Roasted Garlic White Pizza w/ Arugula Salad

To keep organized in this recipe, I'd definitely recommend reading through all the directions first! This isn't a hard recipe, it just has multiple steps, so it's important to be as organized as possible!

Roasted Garlic:

First, we're going to roast some garlic. Put 8 whole cloves into an oven safe dish and cover completely with olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and cover with tin foil. Bake in a preheated oven until roasty and golden brown. Set aside.

Dough:

Now let's make the dough. Combine warm water, dry yeast, honey, and olive oil together in a bowl. Let rest for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the mixture should be quite foamy. Place this into a bowl of your stand mixer and add in 1 cup of flour. Mix with the dough hook on low while slowly adding in the remaining flour and salt. Mix for 10 minutes. The dough will be smooth and should not be sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Roll the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead a handful of times using your hands ( I kneaded the dough 12 times). Place in a well oiled bowl - I used cooking spray - and turn to coat the dough in the oil. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, now is the time to make the roasted garlic white sauce.

Roasted Garlic White Sauce:

Warm whole milk in a sauce pan over medium low heat, keep warm until ready to use.

You're going to start by making a roux.

Melt butter over medium low heat and then add in equal parts flour.

Whisk until smooth and then whisk constantly while it cooks for about 90 seconds (up to 2 minutes). Again, whisking constantly, slowly add in the warm milk.

Then add in salt and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. The sauce should be nice and thick now.

Add in the roasted garlic that we made earlier (just the cloves - not the oil) and then transfer the mixture into a high powered blender, like the Vitamix. Blend until smooth. Taste and re-season with salt, if necessary! Set aside to let it thicken up.

Dough Continued:

Now, your dough should be fully rested! Roll it out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Let it rest again for 10 minutes. Next, roll the dough out using a rolling pin. The dough should be about ¼ in thick. Make sure the dough is completely even or you may have cheese slide off while baking.

Assembly:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.

Top the dough with the roasted garlic sauce. Make sure to leave ¾ inch border for the crust. Also, I reserved about 2 tablespoons of sauce for crust dipping later on.

Now top the sauce with thinly sliced mozzarella and freshly grated fontina.

Bake for 6-10 minutes or until the cheese is melty and the crust is a golden brown.

Arugula Salad:

While you let your pizza cool, make the salad.

Combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Give it a whisk and pour over arugula. Toss to combine. Use as much or as little dressing as you like. I'd recommend starting with a little and adding more as you see fit.

Cut the pizza into equal pieces and top with the arugula salad and chopped cherry tomatoes!

Serve immediately.

NOTES

How to roasted garlic: Take 10 peeled, whole garlic cloves and place in an oven safe bowl. Cover with oil and a pinch of salt. Cover with foil and roast at 350 degrees F for 30-45 mins or until golden brown. If you'd like, in the last 5 - 10 minutes, you can remove the foil to speed up the process!