Clam pizza with Red Sauce starts with a sourdough crust topped with a bold red sauce, mild canned clams, three cheeses, and fresh tomatoes. Baked on a pizza stone, and transferred safely using parchment, it comes to the table bubbling hot.
One of my favorite pizzas is the Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato pizza, and but, I think this pizza is now my favorite. Don’t be afraid of clams – the canned clams don’t have a fishy flavor, their flavor is very mild. I was able to find very large, very ripe red tomatoes and included slices of these fresh tomatoes.
Why Sourdough Crust Makes All the Difference
The base of any good pizza is the dough, and I make mine with sourdough starter for flavor and texture. My starter is named Josephine, and she does such a good job that we even have a tiny Christmas stocking we put up for her every year.
Given time, sourdough rises beautifully and develops a light tang and great chew. I use a combination of:
- 00 flour – for tender stretch and a soft bite
- Bread flour – adds strength and gluten
- All-purpose flour – balances everything out
This blend helps the crust hold its shape and crisp up on the bottom while still being soft in the middle. It also supports moist toppings like sliced tomatoes and melty cheese without turning soggy.
Sourdough is not terribly hard to start or to maintain. King Arthur Baking has an excellent tutorial and you can even have sourdough starter shipped to you.
Why Red Sauce Over White?
Clam pizza is usually paired with white sauce or garlic oil, but I wanted something with more contrast and flavor. My red sauce uses:
- Tomato sauce (canned)
- Garlic powder
- Chili flakes
- Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset herb blend
- A splash of balsamic vinegar
I like using balsamic vinegar because red wine would overpower the sauce. Red wine is great in spaghetti sauce, but not for pizza sauce.
The combination brings a sweet-spicy-acidic punch that complements the cheeses and clams without overpowering them. And don’t worry—canned clams are mild and tender, not fishy or briny at all.
How to Safely Transfer Pizza Using a *Pizza Peel
I usually bake pizza on the pizza stone that lives in my oven. It helps regulate the oven’s temperature and makes wonderful crusts. How do you get the pizza from the peel to the stone? This method works every time. I line the pizza peel with parchment, then shape and build the pizza directly on it. The parchment slides easily onto the hot stone with no sticking.
I’ll be honest. I had a pizza disaster one time when I put the peel under the parchment, and the whole THING slid to the back of the oven. I didn’t feel so bad when I saw the same thing happened to Bridget on America’s Test Kitchen. Then, I learned to slide the peel under one edge of the parchment and grab the parchment either using a fork or my fingers. Usually, the parchment has curled up a bit and it’s easy to grab. It’s not terribly hot and it’s a lot better then losing your dinner and having to immediately clean your oven.
Three Cheeses!
Pizza, like quiche, is wonderful for using up small bits of leftover cheese in your refrigerator. This pizza has a mix of:
- Feta – salty and crumbly
- Goat cheese – creamy and tangy
- Fresh mozzarella – for that luscious melt
- It’s all topped with shredded mozzarella and sprinkled with parmesan.
Top it all off with thinly sliced fresh tomato. Tomatoes are hot and retain heat, so be careful biting into them. Try to get the big, red, juicy tomatoes in the summer, otherwise, use plum tomatoes which are available year round.
Clam Pizza with Red Sauce Recipe
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Clam Pizza With Red Sauce
Tips from the Chef
Equipment
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Ingredients
~~ Sourdough Starter ~~
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 cup *flour
- 1 cup water, lukewarm
~~ Pizza Dough ~~
- 1 cup 00 flour
- ¾ cup bread flour
- ¼ cup *flour
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon Frozen Pizza spice
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
~~ Pizza Sauce ~~
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Tuscan Sunset
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
~~ Pizza ~~
- 2 tablespoons feta, crumbled
- 6 ½ ounces clams, canned, drained
- 2 tablespoons *sun-dried tomato
- 6 fresh mozzarella
- 3 ounces goat cheese
- 1 Tomato, sliced thinly
- 4 ounces mozzarella, shredded
Instructions
- Mise en Place
Make the Dough
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter, 1 cup flour, 1 cup waterThe night before, put 1/2 cup sourdough starter, 1 cup lukewarm water, and I cup flour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to combine, then cover.
