Pizza “Four Cheese”: the experience of critic Boris


Classic 4 cheese pizza recipe

Kitchen utensils: grater, cup, cutting board, bowl, rolling pin, baking sheet or pizza pan, sieve, clean kitchen towel.

List of ingredients

Dough:
Olive oil2 tbsp. l.
Flour450-500 g
Salt1 pinch
Live yeast25 g
Sugar½ tsp.
Water200 ml
Filling:
Parmesan100 g
Dried basil3 pinches
Mozzarella100 g
Oregano3 pinches
Blue cheese100 g
Hard cheese100 g

Step-by-step preparation

First stage

  1. Any yeast must first be revived. To do this, heat the water to body temperature or slightly warmer than room temperature. In cold water you will have to wait a long time for the yeast to react, but in hot water it will simply cook. Mix salt in water. Add sugar, which activates the yeast faster. And sprinkle in the yeast itself. Mix and leave them warm for 15 minutes. During the heating season, I place them near the radiator.

    First, we dilute the yeast in warm water with sugar and salt.

  2. After the yeast has dispersed, the mass will become homogeneous and bubbly. From this moment you can start kneading the dough.

    When the yeast is activated, you can begin kneading the dough.

  3. Pour in the oil and pour in the flour, which must be sifted. This is done in order to saturate it with oxygen, remove foreign particles and break up lumps.

    Add vegetable oil to the yeast mass and sift the flour.

  4. Knead into a smooth and elastic dough.

    The dough can be kneaded by hand or using a food processor.

    According to the rules, this is done by hand. But, if you have a food processor or mixer with a spiral or other suitable dough attachment, then, naturally, with its help you will do this faster and easier.

  5. We wet a kitchen towel with warm water, squeeze it well and cover the bowl with the finished dough. Leave it like this for 30 minutes. After this procedure, the dough will become even more elastic and easier to roll out.

    To make the dough rise a little, cover it with a damp towel and place it in a warm place.

  6. To do this, dust the surface of the table with flour and place a third of the dough on it. First, knead it with your hands, and then roll it out with a rolling pin into a circle with a diameter of 30-34 cm. The thickness should be 5-6 millimeters. Then the dough will have time to bake well and there will not be too much of it, which sometimes interferes with enjoying the cheese taste.

    Divide the finished dough into three parts and roll each into a thin circle.

    You can prepare all three bases in this way and lay them out on separate pieces of paper.

Second phase

  1. Place the base on a pizza pan or baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

    Carefully transfer the rolled out dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.

  2. Turn on the oven at 220° in advance so that it warms up well.
  3. Now let's move on to the cheeses. Break the mozzarella into pieces or cut into thin slices.

    Chop the mozzarella or simply tear it into pieces.

    It will be delicious either way, but when you lay out the cheese in pieces, you get a more interesting transition of flavors. If you have hard mozzarella, it is better to grate it on the coarse side of a grater.

  4. We also break the blue cheese into small pieces. Grate Parmesan using a grater with small holes. Sometimes you can buy already grated cheese.

    Three parmesan on a fine grater.

  5. Three hard cheeses are also grated, but on the coarse side.

    Grate hard cheese on a grater with large holes.

  6. We divide all the cheeses into three parts, since we will have three pizzas.
  7. First lay out the pieces or plates on the base, and then sprinkle with grated cheeses. You can generally grate all the cheeses, mix and divide by the number of bases.

    Place our cheeses one by one on the dough piece.

    Before laying out the cheeses, you can optionally brush the dough with tomato sauce, but then the pizza will look more like a Margherita.

  8. Season with one pinch of oregano and basil on top. I prefer green basil. It does not have such a rich aroma as regular cheese, and it does not overwhelm the taste of cheeses. And oregano is generally one of the main seasonings for any Italian pizza. Some people also add paprika. But, in my opinion, it is better to take a set of Italian herbs.
  9. Place the pizza in the oven. For my stove, 12-15 minutes is enough. And you navigate in your own way. The main thing is that a beautiful baked crust appears, but does not burn or dry out.

    'Try to make this pizza

  10. We also bake the other two.
    Instead of making everything with cheese, you can make one pizza with seafood and another with sausage and cheese. Pizza with salami is also delicious and resembles pepperoni.
  11. We serve the pizza only hot, then the cheese will not lose its viscousness. It’s better to cut it as soon as it’s taken out of the oven and use a special knife for this. One pizza is traditionally divided into 6 parts. And it is served with any drinks. This could be a cup of aromatic coffee or a glass of good wine.

    Eat the pizza hot while the cheese stretches beautifully and appetizingly.

If you don’t have the desire or ability to turn on the oven, you can cook the pizza in a frying pan or bake it in the microwave.

Pizza 4 cheese recipe adapted to reality

Ingredients:

For the test:

  1. wheat flour – 1 cup
  2. wholemeal flour - 1 cup
  3. salt – 1/3 teaspoon
  4. sugar – 2 tsp
  5. dry yeast – 5.5 g (1/2 sachet)
  6. egg – 1 pc.
  7. olive oil – 2 teaspoons
  8. room temperature water – 1/3 cup
  9. herbal mixture

For filling:

  1. olive oil
  2. basil
  3. blue cheese
  4. mozzarella cheese
  5. Parmesan cheese
  6. Russian cheese

Pizza with cheese (4 cheeses – Pizza 4 Formaggi) is a so-called white pizza. It does not use tomato sauce or tomatoes. Although everything is possible in the kitchen.

If you decide to add sauce, HERE IS THE RECIPE for real jarred tomato sauce!

4 must-have cheeses: mozzarella, blue cheese (also called blue cheese), parmesan and yellow hard cheese. There is no pizza without cheese. Therefore, there is no purely vegetarian pizza either.

