Pizza Four Seasons – GCC Menu #15

I L-O-V-E Pizza!  Next to ice cream, it is by far one of my favorite foods.  Crispy crust, melted cheese, sauce, herbs, veggies, meats, etc….YUM!

I think I could live on pizza and ice cream alone…

Did I say ALONE?? I meant along with my Sammy of course ;-).

Needless to say, I was more than excited to make this week’s Gutsy Cook’s Club Menu # 15 chosen by Stephanie, the Pizza Four Seasons, which I had never tasted before.

In Italy the birthplace of pizza, one of their most popular is the Pizza Four Seasons aka Quattro Stagioni, which represents the four seasons in its use of ingredients as toppings: Artichokes for Spring, Olives for Summer, Mushrooms for Autumn and Prosciutto for Winter. 

Now, doesn’t that just sound delicious?

The recipe from the Illustrated Kitchen Bible had a different variation, in which it uses pepperoni in lieu of prosciutto.  Why you would want to use an alternative to prosciutto is beyond me, but I decided to play along (after all, my Sammy loves pepperoni). 

The first step was to make the pizza dough.  

• Combine bread flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour) with instant yeast, salt, water & olive oil.  Knead until smooth and elastic.

• Roll the dough into a ball, place in lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly w/plastic wrap.  Let stand in a warm place until doubled in size.

• Per the recipe, divide in four 8″ rounds.  Instead, I divided the dough in half and created one 16″ round and saved the other for later use.

I incorporated a few of the following extra steps before adding the toppings:

• Brushed a mix of olive oil, melted butter and red wine on the center and edges of the dough and sprinkled with some pecorino cheese, sea salt and oregano. 
• To help ensure a crispy crust, I baked the dough in a 400° oven on a preheated pizza stone (or you can use a pizza tray with holes) for approximately 10 – 12 minutes.

Top with crushed tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and add the following in four sections:

• Artichokes w/Kalamata olives.
• Roasted red peppers with anchovy fillets.  As you can see, I used green and yellow and NO anchovy.
• Pepperoni with capers (no capers used on mine).
• Baby Bella mushrooms in place of white mushrooms.

Drizzle some olive oil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the edges of the dough are golden brown and serve hot.

Of course we liked the pizza…. Next time we’ll make it with prosciutto.  

Ladies and Gentlemen…this concludes this week’s Edible Adventure. 

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”
Jack Brooks (song writer) ‘That’s Amore’