- 1 cup 00 flour, 3/4 cup bread flour, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup milk, 1 teaspoon Frozen Pizza spice, 1 teaspoon basil, 1 teaspoon saltThen next day when the starter is all nice and bubbly, add the remaining ingredients except for the last part of flour. Mix the dough until it has cleared its debris field, adding more flour as necessary.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it by hand for a few minutes. Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let the dough rise, about two hours.
- When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and roll it out to make the pizza crust. You will have enough dough to make one thick crust or two thin crust depending on the size you want to make.
- Put the pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven and heat the oven to 500 °F (260 °C)
Make the Sauce
- Mise en place
- 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon Tuscan Sunset, 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegarPut all the sauce ingredients in a small pot and heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Make the Pizza
- Put the dough on parchment paper on a pizza peel.
- 6 1/2 ounces clams, 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato, 2 tablespoons feta, 6 fresh mozzarella, 3 ounces goat cheese, 4 ounces mozzarella, 1 TomatoPut feta crumbles on the dough, then the drained clams, the sun-dried tomatoes, then the fresh mozzarella and goat cheese. Cover with the shredded mozzarella.
- Dabble the sauce on top of the cheese. Leave about two inches bare.
- Roll the bare sides up to make a rim.
Bake the Pizza
- When the oven has reached 500 °F (260 °C) degrees, carefully put the pizza in the oven by tipping the peel on to the pizza stone and shaking it so the parchment slides on to the stone.
- Bake the pizza for about 15 minutes or until the dough is browned and the cheese is bubbling.
- Using the pizza peel, slice it a little under the parchment, then grab the parchment with a fork and pull it and the pizza on to the peel. Pull the peel out of the oven and let it sit to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Cut the pizza and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Clam Pizza with Red Sauce Video Transcript
Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to the Good
Plates Kitchen.
Today we’re making clam
pizza with red sauce and I’ll
show you how to tell when
your dough is perfectly mixed.
Pizza dough is very similar to Pluto.
When the pizza dough
clears its debris field,
it’s actually dough and
ready to stop kneading.
As this one you can see, it doesn’t quite
completely cleared its debris field,
so it has to keep on going in. Okay,
we’re gonna stop this, see? It hasn’t
cleared its debris
field on the bottom.
So I’m gonna add just a little bit more
flour on this side like that.
And then we will turn the machine back on
and watch the clearance debris field.
There we go.
There we go.
Kneading away nicely.
Picking up
its a flour.
There we go.
See?
See the bottom?
It’s cleared its debris field.
Fantastic.
You are now a planet.
How exciting!
Just kidding pizza, not a planet.
We kneaded her by hand
a little bit and now she’s
been oiled and she’s
sitting in a little bowl.
And we’re gonna put her top on.
This is a shower cap.
It’s reusable, so it’s
nice and eco-friendly
and now we’re gonna
cover up. This is a heater.
See?
You have to…
towel on top of the heater so it doesn’t
get too hot.
And then we put the cover over her.
And she goes to sleep.
We’ll see you in a little bit.
We’ll make pizza.
Okay.
And here she is.
Ready to go.
And here she is.
Our wonderful clam and red sauce pizza
with fresh beautiful tomatoes.
Okay. We’re gonna let this cool off
a little bit and then we’re gonna try it.
I cut a little slice over here.
I’m gonna have this.
Taste it for you.
Mmm.
So meltingly.
Wonderful.
Thank you for joining me.
Thank you for watching.
See you next time on Good Plate.
Very good pizza. I absolutely love this website.
Keep it up!