Crave Wednesday: Prosciutto Pizza with Tangy White Sauce

I'm very picky about my pizza.  Not so much the toppings - but the crust.  It can be think or thick, hand tossed or deep dish.  But it must, MUST be crisp.  Soggy crusts are not my thing.  So much so that I can't handle microwave pizza.  All my leftovers are reheated in the toaster oven. 

This can be a real issues when making your own pizza.  Because loading up dough with sauces and toppings can often lead to too much moisture and a crust that never seems to crisp.

There area couple answers to this.  Up until now, I've been parbaking the crust a little.  I pop it in the oven for a couple minutes before topping it. 

This is another solution, one I like better - preheating the pizza stone!  What I like best about this method is that it's not an extra step.  I mean, you need to preheat the oven anyway, so just throwing the pizza stone in while it preheats isn't all that hard.  And then you end up with a nice, sizzling hot stone which starts cooking the crust as soon as the dough hits it.

This method works especially well with a nice thin crust like this one.  It's basically cooked before you even put it in the oven!  And the sauce serves as a nice counterpoint to the salty prosciutto.  White pizza, because it's almost summer, right? 

Prosciutto Pizza with Tangy White Sauce (from Cooking Light)

2/3 cup warm water

1 tsp yeast

1 1/2 cups bread flour

4 1/12 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp kosher salt

cooking spray

1 Tbsp yellow corn meal

3/4 cup milk

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp pepper

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced

2 tsp flour

3/4 cup shredded gruyere cheese

2 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, torn

1 Tbsp chopped chives

1. Combine 2/3 cup warm water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached and let stand 5 minutes, or until bubbles form.
2. Sprinkle flour over yeast.
3. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and salt.  Mix at low speed for 2 minutes or until dough forms a ball.  Increase speed to medium and mix 8 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  Place dough in medium bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size.  Punch dough down.  Cover with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray and refrigerate 24 hours. Remove from fridge and let stand for 1 hour until it reaches room temperature. Punch down.
4.  Sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet.  Roll dough into an 11 x 16 inch rectangle on baking sheet.
5. Brush dough with 1 1/2 tsp olive oil.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Place a pizza stone in th oven and preheat oven to 500.   Preheat pizza stone for 30 minutes before baking pizza.
6. Combine milk, mustard, black pepper, and egg yolk in a bowl.  
7. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. 
8. Add garlic, cook 3 minutes or just until butter and garlic begin to brown, stirring frequently.
9. Add 2 tsp flour to pan and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. 
10. Remove plastic wrap from dough.  Spread sauce evenly over dough.
11. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone. Bake for 18 minutes,
12. Arrange prosciutto on pizza and sprinkle with cheese.