Last week I ended up grabbing a quick slice of pizza at a small hole-in-the-wall joint. Although the pizza wasn't fantastic, it stood out because the crust was coated in cornmeal. Ever since then, I have been craving a cornmeal crust pizza and decided to go ahead and make my own. Since the last few weeks have been pretty sweets heavy, I figured this savory treat would make for a nice change of pace. To see step-by-step pictures and a recipe for a super tasty cornmeal dough pizza, read more

I like my pizza's plain with just sauce and cheese. I find that vegetables release too much liquid and meat (although I do love meat) just doesn't taste as nice as simple pizza. However, since the crust was a bit thicker on this pie, I served it with roasted tomatoes and basil tossed with a little bit of olive oil and salt - sort of a topping that goes on once the pizza has been fully cooked.

Four Cheese Pizza with Cornmeal Crust
From The Little Guides Pizza

1/2 cup (75g) yellow cornmeal (or polenta)
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (125ml) water
2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup tomato sauce of your choice
6-8 oz of shredded cheese

• Place a pizza stone, unglazed terra-cotta tile (you can get these at a hardware store, make sure it's clean and something you'd want to eat off of), or baking sheet in the oven. Preheat to 450F/220C.
• Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
  
• Make a well in the center.
  
• Add water and 2 tbsp olive oil.
  
• Combine by gradually incorporating the flour into the yeast mixture, adding a little extra water if necessary. Note: I used a mixer with the paddle attachment, however it is easy to blend by hand.
  
• Transfer dough to a floured board and knead until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Note: I used the dough hook attachment on my mixer at speed 2 for 4 minutes.
  
• Sprinkle cornmeal down on a surface and press out the pizza dough using your fingertips. I made a 9-10" circle, but you can stretch it out to 12" if desired. Just be sure to press from inside of the dough to the outside.
  
• Remove heated stone/tile/sheet from oven and place pizza dough on top. Be careful it's going to be really hot!
  
• Spoon on the tomato sauce.
  
• Sprinkle the cheese on top. I used mozarella combined with what we had in the house, a smooth goat gouda, a hard sheep gouda, and parmesan. Next time instead of shredding it all, I would probably use some larger slices as well.
  
• Return stone and pizza to oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until pizza is golden on the edges and crisp underneath.
  
• Notes: Our pizza came out fantastic, I was really thrilled with it. It could have been a tiny bit better if we did two things. 1- bake the crust without any ingredients for a few minutes first (the cheese was a bit "done" by the time the crust was ready) 2- use more cheese!
  

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