Jim Lahey’s easy no-knead pizza dough makes a great base for my three favorite ways to enjoy delicious Blue Cheese Pizza!
Pizza is one of my comfort foods. I don’t have it often enough, but when I do, I really go for the ones with unusual toppings. It started with the now-defunct pizza place Project Pie. You know how they let your DIY your pizza? All the flavor combo experimentations I had there with my friends led me to discover the magic of blue cheese on pizzas. If you’ve always been scared of stinky old blue cheese, you have to try it on a pizza. Speaking from experience, I can tell you it’s a total game-changer. (Especially if you try the third pizza recipe I’m sharing below!) Another quick suggestion before we start: If you want a guide on how to choose the best pizza pans, click here.
I have become a lover of blue cheese thanks largely to all my fun adventures with the California Milk Advisory Board and Real California Cheese. I feel like among all the cheeses I learned to appreciate thanks to them, it’s blue cheese that has had its status elevated the most. Before, blue cheese was just okay. I didn’t hate it, nor did I love it. Now though, I am constantly thinking of how I can make it a more regular part of my meals. Why else would I have made all this effort to film a video about Blue Cheese Pizza!?
The cheese I used in these pizzas comes from a brand that has become my go-to for blue cheeses: Point Reyes. Though it’s a cheese from California, you can now buy it from a restaurant called Sourdough Cafe in Quezon City. There’s a simple reason why I recommend Point Reyes: They make some hella delicious blue cheese. (This is not a sponsored post!) Apart from the “stinky smell” Blue Cheese is a bit difficult to describe flavor-wise, but there’s something different in the way that Point Reyes makes their blue cheeses compared to other brands I’ve tried before.
Their award-winning Original Blue is especially noteworthy, with a creamy mouthfeel and some sweet undertones to it that if ind unique. The one I used for the Blue Cheese Pizza in this post is actually their Bay Blue, or what they call their “Blue Cheese For Beginners”. It’s a lot milder in flavor compared to the Original Blue, but not any less creamy and delicious. (FYI, they also make a mean Toma.) Here’s a pretty interesting article for those who don’t quite know where to start with blue cheese.
Anyway, I’m not trying to convert you into a blue cheese lover, but if you haven’t had many pleasant experiences with blue cheese, I want you to try them in the three pizzas I am sharing today. Who knows, you might, just like I did so long ago, start changing your mind!
Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough
As with all pizzas, we start with the dough. The one I used for these pizzas is Jim Lahey’s recipe for no-knead pizza dough. I didn’t really change anything in the recipe apart from the number of portions I made out of the dough. Originally, this makes 4 pizzas, but I opted to divide the dough into 3 to make them a little bigger. I highly recommend making them the night before.
I won’t be going into too much detail here because you can see the instructions in my video, as well as in the recipe box below. (They’re pretty straightforward.) I will say though: My real challenge in making this pizza was the shaping part. You can actually find a video of Jim Lahey shaping pizza using his knuckles as he spins the dough around, but no matter how many times I watched it, I could not copy his moves! And so I did my own version, which was rolling out the dough gently to keep the air bubbles in, and then stretching the dough further with my fingers and hands. In the case of this recipe, you want to get a fairly thin piece of dough as that makes the best pizza.
Remember: You want to avoid kneading or handling the dough more than is necessary, otherwise it will bake into a tough crust. It has happened to me. For the most part though, this is an easy and delicious pizza crust recipe. Even if you don’t use a pizza stone and just use a normal baking sheet or pizza pan.
Caramelized Onion, Mushroom, and Basil Blue Cheese Pizza
This pizza is one for those who crave that mix of sweet and umami. The caramelized onions give you that hit of rich sweetness, but the addition of the mushrooms sends some tingles of umami. Of course, the mozzarella and blue cheese add layers of flavor and texture to the pizza as well. The basil came out really dried up thanks to the very hot oven, but you can obviously top some fresh ones alongside the green onions once the pizza is out of the oven.
Out of the three I have in this post, this is the pizza that requires the most work because you have to make your caramelized onions first. I picked a fairly quick recipe but it does still require some 30 minutes of cooking. The result is worth it though! You slow cook your onions in sugar and balsamic to get the caramelized onions, but I also decided to add in some sliced button mushrooms. I used canned mushrooms from a reputable brand.
Once the onions are done, take your pizza dough and brush some olive oil on the surface. I always start with mozzarella at the bottom, followed by the caramelized onion-mushroom mix, then the basil. I always add in the crumbled blue cheese last. The only thing I feel I should’ve done differently here is roll the pizza dough a little thinner before topping.
Buffalo Chicken Blue Cheese Pizza
This one is more of a classic blue cheese pizza, in my opinion. I seem to often find blue cheese and buffalo chicken paired together. In any case, this version is like the lazy version of a buffalo chicken pizza, because I don’t go through all the trouble of marinading the chicken in a homemade sauce.
I just throw cooked chicken in with some Frank’s Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce, the same one they use to marinade buffalo wings with, and then toss to coat, That’s literally my buffalo chicken ready for topping on a pizza.
The process of building the pizza is the same as the one before where you start with brushing some oil onto your pizza dough. Follow it up with an even layer of mozzarella. No need to go overboard but also be generous. Place the pieces of sauce-coated chicken on the pizza, followed by the cilantro. Finally, sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese all over.
One of my favorite things about this pizza is the fact that it has cilantro on it. I love cilantro, but you can skip it if you don’t. I just think it balances out the strong flavors of the hot sauce.
For the chicken’s sauce, you don’t really have to use the Frank’s brand of sauce. I just happened to have some lying around so I used it. When I make buffalo wings, I normally mix that sauce in with other stuff to make the marinade because it’s got such a punchy flavor as a sauce. If you’re not a fan of that, feel free to switch to a sauce you actually like. Heck, you can even use a barbecue sauce and call this a BBQ Chicken Blue Cheese Pizza!
