Pizza Bianca
Pizza Bianca might not look like a traditional pizza, but this Italian style bread is quite tasty! Bake up a batch today!
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What’s in a name? That which we call a rose pizza by any other name would smell taste as sweet delicious. With apologies to Billy Shakes for bastardizing his quote, I do think we can all agree that pizza is delicious, right? I mean how can you go wrong with flavorful crust, sauce and your favorite toppings? Aye, there’s the rub. (Apparently I’m on a real Shakespeare kick today.) And I don’t mean the seasonings you rub onto the pizza crust.
When someone mentions pizza, you probably conjure up the image of a traditional round pizza topped with cheese and perhaps pepperoni. But there are a lot of different styles of pizza out there. I’m not referring to all of the different combinations of pizza toppings. I’m referring to actual styles of pizza. There’s deep-dish, thin-crust and traditional. There’s stuffed crust. There’s Sicilian style, and then there’s Neapolitan style. There’s New York style, and then there’s Detroit style. (The Detroit style is new to me, but it seems to be gaining in popularity lately.)
Pizza Bianca
Today we’re looking at another style of pizza – the Pizza Bianca. By strict translation, a Pizza Bianca is of course a “white pizza.” It’s a pizza which relies on olive oil, salt and perhaps some chopped herbs for flavor. There is no red sauce in the world of Pizza Bianca. You could possibly find some fresh mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, but no red sauce. It might sound boring, but it’s not. This pizza is amazing, and I couldn’t stop eating it!
The Pizza Bianca share many similarities to focaccia. After all, both are dimpled with your fingertips and brushed with olive oil before baking. Both rely on simple ingredients like olive oil, salt and herbs. However, this is where the similarities end. Focaccia is baked in a pan, and it’s much thicker. Pizza Bianca is more like a pizza crust in that it gets baked directly on a baking stone (or on a hot baking sheet). Focaccia also includes a generous amount of olive oil in the dough itself. Pizza Bianca? It’s a lean dough that relies on water and a small amount of olive oil in the dough. (More olive oil gets brushed on before baking, but there’s only a small amount in the dough itself.)
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to travel to Rome, then you certainly know the sandwiches that are sold on almost every street corner. Simple, thin bread stuffed with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Sometimes you’ll even see them with a piece of breaded chicken. They are in every bakery, and they are on street vendors’ carts throughout the city. With that in mind, I split my Pizza Bianca here at home and created sandwiches with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and chopped basil – think caprese salad in a sandwich form. One word – amazing!
Pizza Bianca is proof that pizza doesn’t need a sauce. Sure, it might not be the same as the pizza you conjure up in your head – but it’s amazing nevertheless! And this style of pizza is also proof that pizzas don’t need cheese. Indeed, Ed Levine (founder of Serious Eats) notes that Pizza Bianca should never be topped with sauce and cheese – it’s like adding mayonnaise to a hot dog. He also asked for a slice of this pizza to be put in his casket when he dies – that’s how good it is!
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe at home. It’s flavorful and delicious by itself (I truly couldn’t stop nibbling on it), but if you split it and turn it into a sandwich with tomatoes and mozzarella? Well, then you’re in for a special treat! Enjoy!
Did you bake this Pizza Bianca recipe at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). I’d love to see your version!
Pizza Bianca
Ingredients
For Pizza Bianca
- 3 tsp active dry yeast
- 4¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt plus more for topping
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for coating dough
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary and/or oregano
For Filling (optional)
- 8 oz. fresh mozzarella sliced
- 2 large tomatoes sliced
- ½ cup fresh basil
- shaved Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Place 1½ cups of lukewarm (~100°F) water in a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add flour and salt to the bowl of a countertop mixer; stir until well combined.
- Transfer yeast and water mixture into the bowl. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed until just combined. Increase speed to medium and mix for 8-10 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a lightly-floured work surface. Divide dough into 4 pieces and shape each piece into a ball.
- Rub a small amount of olive oil over outsides of dough balls. Place dough on a baking sheet and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Place baking sheet in a warm location and let rise for 2 hours, or until almost doubled in size. About 30 minutes before dough is done rising, preheat oven to 500°F. (If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven on the bottom rack.)
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, place dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll/stretch dough into a 7”square, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. (see note below)
- Transfer dough to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush top of dough with ~1 Tbsp of olive oil. Using your fingertips, stipple the top of dough to create small indentions. Sprinkle top of dough with additional salt, ½ tsp of minced garlic and ½ Tbsp of chopped herbs.
- Bake on bottom rack of oven (on top of baking stone if using) for 7-9 minutes, or until golden brown in color. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough.
- Pizza Bianca can be served warm by itself, or it can be cut into squares, split open and filled stuffed with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, sliced tomatoes and shaved Parmesan cheese.
