Seven ingredients and thirty-eight minutes, baked in a sheet pan rather than on a stone.
There is no tomato sauce here at all. The base is olive oil with grated garlic through it.
Why This Recipe Works
- Garlic oil seasons the base without adding the moisture a sauce would.
- An oiled sheet pan gives the thick puffed edges a rectangle develops.
- Cupped pepperoni curls and crisps as it bakes, holding its own fat.
- Ricotta dolloped stays as distinct white pools against the melted mozzarella.
- Honey drizzled onto a hot pizza spreads to a sheen rather than sitting in beads.
Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil with grated garlic
- A tablespoon with one finely grated clove. This is the entire base — there is no tomato sauce in this pizza.
- Cupped pepperoni
- Four ounces. The cupping variety curls as it bakes and crisps at the edges, which is what the finished pizza shows.
- Whole-milk ricotta
- Three quarters of a cup, in large dollops rather than spread.
- Honey
- Two tablespoons, drizzled over the hot pizza. It is what gives the glossy sheen over the top.
How to Make It
Oven to 475°F, a small sheet pan oiled
Heat oven to 475°F and oil a small sheet pan.
Dough stretched into a rectangle
Stretch the dough into a rectangle.
Brushed with garlic oil — no red sauce
Brush with olive oil mixed with garlic; use no red tomato sauce.
Mozzarella, ricotta dollops, cupped pepperoni
Top with mozzarella, dollops of ricotta, and cupped pepperoni.
Baked to thick golden edges and browned patches
Bake until the edges are thick and golden and the cheese is browned in patches.
Honey over the hot pizza, cut rectangular
Drizzle honey over the hot pizza and cut into rectangular slices.
A White Pizza, Read From the Pan Up
This honey-and-ricotta pizza is defined by four things, and every one of the four is in the stack below - starting with what is NOT on the base.
Honey over the HOT pizza, then cut RECTANGULAR
2 tbsp drizzled once it is out of the oven. Onto a hot surface it spreads into a GLOSSY SHEEN; onto a cooled one it sits in beads. Then cut into 8 RECTANGULAR slices - the fourth of the four, and the shape the pan dictated from the start.
CUPPED pepperoni - and no herb at all
4 oz. The cupping variety curls upward as it bakes and crisps at its rims, holding its own rendered fat in the cup. For safety, use commercially prepared pepperoni and bake until the pizza is PIPING HOT THROUGHOUT. And nothing else goes on: NO HERB GARNISH OF ANY KIND.
Ricotta in LARGE DOLLOPS
3/4 cup, dropped in spoonfuls. Large is the operative word here - LARGE DOLLOPS of white ricotta, distinct against the browned mozzarella. Spread thin across a white base it would vanish entirely.
1 1/2 cups mozzarella - the pale base
Straight onto the oil. With no sauce underneath it, this cheese IS the base colour of the pizza, browning in patches as it bakes rather than sitting on red.
The base - GARLIC OIL, and NO red sauce
1 tbsp olive oil mixed with 1 FINELY GRATED garlic clove, brushed over. Step 3 says it outright: USE NO RED TOMATO SAUCE. There is no tomato sauce at all, which is what makes it a WHITE pizza. Grated rather than chopped garlic so it disperses through the oil instead of catching in pieces at 475F.
An OILED sheet pan, and a RECTANGLE
1 lb of dough stretched into a rectangle in a small OILED sheet pan at 475F. Not a round on a stone. The oil in the pan is doing real work: the underside fries slightly against it, which is what produces the THICK PUFFED GOLDEN EDGES a pan-baked rectangle develops and a stone-baked round does not.
Success Tips
- Oil the sheet pan properly; the base fries slightly against it and that is the point.
- Push the dough right into the corners so the edges puff thick.
- Drizzle the honey while the pizza is hot so it spreads rather than beading.
Serving Ideas
Eight rectangular slices with thick puffed golden edges, the pale base browned in patches under ricotta dollops and cupped crisp pepperoni, glossy with honey. No herb.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there really no tomato sauce?
None. Step 3 rules it out — the base is olive oil with grated garlic, which is what makes this a white pizza.
What is cupped pepperoni?
A variety that curls upward as it bakes, forming little crisp cups. That shape is what the finished pizza shows.
How is this different from the hot honey sausage pizza here?
That one is round, stone-baked on a red tomato base with crumbled sausage and parsley. This is a rectangular sheet-pan white pizza with cupped pepperoni and no herb.
