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1
FOR THE DOUGH: In the bowl of a stand mixer, use dough hook to mix flour, salt and yeast together.
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2
Add water, olive oil, and honey, and mix on medium speed until the dough comes together in a ball and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
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3
Add more flour/water as necessary the dough will stick to the bottom but not the sides.
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4
It should not be overly wet or shaggy, but not too dry/floury/stiff either.
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5
Allow the mixer to run for 5-7 minutes to knead the dough and develop the gluten (alternatively, knead by hand).
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6
After this is complete, form the dough into a ball by pulling edges under.
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7
Place into mixer bowl (no need to wash), drizzle with olive oil, and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for at least an hour, or until doubled in size.
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8
Punch down and proceed.
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9
FOR THE PIZZA: Place a pizza stone on oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat oven to 500 degrees F for a good 20 minutes.
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10
Sprinkle flour and cornmeal on a pizza peel or a rimless cookie sheet.
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11
In a small skillet, heat the olive oil and garlic together over low heat for 5 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant and beginning to brown (if the garlic burns or gets overly brown, toss it all and start over).
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12
Set the completed garlic oil aside in a small bowl, return skillet to heat, and increase heat to medium-high.
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13
Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper to taste, and saute 3-4 minutes until they begin giving off their water.
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14
Add spinach (no need to defrost) and cook another 4-5 minutes or until the veggies have given up most of their liquid.
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15
Season again.
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16
Shape the pizza dough into a 14 to 16 round, first patting in out on a floured counter using your fingers, then picking it up, laying it over the knuckles of loose fists, and using the doughs weight to gently (GENTLY!)
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17
stretch it further.
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18
Use enough flour to prevent sticking, but not so much to completely coat the dough.
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19
If you have trouble getting the dough to stretch, let it rest for 5 minutes and try again.
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20
Place pizza dough onto prepared cookie sheet.
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21
Pour garlic oil evenly over crust, spreading to within 1/2 of edges.
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22
Sprinkle pecorino romano and half of mozzerella over the oil.
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23
Top with vegetable mixture (and cooked chicken if using), then add the remaining mozzerella.
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24
Using a fast, confident, forward-then-back jerking motion, transfer pizza from peel to hot pizza stone and place in oven.
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25
Bake 8-12 minutes (checking every minute after 7) or until crust is golden and bubbled and cheese is evenly browned.
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26
(Alternately, bake pizza on a thin pizza pan shape and top the pizza on the pan, dont worry about tossing it with this method.
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27
Baking on a pan takes a few minutes longer to get crust done, and it wont get as crisp.)
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28
Allow to cool on stone/pan for several minutes before slicing and serving.
