i am a food blog

You know, I never really got the appeal of cheese pizza. Growing up, my pizza of choice was always ham and pineapple. I’m pretty sure that was due to the fact that when I was a kid, I didn’t know what other kinds of pizzas were out there. Ham and pineapple happened to be my parents’ favorite, so it was kind of mine too, by default. Fast forward many, many years and I’ve pretty much tried as many types of pizzas as possible. Even so, amidst my extensive pizza eating of porchetta pizzas, grilled cheese pizzas, and caramelized shrimp pizzas, I’ve been slow to answer the siren song of the classic, cheese-topped pizza.

But now, I’ve gone to the dark and cheesy side. I’m all about cheese pizza, which is no ways plain. It all started, appropriately, at my nephew’s birthday party. Apparently kids like cheese pizza and I have the palate of a seven year old because I too like cheese pizza! Admittedly, the cheese pizza at the party wasn’t anything special, but I could taste the potential. What more do you need on a pizza than crust, sauce, and cheese? It’s the trifecta of what makes pizza a pizza. I then tried some of the best pizza in columbia sc and from that moment, I was converted!

After the party I set out to make my ultimate cheese pizza. Here it is friends, how to make a four cheese pizza. First off, we need to consider the base of all pizzas: the crust. My go to pizza crust is Jim Lahey’s no knead pizza dough. It comes together ridiculously easily and bakes up beautifully. Essentially, all you do is stir together flour, water, salt and yeast and wait for time to do it’s thing. The next day you have gloriously soft and silky pizza dough just waiting for sauce and cheese.

I shaped my dough in a cast iron pan because I like the extra heat that cast iron brings to the bottom of your crust. I’m adamantly against soggy crusts and when home baking pizzas, cast iron pans are the workhorse that will give you crispy crust every time. I sprinkled the sauce with a bit of crushed fennel for a bit of depth as well as some crushed garlic because garlic and tomatoes are best friends. On top of that deliciousness, the cheese was added in layers: mozzarella on the bottom, then parmesan, then brie, then dollops of ricotta. The melt of the mozzarella, the nuttiness of the parmesan, the creaminess of the brie and the freshness of the ricotta make this cheese pizza a winner.

Speaking of winners, I just came back from attending the 2015 Saveur Blog Awards in NYC! Last year the party was in Vegas, but this year they switched it up and everything was in Brooklyn. It was so much fun meeting some of my favorite bloggers in real life. I wanted to give a quick shout out to everyone I got to squeeze (Molly, Cynthia, Alana, Michelle, Nik, Sam, Kristin, Talia, Sydney, Jodi, Kristan, Summer, Jessie, Renée, Emilie, Julia, Linda, Sherrie, Phyllis, Brooke, Phi) and all the winners and nominees that couldn’t make it (and the ones that I somehow didn’t get to meet in the craziness). The food blog community is an awesome one – cheese pizzas (gluten free and vegan for those who need it) for everyone!

Four Cheese Pizza Recipe
makes 1 pizza

• 1 ball no-knead pizza dough
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup pizza sauce, depending on how saucy you like your pizza
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted fennel seeds, crushed
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 1/4 small wheel of brie, cut or ripped into chunks
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• freshly ground pepper, to taste
• red pepper flakes, to serve

Arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°.

Lightly oil a cast iron pan and dust lightly with cornmeal, if desired. Shape dough into a circle, pushing gently. Spread on the sauce almost to the edges and sprinkle on the garlic and fennel seeds. Top with the shredded mozzarella, parmesan, brie, and ricotta. Grind on a generous amount of pepper and place in the oven to bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is puffy, crisp and slightly blistered. Enjoy immediately with red pepper flakes.

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