4 cheeses used on pizza
4 cheeses used on pizza

Grease the pizza dough with olive oil. You need very little oil. For a pizza with a diameter of 20 cm, a maximum of 1 teaspoon.

The pizza dough in the photo is dark in color. This is because I replaced 1 cup of wheat flour with rye flour. The taste was just like real peasant pizza, but the color was dark. If you cook according to the “Simply Wonderful Pizza Dough” recipe, your dough will be the usual yellow color.

brush the dough with olive oil
brush the dough with olive oil

Place the blue cheese first. You can cut it, you can rub it on the track, you can tear it with your hands. Doesn't play any role. 4 Cheese Pizza combines all the flavors.

blue cheese
blue cheese

Then add mozzarella and yellow Russian cheese.

plus mozzarella and yellow cheese
plus mozzarella and yellow cheese

And the very last three are Parmesan. And add a few basil leaves.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180-200 degrees.

Interesting about the shape. The first time I took a glass mold due to the lack of a ceramic one. A thick bottom was needed. And now I only bake in it, as the bottom turns out perfect. I placed basil on top of the cheese. It's purple. In Italy, most people use green basil, which has a spicier, sharper flavor. It's a matter of taste.

parmesan cheese and basil
parmesan cheese and basil

Delicious cheese pizza.

pizza with cheese (4 cheeses)
pizza with cheese (4 cheeses)

After the cheese pizza, you should definitely try these beauties. All recipes with step-by-step photos and detailed descriptions:

  • pizza Margherita - pizza in 3 colors of the Italian flag (white, green and red);
  • Hawaiian pizza - sweetish with pineapples;
  • pizza Calzone - closed, very juicy pizza in the shape of a semicircle;
  • Pepperone pizza - with spicy (pepper) salami sausage.

Classic 4 cheese pizza recipe

4 cheese pizza, the classic recipe for which I present today is white pizza, or “pizza Bianca”. It owes its color to the four types of cheese it contains: mozzarella, Parmesan, Gorgonzola and Emmental.

Two of them are conditionally irreplaceable. The first is mozzarella, white cheese in small balls, soft and slightly fibrous. Its taste is neutral, its structure is fusible: it spreads directly over the surface of the pizza. The second is Parmesan, old and hard, with a peculiar aroma that gives dishes a piquant touch.

But the second couple are candidates for experiments. Gorgonzola, an Italian blue cheese with mold, can be successfully replaced with Roquefort (I did this, since in our “province” you can rarely find Gorgonzola in a store). Instead, you can also take the more affordable and humanely priced Dor Blue, or the also expensive Cambozola. Emmental is a hard and aromatic cheese with large holes; it can be replaced with another cheese of similar structure - Masdaam, Gouda or Tilsiter.

Can't find the first two types for the classic 4 cheese pizza recipe? Try replacing mozzarella with feta, and permesan with any mature hard cheese. The main thing is that the ingredients include all four types: hard, soft, blue and aromatic.

As for the sauce and tomatoes, most often this type of pizza is prepared without them. However, for greater juiciness, both are often added to it. I love rich baked goods too, so I added some homemade tomato sauce and some sliced ​​tomatoes to my pizza.

The baked goods turned out to be very harmonious (which is not surprising), aromatic and piquant in taste. The only thing is that not everyone in my family appreciated the smell of Parmesan - the child said that you shouldn’t spoil a delicious pizza with tasteless cheese. So next time you’ll have to look for a less fragrant product to please your capricious little one.

PS The most interesting thing is that the young detective did not find “Parmesan” in the salty cookies with cheese - he crunched it selflessly and did not complain.

Recipe information

  • Cuisine:Italian
  • Type of dish: baked goods
  • Servings:3-4
  • 30 min

Ingredients:

  • 300 g ready-made yeast dough (recipe with egg)

sauce (for 2 pieces):

  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 tbsp. spoon of olive oil
  • salt, ground black pepper, pizza spice mix

filling:

  • 2 cherry tomatoes (larger varieties, you can take 4-5 small ones)
  • 50 g parmesan
  • 50 g mozzarella
  • 50 g emmenthal
  • 50 g blue cheese (I used Roquefort)
  • fresh basil

Preparation:

Turn on the oven by setting the temperature control to 220 degrees. Start by making my homemade 4 cheese pizza sauce recipe. Make a cross-shaped cut on the tomato and scald with boiling water. Remove the skin and grate the pulp using a fine grater. Pour in olive oil, season with salt, ground pepper, and spice mixture. Stir.

Punch down the 4 cheese pizza dough and knead a little with your hands on a floured counter. Stretch and roll with a rolling pin into a thin layer of round shape. Lubricate the surface with sauce - without sparing, the baked goods will be more juicy.

Prepare the remaining ingredients for the 4 cheese pizza. Cut the Emmental into rectangular slices, the mozzarella into semicircles, and the Roquefort into cubes. Grate Parmesan cheese onto a fine grater. Place on the base in the following order: Emmental slices and chopped Parmesan first.

Then evenly distribute the remaining 4 cheese pizza toppings: Roquefort and mozzarella. Lastly, arrange the thin slices of tomatoes. Take a sprig of basil and rinse it in warm water. Tear off the leaves, cut into strips and sprinkle on top.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, turn on the heat from above and below, convection and cook for 10-15 minutes (the filling should melt and “boil” a little).

Remove the baked goods from the baking sheet with a spatula and place on a heat-resistant surface. Garnish with fresh basil and cut into triangular pieces. Serve immediately before the pizza cools. Bon appetit!

Homemade 4 cheese pizza recipe

Well, for video fans, here’s another option for making Four Cheese pizza. Watch carefully and repeat after the author.

Rating
( 2 ratings, average 4.5 out of 5 )
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