Penne Vodka Pizza with Smoked Gouda
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes + 2 days for the dough
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Oh my god, I can’t even begin to describe how GOOD this penne vodka pizza with smoked Gouda is! I mean wow, just wow. This pizza is SO loaded with everything that is good and holy on this earth. When I told my dad I was making this pizza, he was like “pasta on pizza? Isn’t that redundant?” NOOOO! How many people have crusty bread or breadsticks with their pasta?!? And if you’ve never tried a pasta pizza, this is the place to start!
Try this Penne Vodka recipe for the pizza – it is to die for!
So, I’ve been making homemade pizza dough for years. Homemade is just so much better than buying dough from the store or your local pizzeria. However, I’ve been feeling like the flavor has been just slightly missing the mark. So, lately I’ve started to geek out and experiment with fermenting times. For this pizza, I let the dough sit for TWO days, and wow, what a difference! From the research I’ve done, New York style pizzerias use 48-72 hour doughs. This creates a firmer pizza, which gives it brawn to hold the weight of the pasta! And the crust is just bursting with flavor. I am not a crust eater, normally, but this time I had to swat the hands of circling vultures because I wasn’t letting any of this go to waste.
If you don’t want to wait 48 hours because you want it NOW, no problem! Make the dough the same way and ignore the 2 days refrigerator step! This is a lot of work if you make everything on the same day. I highly recommend making the penne vodka recipe for a meal of it’s own and use the leftovers to make the pizza. On top is shredded smoked Gouda, which OMG, wow does the smokiness really meld all of the flavors and make the pizza pop!
I used to use a pizza stone to cook my pies, but after trying a baking sheet one time, I stopped. I found that using the stone, my pizza didn’t slide off the paddle properly and I had to shove the pizza off, ingredients fell off, the pizza looked smushed… it was just consistently a disaster. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong! It didn’t matter how much flour I used on the paddle, the pizza fought me every time. So, one day I decided to try a baking sheet, and boom! Problem solved. The pizza cooked the same. It had a nice crispy crust with a soft, chewy center. I definitely recommend using a baking sheet for this pizza because the pasta is HEAVY!
Top with grated Parmesan and red pepper flakes and ENJOY!
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (around 110° degrees)
2 TBs honey
1 packet active dry yeast
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 TB salt
1 TB olive oil
Toppings
Penne Vodka (use this penne vodka recipe)
8 oz. shredded smoked gouda
Instructions
In a bowl or mixing cup, whisk the water, honey and yeast. Let sit 5-10 minutes, or until foamy. Add in the olive oil and whisk.
Using a food processor with a pizza blade or a stand mixer with a dough hook, stir the flour and salt to combine. Slowly pour in the liquid while the machine is running. Turn up the power to high until the dough forms a ball and picks up any remaining dough stuck to the sides.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Remove the dough from the food processor or stand mixer. It may be on the wetter, stickier side. That’s okay! If it’s sticking to your hands, get your hands wet before handling it. Form the dough into a ball and place it into the bowl, gently rolling it to coat it in oil. Cover with a tight lid or plastic wrap. Place in a warm area (not hot!) for an hour or until doubled in size. A trick is to place the bowl in a turned off oven, close the door, and turn the oven light on.
When the dough has doubled in size, put the bowl in the refrigerator and let sit for 48 hours!
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When ready, preheat the oven to 550° with the rack in the center. If you’re oven only goes as high as 500°, that’s okay! You may just have to let the pizza cook for a few more minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl. Again, it may be sticky, so don’t hesitate to get your hands wet first! On a lightly floured surface, deflate the dough and roll into a ball. Divide in half. Flatten the dough out with your hands. Sprinkle the top with flour and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to be about 12”x12”. It does NOT have to be a perfect circle; it doesn’t even have to be a circle!
Lightly flour a baking sheet. Place the dough on the baking sheet and spread about 3 cups of penne vodka onto the dough. Sprinkle half of the smoked Gouda over the pasta.
Bake for 9 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. While the pizza is cooking, prepare the second pizza on another baking sheet. Pop it in as soon as the first pizza is finished cooking.
Cut the pizza, sprinkle with Parmesan and red pepper flakes, if you wish, and ENJOY!
Keywords: Penne Vodka, Pizza, Italian, Pasta Pizza, Smoked Gouda
