaved parm, and a ricotta mixture spiked with garlic, herbs, and red pepper flakes. Eight minutes at 550°F on a fully preheated Baking Steel PRO and you've got it.

Why This White Pizza Works

Three things make this recipe punch above its weight:

Two mozzarellas, not one. Fresh mozz brings the creamy pockets and milky pull. Low-moisture mozzarella browns and stretches the way pizza cheese is supposed to. Use both and you get the best of each.

Ricotta mixture, not plain ricotta. Plain ricotta on pizza is bland. Whip it with olive oil, garlic, dry basil, oregano, red pepper, and salt and it becomes the star.

A Baking Steel preheated for a full hour. This is what separates home pizza from real pizza. The steel needs to hit 525-550°F on the surface, not just the oven air temp. That heat is what gives you the leopard-spotted, crisp-bottomed crust in 7-8 minutes.

Ingredients

For the Pizza (one 12" pie)

• 1/3 lb fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1/4 lb low-moisture whole milk mozzarella, shredded
• Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, to taste
• Olive oil, to finish

For the Ricotta Mixture

• Whole milk ricotta (about 1/2 cup)
• Red pepper flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Crushed garlic (1-2 cloves)
• Dry basil
• Dry oregano

Mix everything together in a small bowl until smooth and seasoned to taste.

Assembly Instructions

1. Stretch your dough ball into a 12" round on a lightly floured peel.
2. Lay fresh mozzarella slices across the dough with at least an inch of space between each slice. Crowding is the #1 white pizza mistake, give the cheese room.
3. Drop small spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture in the gaps between the mozzarella slices.
4. Sprinkle the low-moisture mozzarella evenly over the top.
5. Finish with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.
6. Swirl olive oil over the cheese.

Baking on the Baking Steel

1. Preheat your Baking Steel for a full hour at 550°F (or your oven's max). The steel needs to be 525-550°F on the surface. An infrared thermometer is the only way to know for sure.
2. Slide the pizza directly onto the steel.
3. Bake 7-8 minutes until the crust is leopard-spotted and the cheese is bubbling and browned in spots.
4. Pull it off, let it rest 60 seconds, slice and serve.

Easy Same-Day Pizza Dough

You don't need a 72-hour cold ferment to make great pizza. PizzofArt same-day dough is ready in about 8 hours from start to oven, and it can also hold in the fridge for up to 5 days if you want to make it ahead.

Ingredients (makes about 4 dough balls)

• 290g / 2 cups 00 pizza flour
• 382g / 2 heaping cups bread flour (about 2.5 cups)
• 2g / 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 15g / 2 tsp salt
• 403g / ~2 cups cool water (60% hydration)

Instructions

1. Whisk water, 00 flour, and yeast together until a batter forms.
2. Add bread flour and salt. Mix by hand until combined and somewhat smooth.
3. Cover and rest 6 hours at room temperature.
4. Perform 3 rounds of slap-and-fold (fold, quarter turn, fold).
5. Shape into dough balls.
6. Cover and rest 60-90 minutes.

Ready to bake. Or store in lightly oiled airtight containers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Pull from the fridge 1 hour before stretching.

Tips for the Best White Pizza

• Don't skip the preheat. A Baking Steel that's only been heating for 20 minutes will give you mediocre pizza. One hour minimum.
• Pat fresh mozzarella dry with a paper towel before using. Excess moisture = soggy pizza.
• Less is more on cheese. It's tempting to pile it on. Don't. Spacing the cheese gives you texture and contrast.
• Finish with fresh basil after baking if you want to make it a White Margherita.

Get the Baking Steel

This recipe lives or dies on the heat retention of your cooking surface. A Baking Steel holds 18x more heat than a pizza stone, which is why you get pizzeria-quality crust at home. Shop the Original Baking Steel →

Follow @pizzofart on Instagram for more pizza recipes, dough tips, and behind-the-scenes from one of the best home pizza accounts on the internet.