Pizza with fines herbes, toasted pine nuts, pesto sauce and ricotta cheese

• 15 minutes to prepare •  30 minutes to cook  • Serves 4

Pizza fever

Want to know how to make a real Italian pizza?
The very best way is to get an after-hours tutorial from the chefs at one of Naples’ finest pizzerias. But if you aren’t going to be in Naples any time soon, your next best option is to check out this recipe.

The most important part is getting the Italian pizza dough right! More than just the base of the pizza, the dough is what gives the pizza its texture, holds together the flavors, and—if done right—can make you feel like you’ve been transported right back to Italy.
Today we have decided to try a pizza seasoning made of fine herbs, pesto sauce, toasted pine nuts and fresh ricotta cheese.
Trust me when I say it: you won't miss tomato sauce and mozzarella!

Here are ingredients for a 4-serving recipe (4 pizzas):

1 kg pizza dough divided into 4 balls (you may find here my pizza dough recipe)
500 g boiled fines herbes
400 g ricotta cheese
200 g pesto sauce (my recipe is linked here)
100 g pine nuts
EVO oil
salt and pepper

1. When you are ready to bake the pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge, leaving at least 1 hour and half for it to warm up and get pliable
2. Cut boiled fines herbes into pieces. Braise it with 2 tablespoons of EVO oil, salt and freshly ground pepper (be generous with it). Cover with a lid and go on with the cooking for about 5 minutes
3. Toast pine nuts in a hot pan and keep them aside
4. Preheat oven to 270°C (or, better, as far as oven temperatures go)
5. Generously dust the counter with semolina flour. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands in flour and lift a ball of dough. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 25 cm in diameter), lay it on the baking tray covered by baking paper
6. Lightly top it with the pesto sauce and sprinkle both fines herbes and pine nuts over
7. Bake the pizza for about 10 minutes. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the baking tray to a lower self before the next round
8. When the crust of the pizza is golden - it means that the pizza is almost ready -, add the ricotta cheese on top. Let ricotta to melt for a couple of minutes
9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer it to a wooden cutting board. Buon appetito!

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.