One of the first recipes I did on Mama’s Kitchen almost 2 years ago was garlic knots - a NY pizza place staple. They’re so yummy and easy to make, and I’ve received so many requests for them, so I decided to make them again. Since I was making a pizza place staple, I decided to also make some homemade pizza. I made white pizza which doesn’t have sauce and is “white” because of the ricotta and mozzarella that’s on it. The pizza recipe is simple, and the best thing about it, you can improvise and add your own toppings. With these two recipes under your belt, you can have your own homemade pizza party!

Recipes, tips and pics after the jump!

Garlic Knots

Ingredients
Pizza Dough (you can get this at Trader Joe’s or try your local pizza parlor - sometimes they will sell you raw pizza dough)
3-4 large cloves of Garlic - peeled & crushed
1/2 bunch of Parsley - cleaned & minced
2-3 tbsp Flour
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

*My grandmother makes her own dough, when I go home to visit we’ll make it from scratch for a future Mama’s Kitchen

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of flour on a cutting board or cooking surface.

3. Place the dough on the flour and coat the dough evenly with a light coat of flour. Don’t overwork the dough, it’s already been kneaded so take it easy. Also coat your hands with flour so that the dough is easier to work with.

4. Using a knife or pizza cutter cut the dough in a slice about 1/2 inch thick. Do not slice all of the dough at once. It will get dry and gross. Please cut one slice at a time.

5. Once you cut the slice of dough, evenly coat it with flour.

6. Gently stretch and pull the dough slice to make it thinner and longer.

7. Start at the end of the slice of dough and fold it around your finger as if tying a knot. When the knot is made rip the dough at the end of the knot. Place the knot on a baking tray that’s either lined with parchment paper or Pam. Repeat the process until your done with the dough.

8. When your done folding the dough into knots, cover the baking tray with foil and bake for 10 minutes.

This is what they look like after 10 minutes:

9. After 10 minutes, take the tray out of the oven and flip the knots. Cover with foil again and bake for another 10 minutes.

10. While the knots are baking, chop the parsley and crush the garlic and add to a bowl. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil in the bowl. Add salt and pepper.

11. When the knots are ready, add them to the bowl with the garlic mixture. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the knots.

12. Mix the knots and the mixture. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

White Pizza

Ingredients
Pizza Dough
Ricotta
Parsley - Minced
Garlic - Crushed
Tomato - Diced
Sauteed Mushrooms (get recipe here)
Olives - Pitted & Chopped
Red Onion

*This pizza does not have sauce on it. If you want to add sauce you can find my pesto recipe here and tomato sauce recipe here. The only difference is that for the tomato sauce recipe, add some dried oregano to make it “pizza” sauce.

*Whenever my grandmother made homemade pizza it was “Sicilian” style so it has a thicker crust. To make NY style pizza is a whole different ball game.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of flour on a cutting board or cooking surface.

3. Place the dough on the flour and coat the dough evenly with a light coat of flour. Don’t overwork the dough, it’s already been kneaded so take it easy. Also coat your hands with flour so that the dough is easier to work with.

4. With a rolling pin, start rolling the dough out so that the dough is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Rolling out dough is pretty hard and I’m not the best so I always end up with an abstractly-shaped piece of dough. My grandmother always gets it in a perfect rectangular shape.

5. Place the dough on a baking tray with parchment paper or Pam and bake for 20 minutes.

6. While the dough is baking it will rise very high with air bubbles. Every few minutes check on the dough and pop the air bubbles with a fork. Also check the bottom of the dough to make sure it’s not getting too much color. You want it to be golden.

7. While the dough is in the oven, get your toppings together like your sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, and onions. To make the ricotta base take the ricotta and put it in a bowl and add minced garlic, chopped parsley salt & pepper. Stir the mixture until it’s well blended.

8. After 20 minutes take the dough out of the oven. First, brush some olive oil on the dough. Then put spoonfuls of the ricotta on the dough and push it down gently to evenly coat the dough. Be sure to leave some area on the edge without any topping for your “crust.”

9. Start layering on your other toppings.

10. Drizzle some of olive oil on top and then add mozzarella.

11. Place the pizza in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is melted.

That’s it!

Remember, now that you have the basic recipe, you can add all the sauce and toppings you want - the possibilities are endless. Enjoy and Buon Appetito!

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Tags: buon appetito, garlic knots, mama's kitchen, pizza, pizza party, white pizza