Goat Cheese Jalapeño Pizza

This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite local restaurants. The restaurant lives by the whole farm to table concept which I love. I mean, who wants food that’s been sitting for hours or has been prepared in bulk? “Not I!” said the fly. I love the taste of fresh local ingredients so I went ahead and gave this pizza a whirl. It came out even better than I had hoped! This could be a bad thing because now I can make it in the comfort of my own home. In our household, this is a weekend only dish.

| Makes: 1 – 12-inch pizza (you will have extra dough for another pizza) |

{ Ingredients }

Pizza Dough:

½ cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 envelope (2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
1¼ cups water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups bread flour
1½ teaspoons salt

Toppings:

1 -2 jalapeños seeded and thinly sliced
1 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce (homemade or store-bought)
10 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
2 ounces of soft goat cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

{ Directions }

1. Place the warm water into a 2-cup measuring cup. Add the yeast and a dash of sugar to encourage the yeast to grow. Stir ingredients together. Let the yeast mixture sit until the yeast is dissolved and swells. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Mix in the oil, and room temperature water. Stir until the liquid ingredients are combined well. Don’t worry about the oil floating at the top of the mixture, oil and water  just don’t like each other.
2. Sift the flour and salt, or place in a blender or food processor and pulse to combine. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour. If you’re using a blender or food processor, pulse the ingredients together until a ball is formed. A hand mixer with dough attachments can be used as well.
3.  Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead by hand for about a minute. Form the dough into a ball. Lightly oil a bowl deep enough for the dough to double in size. Cover with a plate that fits perfectly over the bowl. Let dough rise until doubled in size this should take 1 – 1 ½ hours. Gently press or punch the dough to deflate.
4. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
5. Place the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide the dough into 2 equal balls. Place the extra dough in a Ziploc bag. It can be frozen for up to 30 days, just remember to take it out to let it thaw a hour before use. I like to place mine in the fridge, because I’ll probably have pizza again within the next few days. HA!
6. You can either roll the dough out with a rolling pin or you can stretch it with your hands. If rolling it out, try to make sure the dough is even all the way around. Roll the dough out to an 12″ circle’ish. If the dough wants to shrink back you can work it out with your fingers. If you’re using your hands, place the dough in the middle of the baking sheet and press down to form a disc shape. Work the dough out with the palms of your hands and fingers.
7. Spread the red sauce over the pizza dough, leaving about a ½-inch border uncovered. Spread the mozzarella cheese, then add the goat cheese, and last but not least, the jalapenos.
8. Place the pizza in the oven.
9. Bake until the crust edges slightly brown and the cheese is bubbly. (10 to 12 minutes). Remove from the oven; top with the parmesan cheese.
10. Slice and serve.