Mix up your pizza night with this delicious white pizza recipe. Made from scratch with a quick no yeast pizza dough, it's ready to enjoy less than an hour. Smothered in a white garlic pizza sauce and topped with a sweet and salty combination of pear, pancetta and blue cheese.
This recipe was first posted in February 2017 and has been updated in September 2020
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Pizza is comfort food at it's finest, cheesy goodness stacked on carbs! Perfect for a weekend feast! One of the reasons I love pizza so much, is because of all the variations out there. You can really go to town, get the creative juices flowing and experiment with all kinds of toppings.
Pear and stilton are some of my favourite flavours together, I love the sweet graininess of pears that cut through the strong flavours of a ripe stilton. I've been playing around with these flavours for a while, but wanted to have something a bit less pungent for my pizza topping.
Cambozola is the perfect cheese for this recipe, it has a much more subtle blue cheese flavour and it's creaminess feels truly decadent. The pancetta on the pizza gives an additional crunch texture and a good hit of salt to balance out the sweetness of the pears.
For this combination of toppings, I felt that a tomato sauce base would just be a bit too overpowering, a flavour too far, so I went with a white pizza sauce for the base. The garlic herby, cheesy sauce is much more subtle than your usual tomato sauce, although, still tangy, and if I'm honest I will always go for a white pizza if I have the chance!
If you are a pizza lover too, be sure to check out my Blue Cheese Pizza with Pumpkin and Chicken Tandoori Naan Bread Pizza.
Ingredients
For the white pizza sauce
- Butter and oil: Use salted butter. If you only have unsalted, you can use that and add in a pinch of salt to the sauce.
- Onion: Use a white onion and dice it as finely as you can.
- Garlic: I just use one clove of garlic so as not to overpower the dish, but feel free to add in another garlic clove if you like.
- Flour: All purpose flour to thicken the sauce.
- Milk: I used 2% milk, you can use whole milk or a plant based milk like almond or oat.
- Black pepper: Just a pinch for a slight warmth.
- Italian seasoning: For a subtle herby flavor.
- Parmesan: If you can use freshly grated parmesan, but pre grated will work just fine.
For the pizza base
I went with a non yeast pizza dough for this white pizza recipe, just to cut down on a bit of time. You can use your favorite pizza dough recipe or if you want this on the table quickly you can use a store bought pizza base.
- Flour: If you have 00 flour then use that, but all purpose will work well.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar gives the crust a nice color when it is baked.
- Baking powder: To help the dough rise during baking.
- Olive oil: To add moisture to the dough.
- Water: To bind the ingredients together.
For the topping
- Pears: Use ripe pairs and slice them as thinly as you can. They add a nice touch of sweetness to each bite.
- Pancetta: Pancetta is a very finely sliced ham. It crisps up nicely in the oven and adds a saltiness. You could also use prosciutto. In a pinch you can use bacon, but part cook it before adding it to the pizza as it's a lot thicker.
- Cambozola: A creamy blue mild cheese. If you can't find cambozola, gorgonzola is a good substitute.
How to make this white pizza recipe
Be sure to scroll down for the full recipe!
- Make the white sauce: Cook the garlic and onion in butter and oil, whisk in the flour, and milk and season.
- Make the pizza dough: Knead together the ingredients for the dough and roll out.
- Top the dough: Spread the sauce over the pizza and add toppings.
- Bake: Until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pizza is always best out of the oven, but if you have leftovers they can be kept for 2 to 3 days and reheated. You can top the dough an hour or two ahead of time if you like so you just need to pop it in the oven to serve.
The white pizza sauce can be made a couple of days ahead of time and be kept covered in the fridge.
Yes, this sauce will freeze really well, so you can easily make a double batch and it will take minutes to make a fresh pizza. Let it cool before freezing and thaw it in the fridge overnight before using.
The white sauce isn't as sharp and tangy like a tomato one, but it is not lacking in flavor. I love this combination of toppings to help balance out the creaminess, but feel free to experiment with toppings like:
Caramelized onions
Chicken
Mushrooms
Spinach
Sliced potatoes
Arugula
Roasted Vegetables
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Cut down on cooking time by using a store bought pizza base and making the sauce ahead of time.
- Thinly slice the pears so that they cook all the way through.
- When spreading the sauce, leave a small gap around the edge to allow it to settle during baking.
- For the best results cook the pizza on a preheated pizza stone, otherwise preheat your baking sheet before placing the pizza on it so that the crust gets nice and crispy.
For more crowd pleasing recipes
- Pizza Stuffed Bread
- Bison Meatballs
- Oven Baked Pineapple and Chili Wings
- Bacon Jalapeño Popcorn (Sweet and Spicy)
- Deep Fried Dill Pickles (Frickles)
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White Pizza with Pancetta, Cambozola and Pear
Ingredients
For the white sauce
- 1.75 ounces salted butter (50g)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ white onion finely diced
- 1 garlic clove finely diced
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 5 ounces semi-skimmed milk (150ml)
- black pepper
- ½ tbsp Italian herbs
- 0.8 ounces grated parmesan (25g)
For the pizza base
- 12.3 ounces plain flour (350g)
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 5.75 ounces water (170ml)
For the topping
- 2 ripe pears thinly sliced
- 3.5 ounces sliced pancetta (100g)
- 2.6 ounces cambozola (75g)
Instructions
- Make the white sauce first, by melting the butter and oil together in a pan over a low heat. Once melted, add in the finely diced onion and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until the onions start to soften. A tablespoon at a time, whisk in the plain flour to make a thick paste. Heat through for 3-4 minutes so that the flour cooks in. Slowly add the milk while whisking to form a thick sauce. Whisk in a generous pinch of black pepper, the Italian herbs and parmesan. Keep on the heat and whisk until the cheese has melted and leave to one side to cool.
- In a large bowl, prepare the pizza dough. Mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder. Add in the olive oil and water and combine together to make the dough and give it a good knead - add more water or flour if needed. The dough should be soft, but not sticky. Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a large circle, about 1cm thick.
- Pre-heat the oven to 220ºc.
- Line a large baking tray with some parchment and lay the pizza dough on top. Evenly spread the white sauce over the dough. Place over the thinly sliced pears, pancetta and top with cubes of the cambozola.
- Place in the oven for 15-20minutes until the crust is golden brown and the cheese has started to bubble.
Notes
- Cut down on cooking time by using a store bought pizza base and making the sauce ahead of time.
- Thinly slice the pears so that they cook all the way through.
- When spreading the sauce, leave a small gap around the edge to allow it to settle during baking.
- For the best results cook the pizza on a preheated pizza stone, otherwise preheat your baking sheet before placing the pizza on it so that the crust gets nice and crispy.
- Nutritional values are based on two servings of one large pizza and are an estimate only.
Marlee says
White pizzas are my absolute favorite! And I have never tried fruit, except pineapple, on pizza so pear is the perfect one for me to start off with!
Caroline @ Pinch Me, I'm Eating! says
This looks great, Betty! I love pears with blue cheese, and pancetta makes everything better! Yummm!
Fida | Sweet and Savoury Pursuits says
Looks fabulous, I've been craving pizza for a few days now, I'm going to have to try this flavour combination soon!
Slow The Cook Down says
Thanks Fida! It's the perfect salt and sweet combination to satisfy those cravings!