Red Pepper Pizza with Arrabbiata Sauce

Spice up your pizza game! A pizzeria style Red Pepper Pizza starts with spicy homemade Arrabbiata Sauce and is topped with roasted peppers and ricotta cheese. Skip the delivery! Make this at home.

Living in New York City spoils you for pizza choices. So, when we are back in our hometown, we struggle to find pizza that we love. This gives us a great excuse to make our own pie at home (Bee Sting Pizza is our favorite). Today we felt like something spicy, so I made a homemade Arrabbiata sauce and topped it with some colorful roasted peppers and ricotta cheese.

Ingredients:

• DRY ACTIVE YEAST: 1 envelope
• WARM WATER: 1 ⅓ cup (110°)
• FLOUR: 3 ¾ cup (plus ½ cup extra for kneading)
• KOSHER SALT: 1 ½ teaspoons
• CRUSHED TOMATOES: 1 pint
• OLIVE OIL: ¼ cup
• CRUSHED RED PEPPER FLAKES: 1 teaspoon
• BLACK PEPPER: 1 teaspoon
• GARLIC: 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• FRESH BASIL LEAVES: about 10
• PEPPERS: 6-8 small assorted peppers
• RICOTTA CHEESE: 1 cup

How to make pizza dough:

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the 110° water and mix in with fingers.
2. Let sit until yeast becomes cloudy and creamy.
3. In a large bowl, combine 3 ¾ C flour and 1 ½ teaspoon salt. Add the yeast and water mixture and mix with hook attached to mixer (or by hand) until form a ball.
4. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding flour a little at a time.
5. Place dough in a large bowl with 2 tablespoon oil to coat dough. Cover and place in warm area until dough has doubled (about 2 hours).

How to make Arrabbiata Sauce:

1. Using a medium sauce pan, pour olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, crushed red pepper and black pepper into pan and cook covered over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add 4-6 basil leaves torn to sauce and stir in (sauce can be made up to a week in advance).
3. To roast peppers, simply turn gas burner on and place directly in flame until peppers are completely blackened and charred. Place on plate and allow to cool. Using your hands, rub charred skin off peppers and chop into ½ inch pieces.

Assemble the Red Pepper Pizza:

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Roll pizza dough out on a floured surface until its desired thickness.
3. Place dough onto pizza pan. Top with Arrabbiata sauce and roasted peppers and place in oven for 5 minutes.
4. Remove pizza and place spoonfuls of ricotta on pizza. Then return to oven and bake until crust is golden brown (about 7-10 minutes).
5. Top with remaining basil leaves and enjoy.

Why this recipe works:

This amazing Red Pepper Pizza starts with fresh, homemade dough and sauce. The sauce is pretty standard, made with crushed tomatoes, fresh herbs and olive oil. I added crushed red pepper and black pepper to give it that Arrabbiata “zing.” I like ricotta cheese on this pie, as it balances out the heat of the sauce, giving it a memorable bite.

Chef's Expert tips:

1. Make ahead: to save time, prepare the dough and the sauce the day before. Refrigerate them both until you are ready to assemble the pizza for a quick and easy meal.
2. Spice it up: for an extra spicer pizza, add hotter peppers (like jalapeños or poblanos). You can also add more red pepper flakes to the sauce.
3. Grill it: if it's nice outside (or you don't feel like turning on the oven). Put the pizza stone right on your grill for a perfectly crisp, bubbly pizza crust. Just be sure to watch it, as grilled pizza crust can burn fast.
4. Make it fast: you can always use a good store bought dough to cut the prep time on this recipe. No judgements. We do it all the time!

What to serve with Red Pepper Pizza:

• Grilled Romaine Caesar Salad
• Grilled Peach & Farro Salad
• Pickled Pepper Focaccia Bread
• Tomato Jalapeño Jam

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