As is the case with a lava stone, making pizza with a refractory stone produces pies that are on par with those fired up by the world's best pizzaioli. As domestic ovens aren't equipped to pack as much heat as professional ones, the refractory stone is placed on the bottom of the oven, where it absorbs immense heat, speeding up the cooking time.
If you've pondered the idea of making pizza with a refractory stone, check out the following recipe for a pizza bianca, or white pizza, that is one sans tomato sauce. For the pizza dough, check out this recipe by our head chef Joëlle Néderlants.
The recipe calls for crescenza cheese, but if you can't find it, stracchino and brie are suitable substitutes.
White Pizza With Crescenza Cheese and Asparagus
Photo: Riccardo Lettieri, Styling: Beatrice Prada
Recipe: Joëlle Néderlants.
Skill Level: Easy
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients for 1 pizza
8 oz./250 g whole wheat pizza dough (see recipe linked above)
5 oz./140 g crescenza, diced
6-8 cherry tomatoes, cut
4 medium asparagus, diced
pesto
salt
extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
Spread the cherry tomatoes on a plate, season with oil and salt. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
When finished baking, heat the oven to 485°F/250°C. Place the refractory stone plate at the bottom of the oven and let it heat up for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, clean and blanch the asparagus for 2-3 minutes in boiling salted water.
Roll out the dough on a floured pizza peel or on a sheet of floured baking paper, forming it into a disc.
Spread 2 Tbsp. pesto over the dough, then place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Top with the crescenza, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes, then continue cooking for another 7-8 minutes until the edge of the crust is golden.
Remove from the oven, and top with another spoonful of pesto to finish. Serve.