The recipe

1 pizza, about 28 to 30 cmabout 25 minutes, plus dough proofing and preheating

Ingredients

  • 250 g proofed pizza dough, ready to bake
  • 50 g mozzarella, well drained
  • 25 g Fontina
  • 30 g Gorgonzola
  • 10 g Parmesan, finely grated
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • A little flour or fine semolina for shaping

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 250°C with conventional top and bottom heat. Heat a suitable stone or steel according to its instructions. Keep the dough covered until supple.
  2. Drain the mozzarella. Cut the mozzarella and Fontina into small pieces, divide the Gorgonzola into small portions and finely grate the Parmesan.
  3. Stretch the dough to about 28 to 30 cm and place it on a lightly dusted peel. Check that the base slides freely.
  4. Spread the olive oil thinly over the dough, leaving the rim clear. Distribute the mozzarella, Fontina and Gorgonzola evenly. Keep the Parmesan aside.
  5. Launch immediately. Bake for roughly 8 to 12 minutes, checking from six minutes. Judge the cheese and underside together; the centre must cook through.
  6. Remove, scatter with Parmesan and add pepper if wanted. Let steam escape briefly, then cut and serve.

Give each cheese a purpose

This version combines 50 g mozzarella, 25 g Fontina, 30 g Gorgonzola and 10 g Parmesan. Mozzarella provides the milder base, Fontina adds a fuller melting-cheese flavour, Gorgonzola supplies stronger accents and finely grated Parmesan finishes the pizza after baking. That is 115 g of cheese on a base made from 250 g of proofed dough. If you replace a cheese, consider its purpose in the mixture. Four strongly flavoured hard cheeses make a much saltier, drier pizza than this combination.

You can replace Fontina with a mild cheese that melts well. Choose a milder Gorgonzola or reduce its quantity if preferred. Do not automatically make up the difference with Parmesan, which would change both the saltiness and melting behaviour. If cooking for vegetarians, check the rennet used in all four cheeses or choose products with suitable labelling. A topping made entirely from cheese does not by itself establish that the finished pizza is vegetarian.

Bake the white pizza evenly

Distribute the cheese and small Gorgonzola pieces with some space between them. Many of the gaps close as the cheese melts. Without tomato sauce, exposed areas dry out more quickly if you leave only a few tall piles of cheese. A very thin coating of olive oil is enough beneath this topping. This version uses no cream, which would add moisture when the cheese already supplies plenty of fat and flavour.

Watch the cheese from about six minutes into the bake. If it is ready while the base remains pale, the baking surface may need a longer preheat or a different shelf position next time. Continue the current bake long enough to cook the base, reducing excessive direct top heat if necessary. Add the Parmesan and freshly ground pepper to the hot pizza afterwards. This makes the finishing cheese easy to control and avoids a hard-cheese layer darkening too early.