Our barbecued pizza days are legendary.  But since pizza maestro Jeremy flew the coop for more northern climes and a remote desktop we’ve been sadly lacking in melty, crusty goodness.  What better excuse to bring the love back than welcoming REI to Santa Barbara?  Nothing says Toad like the trifecta of barbecue, pizza, and beer… and what’s food and merriment without a little competitive edge?

Each department was challenged to assemble an award-winning pizza pie.  The good folks from REI were our judges.  Entries were rated according to taste, creativity, mobility and crust deliciousness.  There was the finance department’s Himalayan panir with spicy chili sauce, the sales team’s “kitchen sink” style everything-piled-on-at-once pizza and the creative team’s subtly brilliant masterpiece, balsamic-glazed-shallots with organic goat cheese and shiitake mushrooms or sausage.  But the product team, ably led by Kate, pretty much cleaned house with their arugula pizza on special cornmeal crust.  Behold the winning recipe:

Cornmeal Pizza Dough:

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup warm water

1 envelope yeast (¼ oz)

In a small bowl dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over water and stir until dissolved, about 1 minute. Let stand in a warm spot until a thin layer of beige foam covers the surface, about 5 minutes (water must be warm enough to activate yeast but not so warm as to kill it).

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose or semolina flour

1 cup coarse corn meal (polenta)

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup olive oil

Combine 2 cups flour, cornmeal and salt in an electric mixer bowl. Add yeast mixture and oil and mix with paddle attachment, about 1 minute. Change to dough hook and continue kneading at medium speed, about 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. If it’s too wet & sticky add some flour; if it’s too crumbly & dry add warm water one tablespoon at a time. It’s not necessary to knead dough further by hand (unless you enjoy the process).

Shape dough into a ball and place in well-oiled bowl, roling it around to coat completely with the oil. Cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place until doubles in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Punch down dough with fist as soon as it has doubled.

Shape into ball, pressing out all air bubbles.

If using semolina flour turn dough in an oiled bowl to coat once more and cover tightly with plastic. Refrigerate until puffy, about 35 minutes to 1 hour.

Omit this step if using all-purpose flour.

Place dough on lightly floured surface.  Knead for 1 minute. Using heel of hand and a rolling pin, pull and roll out dough, turning over several times in the process to stretch. Add flour as needed to keep from sticking. Finish with edges slightly thicker than the ¼” thickness of the middle.  Lay dough on peel generously dusted with cornmeal. Brush top of pizza dough with olive oil and top as you wish.

Preheat oven to 500˚ while preparing dough so oven is really hot. Bake on heated tiles or stone near bottom of oven. Bake until crust is golden – usually about 10 minutes. Will vary depending on individual topping recipe and your oven. (*Note, we barbecued the crust on high heat, straight on the grill, and it worked just fine.)

arugula pizza

1 prepared cornmeal pizza crust

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut or torn into small bits

3 oz grated  fontina cheese

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

chunky sea salt & fresh ground pepper

1 large bunch arugula, ends trimmed

4 oz shave parmigiano reggiano cheese

Heat a pizza stone for 30 minutes in a 500º oven. (*Note that we barbecued our pizza instead.)  Place half the garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small bowl, set aside for 30 minutes.  Make a vinaigrette of the lemon, 2 tablespoons olive oil, half the minced garlic, sea salt and pepper. Whisk together.

Roll out dough, brush with the garlic infused olive oil to within ½” of the edge, spread the mozzarella & fontina cheeses over the dough and bake on the stone until crisp (or barbecue on high heat), approximately 8 – 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Toss arugula with lemon vinaigrette and shaved parmigiano, adjust salt and pepper as needed.  Pile the arugula salad on top of the pizza and serve immediately.