Four Cheese Pizza
Although there are many variations of this pizza- parlor favorite, here’s our favorite, with a little roasted garlic to help tone down the heaviness of all that cheese. If you’d like to come up with your own combination of four cheeses, keep this in mind: at least two of them should be semifirm cheeses like Cheddar or Monterey Jack; at least one should be a hard cheese like Parmigiano- Reggiano or Grana Padano; and none should be a soft cheese like ricotta or goat cheese. Look for roasted garlic cloves at the salad or deli bar of your local supermarket.
- Yellow cornmeal for a pizza peel or olive oil for a pizza tray or a large baking sheet
- One recipe homemade dough, preferably the Classic Pizza Dough ; or 1 pound purchased fresh dough or frozen dough, thawed; or one 12- to 14- inch store- bought, prebaked plain pizza crust
- 1 head roasted garlic, cloves separated and their husks removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 4 ounces mozzarella, shredded
- 4 ounces provolone, shredded
- 4 ounces Muenster, shredded
- 2 ounces Pecorino, finely grated
- 1⁄2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
- BAKING OPTIONS
- With a pizza stone. Preheat the stone in the oven at 425°F for 30 to 45 minutes; or preheat the stone on a gas grill at medium, indirect heat (about 425°F) for 30 to 45 minutes; or build an indirect, medium- heat fi re in a charcoal grill and preheat the stone for the same amount of time.
- With a pizza tray or a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 425°F, a gas grill to indirect, medium heat (about 425°F), or build an indirect, medium- heat, well- ashed coal bed around the perimeter of a charcoal grill.
- CRUST OPTIONS
- Fresh dough on a pizza stone. Dust a pizza peel lightly with cornmeal, then set the dough at its center. Start dimpling the dough, pressing into it with your fingertips as you stretch it slightly, until it’s a thick, flattened circle with lots of little ridges. Pick it up by the edge and slowly rotate and stretch the circle until it’s about 14 inches in diameter. Set it fl oured side down on the peel.
- Fresh dough on a pizza tray or a large baking sheet. Grease either lightly with some olive oil on a paper towel. Lay the dough on the tray or baking sheet and dimple the dough with your fi ngertips until it’s a fl attened circle—then pull and press it until it forms a 14- inch circle on the pizza tray or an irregular rectangle, about 12 inches long by 7 inches wide, on the baking sheet.
- A prebaked crust. Place it on a pizza peel if you’re also using a pizza stone—or place the prebaked crust right on a pizza tray or a large baking sheet.
- Puree the roasted garlic cloves, olive oil, and Dijon mustard in a mini food processor until a smooth paste is formed or mash these three together in a small bowl with a fork until pastelike and fairly smooth. Spread this mixture evenly over the crust, leaving a 1 ⁄2- inch border at its edge.
- Mix the four kinds of cheese in a large bowl, then sprinkle evenly over the roasted garlic paste on the crust. Sprinkle the nutmeg and pepper over the pizza.
- Slip the pizza from the peel to the heated stone or place the pie on its tray or baking sheet either in the oven or on the grill over indirect heat. Bake or grill with the lid closed until the cheese has melted and just started to turn brown in patches, 16 to 18 minutes. Slip the peel back under the pie to take it off the stone and cool for 5 minutes before slicing—or transfer the pie on its tray or baking sheet to a wire rack to cool slightly before slicing. To ensure the crust stays crisp, you can also transfer the pie from the peel, tray, or baking sheet right to the wire rack after a minute or so, then continue cooling as directed.