Honey, Pear, & Walnut Blue Cheese Pizza
Finally, we arrive at my favorite pizza. I love this pizza so much I almost didn’t want to share this with my brothers after I shot the finished product lol. Something about the cheese and honey combo that I cannot resist! For blue cheese particularly, the honey brings out the sweetness of the cheese a little more and creates this nice push-pull of flavors. The honey somehow mellows down the strong taste of the blue cheese. Add in the sweet pear and the walnuts and you’ve got literally THE perfect combination of things to go with blue cheese.
I’m salivating writing about this pizza!
We’re going to start this pizza a little differently than the other two above. Rather than brushing the pizza dough with olive oil, we’re adding some honey into that olive oil and mixing them together first. This is what you brush the dough with before you top with mozzarella. Generously place slices of pear all over the pizza, then sprinkle on the chopped walnuts and the blue cheese.
When the pizza is fresh out of the oven, drizzle with a little bit of honey for good measure. You can also use chili-honey. That stuff is awesome. The one caveat I have is that I wish this pizza looks a little prettier. You can barely tell what the toppings are! It takes just one bite to fall in love though.
So will you be trying one, or all, of these recipes? Let me know if you’re a fan of blue cheese or not! 🙂
Blue Cheese Pizza, 3 Ways
Ingredients
For Jim Lahey's Pizza Dough
- 500 grams about 3-¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for working the dough
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 16 grams 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 350 mL 1-½ cups water
For the Caramelized Onion, Mushroom, and Basil Blue Cheese Pizza
- 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided use
- 60 grams brown onions, sliced
- Pinch of salt
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar*
- 170 grams sliced mushrooms
- 85 grams mozzarella cheese, shredded
- Handful basil leaves or baby spinach
- 57 grams blue cheese, crumbled
- Chopped green onions, for topping
For the Buffalo Chicken Blue Cheese Pizza
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 120 grams cubed or shredded cooked chicken
- 1/4 cup hot cayenne pepper/buffalo sauce
- 85 grams mozzarella cheese, shredded
- Handful of cilantro
- 57 grams blue cheese, crumbled
- Chopped green onions, for topping
For the Honey, Pear, & Walnut Blue Cheese Pizza
- 1-½ teaspoons olive oil
- 1-½ teaspoons honey, plus more for drizzling
- 85 grams mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 pear, thinly sliced (peeled or not is up to you)
- 57 grams toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
- 57 grams blue cheese, crumbled
Instructions
Make the dough the day before
- In a medium bowl, use a wooden spoon to thoroughly mix together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and mix thoroughly, until the dough comes together in a rough, tacky mass.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature for 18 hours, or until it has more than doubled. (It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.)
- Once dough has sufficiently proofed, flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide into 3 equal parts. Take one portion of dough and pull all four sides of the dough to the center. It doesn't matter if you start on the left or right, or the top or bottom, what you want is four folds to make it easier for you to form the dough into a perfect round shape.
- Gently seal the seams of the dough and turn, seam-side down, molding the dough gently with your palms into a neat circular mound. Repeat with remaining two portions of dough. Dust the mounds with more flour if they are sticky.
- Let the dough rest for a bit while you prepare your pizza toppings. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). (If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, you can wrap the balls individually in cling-wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Before using, return to room temperature first. Leave the dough out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth or cling-wrap, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.)
- Take one ball of dough and generously flour it, your hands, and the work surface. To me, the easiest way to shape the pizza is by using a rolling pin to flatten the disk a bit, and then gently pressing the dough out with your fingers until you get a 10 to 12 inch piece of dough. Don't worry if it's not round, and don't handle it more than necessary. Don't apply too much force as you roll the dough out with a pin because you want some of the gas bubbles to remain in the dough. It should look slightly blistered. (Another method is to stretch out the dough using your knuckles as you rotate it, but I'm really bad at it!)
- Whatever method you use, place the pizza on the center of a peel or a baking sheet lined with parchment. Top with one or all of the below pizza flavors.
For the Caramelized Onion, Mushroom, and Basil Blue Cheese Pizza
- Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan over low heat. Add the onions and pinch of salt. Cook very slowly for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking or burning. Do not be tempted to turn up the heat to hasten the process or your onions might get burnt.
- Once onion are softened and tinged golden, add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Mix together with a wooden spoon. Mix in the mushrooms. The caramelization will now start and continue as you cook the onions for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir occasionally until sticky and caramelized. Remove from heat and use immediately. (Otherwise, store in an airtight container in the fridge. You will not use all the caramelized onions so store leftovers in the fridge in this way. )
- Prepare the pizza by brushing 2 teaspoons olive oil all over the pizza dough. Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella, followed by the mushrooms, the basil, and the crumbled blue cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and dough is golden brown. Rest 5 minutes, then sprinkle some green onions on top before slicing and serving.
For the Buffalo Chicken Blue Cheese Pizza
- In a small bowl, mix together cooked chicken and the hot sauce. Brush the olive oil all over your prepared pizza dough, then sprinkle evenly with mozzarella.
- Place pieces of marinated chicken on the pizza, followed by the cilantro. Finally, sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese all over.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and dough is golden brown. Rest 5 minutes, then sprinkle some green onions on top before slicing and serving.
For the Honey, Pear, & Walnut Blue Cheese Pizza
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil and honey. Brush this honey-olive oil all over your flattened round of dough. Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese, then place the slices of pear all over the pizza. Scatter the walnuts and crumbled blue cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and dough is golden brown. Drizzle more honey on top of the freshly baked pizza. Rest 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Dough adapted from Jim Lahey via Serious Eats; Caramelized Onions adapted from Taste.com
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