4 Cheese Pizza with Basil and Garlic

We have a new Italian restaurant that has moved into our part of town. So far, I have only tried one thing, their white pizza. Oh, we've ate there more than once, the problem is that I fell in love with this pizza. I can't bring myself to try anything else. It's everything I really want in a pizza...bread and cheese, oh and some garlic thrown in for good measure. Whenever my husband goes out of town, or goes away, or goes somewhere, and I'm left to fend for myself, I invariably grab this pizza. I was about to do it this week, when I stopped. What if I could make this for myself? Whenever I wanted it. Weekly, daily, whenever. The thought practically makes me giddy.

Problem number one, I had no pizza dough. Oh, I had some in the freezer, but I needed it NOW. Then I remembered my bucket of dough sitting in my fridge from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking...hmmm. So, I grabbed the book and yes, it has a pizza dough, but mine was just regular dough. But with visions of cheese pizza in my head, I didn't care. My dough bucket was about empty and it was time to make more anyway so might was well use it up.

It just so happens that I had been sitting on the couch thumbing through The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Freshwhile hubby watched Fringe, which is much better this season than last, but I still grab a cookbook to look at while it's on. Anyway, I remembered seeing a White Four Cheese Pizza with Basil and Garlic.

So, I made the pizza. Only I didn't have any goat cheese. So really mine was a three cheese pizza and I didn't have any basil because I just harvested my last batch and gave it to my oldest daughter because I am such a good mom. And I didn't make it on pizza dough, but on bread dough. It was good, but it was not Italian restaurant good. It wasn't the right blend of cheese and garlic. The bread dough for the crust though was definitely a win. It had this yummy sourdough chewiness to it. So, I'm going to try again. I will keep trying till I can have my favorite pizza whenever I want it!

White Four-Cheese Pizza with Basil and Garlic

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced

1 13.8-ounce tube refrigerated pizza dough (or whatever dough you have)
All purpose flour
6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then coarsely chopped
3 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil


Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 450°F. Brush 13x9-inch metal baking pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil (I didn't do this, since I used a pizza stone). Mix remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and garlic in small bowl.

Roll out pizza dough on lightly floured work surface to 14x10-inch rectangle. Transfer dough to prepared pan; brush lightly with some of garlic oil. Top with mozzarella cheese and goat cheese, leaving 1/2-inch plain border. Crumble ricotta cheese over, then sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake pizza until crust is golden brown and cheese melts, about 18 minutes. Drizzle remaining garlic-oil over pizza. Let stand 3 minutes. Do ahead Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Before continuing, rewarm in 350°F oven until heated through, about 10 minutes.

Cut pizza crosswise into 8 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 4 pieces for 32pieces total. Sprinkle with basil. Transfer to platter and serve hot.