Your Daily Dish: Homemade Fontina and Arugula Pizza

Take a bigger bite out of life! Every day is a holiday with BiteMeMore.com.

Pizza should be its own food group, especially this month (October is National Pizza Month) and especially because of this crispy, thin-crust homemade Fontina & Arugula Pizza.

Ingredients

Dough
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 package (21/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Yellow cornmeal to dust pizza pans or baking sheets

Pizza Topping
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup shredded Fontina cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

Arugula Topping
8 cups baby arugula
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1) Brush a large bowl with 1 tsp olive oil. Set aside.

2) For the dough, pour 1 cup warm water into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top and set aside until yeast dissolves and becomes foamy, 5-10 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, place flour, honey and salt in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process to mix. With the machine running, add the yeast mixture and 2 tbsp olive oil in a steady stream. Process until dough forms a sticky ball, about 10 seconds. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. Add more flour if dough is too sticky, 1 tbsp at a time. Place dough in oil-coated bowl and cover with plastic wrap, letting the dough rise in a warm, draft- free area until almost double in size, about 1 hour.

4) Preheat oven to 475°F. Dust pizza pan or baking sheet with yellow cornmeal.

5) Once dough has doubled in size, punch down dough and divide into 2 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece at a time, starting in the center of the dough and rolling outwards to form a 12-inch circle. Transfer to pizza pan or baking sheet. Repeat with other half of the pizza dough.

6) Brush 1 tbsp olive oil on each pizza base and sprinkle each with 1/4 tsp salt. On each pizza, sprinkle the Fontina, mozzarella and thyme, dividing evenly between the two.

7) Bake 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden. Let sit 5 minutes before slicing. Slice each pizza into 8 pieces.

8) For arugula topping, in a medium bowl, toss baby arugula with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Divide arugula between both pizzas, topping each slice with a generous handful. Serve immediately.

Yield: 16 slices

Another pizza you can add to your repertoire is this tasty Roasted Vegetable & Ricotta Pizza.

Whether it’s cruising the aisles at the Dollar Store or experimenting at the stove, we believe that every day can be a holiday.