Homemade Pizza & Italian Salad

Whole Foods dough with Rao’s sauce, fresh mozzarella, and soppressata — Ooni or oven — plus Italian salad.

Prep
20 minutes (plus 2 hours resting dough)
Cook
10–15 minutes
Serves
4

Ingredients

Pizza

  • 1 package Whole Foods fresh white pizza dough
  • Rao’s Pizza Sauce
  • ½ lb fresh mozzarella ball, sliced into thin pieces
  • Hot soppressata or pepperoni, cut into roughly 1-inch pieces
  • Flour, for stretching the dough
  • Olive oil, for the pizza pan (oven method)

Italian salad

  • 2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • ½ red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup Castelvetrano olives, sliced
  • 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, sliced

Salad dressing

  • ⅓ cup white balsamic vinegar
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

  1. Prepare the dough: Two hours before cooking, remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator. Divide it into two equal portions, place each in its own lightly floured bowl, and cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough come to room temperature and relax.
  2. Prepare the salad dressing: In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  3. Ooni pizza oven method: Preheat the Ooni and allow the pizza stone to heat for at least 10 minutes. Generously flour your hands and work surface. Stretch one dough ball into a very thin round, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking or tearing.
  4. Spread a thin layer of Rao’s Pizza Sauce over the dough. Evenly distribute the fresh mozzarella, covering about 70% of the surface. Top evenly with the hot soppressata or pepperoni.
  5. Generously flour the pizza peel and transfer the pizza onto it, making sure it slides freely before launching. Cook in the Ooni, rotating the pizza frequently, until the crust is puffed and charred and the cheese is melted and bubbling. Repeat with the second pizza.
  6. Conventional oven method: Preheat the oven to 550°F with two round pizza pans inside. Lightly oil and flour the hot pizza pans. Stretch each dough ball into a thin round and place one on each prepared pizza pan.
  7. Bake the plain dough for 2–4 minutes, until it begins to set, puff slightly, and just starts to brown. Remove the pizzas from the oven. Spread a thin layer of Rao’s Pizza Sauce over each crust. Evenly distribute the fresh mozzarella, covering about 70% of the surface, then add the hot soppressata or pepperoni.
  8. Return the pizzas to the oven and bake for another 2–4 minutes, until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted and beginning to turn golden.
  9. Finish: Allow each pizza to rest for 3 minutes before slicing. Using a pizza cutter, press firmly through one side of the crust and roll straight across to the opposite side. Repeat to create the desired number of slices.
  10. Toss the romaine, tomatoes, onion, Castelvetrano olives, and artichoke hearts with the prepared dressing just before serving. Serve the homemade pizza with the Italian salad.

Notes

  • Letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours makes it much easier to stretch into a thin crust.
  • Use just enough sauce to lightly coat the dough—too much can make the crust soggy.
  • Fresh mozzarella releases moisture as it cooks, so spacing the slices evenly rather than overlapping them helps the pizza brown more evenly.
  • Toss the salad immediately before serving to keep the romaine crisp.

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