Notes
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Will be making this soon can i use vegan mozzarella and parmesan cheese as am a vegan i never had pizza bianca before i love italian food and pizza sooooooooooooooo much perfect for my after office meals will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya
Making this next week either thursday or friday after office will leave another comment when i make this love pizza
Yes, you can use vegan ingredients on this pizza/sandwich, Ramya! I really enjoyed baking this one…it’s not like normal “pizza” but it sure is delicious!
I don’t have white pizza often (And my favourite would probably be a potato pizza. Have you tried? I bet you have!) While there’s something absolutely comforting and homey in the combination of bread, tomato, and cheese, it’s always nice to have few option, right? And this herbaceous version with some cheese (Not an option!) looks and sound terrific!
Well, I have tried sliced potatoes on pizza (in fact, I posted a roasted potato pizza recipe here on the blog years ago…). That was quite tasty! This is a different kind of “pizza” but it truly was delicious!
I didn’t ever try a sandwich when we were in Rome – but now with this recipe of yours, I can! Wow – so much flavor in this pizza bianca! The aromas wafting around as this bakes must be heavenly – which leads me to think that I might have to dig deep to conjure up enough willpower to not scarf down a whole batch of this before I get around to using it for sandwiches! Awesome recipe, David! So looking forward to trying this!
This makes one heck of a tasty sandwich bread, Shashi! Truthfully, I could eat the bread just by itself! It’s not like a normal “pizza,” but holy cow is this one delicious. 🙂
This looks great david. I am not a tomato 🍅 fan and i find tomato based sauces hard to swallow so pizza bianca is the one for me:).
Ah, just leave the sliced tomato off of this “pizza” and you’ve got one tasty sandwich. I know this pizza isn’t like a normal pizza, but it’s quite delicious! And the smell in the kitchen is fantastic while this is baking, too!
This is totally new to me, David. I’ve not been to Italy. You can hardly go wrong with these ingredients, though!
It’s not really a pizza at all, Jeff…but it is damn delicious! And it makes for fantastic sandwich bread if you split it. Good classic Italian ingredients lead to a delicious recipe – imagine that!!
I can’t wait to get back to Rome one day David. And yeah I do remember sandwiches sold on almost every street corner. That combination of mozzarella, tomatoes and basil you can’t beat. These would make an excellent picnic lunch!
Ah, you and me both, Neil! I love Rome, so I certainly look forward to one day returning to that city. In the meantime, though, this “pizza” (really more like delicious bread) makes for a pretty remarkable Italian treat! Good call on the picnic lunch here, too. Cheers!
This is a fun recipe, David! I haven’t had this but how could it be wrong – the pizza looks ah-mazing and the filling is gorgeous and fresh – I have no doubt this would go down well here! Thanks for expanding my horizons as always.
Hey Katerina! While this isn’t really “pizza” at all, I do love this recipe. It’s great for nibbling, but it’s even better if you split it and use at for a sandwich. Yum!
That looks really good, anything with fresh mozzarella, I am in
I’m with ya, Raymund! I love fresh mozz, and this “pizza” is a great way to enjoy it. Cheers!
I can’t wait to make this! I’ve made a lot of different kinds of pizzas, including Detroit-style, but I haven’t made this one. I have a baking steel, which has been life-changing for my pizza making. It gets way hotter than a stone (like 700 + degrees) and for the first time I can get a pretty close to authentic NY style pizza crust in my home oven. (I even learned to stretch dough properly using 72hour dough!) The steel is also great for bread baking. You should check it out if you make pizza often!
I use that same 72 hour dough when I’m cooking pizza outside on the pizza oven! (Like the steel, that oven gets scorching hot!) I haven’t tried using a steel indoors, though – now I’m intrigued. I do love to bake bread and pizza nights are a regular thing in our house. I love my stone, but you’ve get me curious about a steel now. Thanks, Kim!
Oh, I’m jealous of your outdoor pizza oven— better than a steel! But for those not lucky enough to have one, the steel is amazing. (Or maybe if you want pizza and there’s 3 feet of snow!)
Haha – I know all about the 3 feet of snow and longing to go out there and fire up the grill and/or pizza oven! Thanks again, Kim!
I have such fond memories of buying Pizza Bianca in Rome, where you could watch the bakers hard at work making it through the window. I love the idea of making this at home – thank you so much for the inspiration!
I hear ya, Marissa! I do miss being able to travel. And whenever we travel, I love hunting out local bakeries! In the meantime, I think a batch of this Pizza Bianca will help whisk you back to Italy…at least in taste and smells! 🙂
Howdy David,
Great twist to my version of Pizza Bianca. As of late, I’ve been seriously into pizza making (more on that later) so I’m very interested in try this. BTW, I’m with Ed regarding being buried with a slice of pizza, I just don’t know which slice I want…
Homemade pizza is truly a wonderful thing, Ron! We end up making pizza here at home probably 3-4 times a month. It’s a fun family activity on a Friday or Saturday night. Robbie loves helping out, and his pizza choice? Bacon. That’s it. Bacon and more bacon.