• 4 1/ 21 teaspoon dry yeast
• 1/ 4 cup warm water
• 1/ 4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup ale, warmed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/ 2 cups flour
• 1/ 4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon olive oil for brushing the pizza
• 1 cup fresh baby mozzarella balls
• 1/ 3 cup grated parmesan
• 2 cups fresh basil
• 2 tablespoon chopped walnuts
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/ 2 cup olive oil

Method

• Step 1

  Make the Pizza Dough- Add the dry yeast, warm water and sugar in a small bowl and stir. Let the yeast bubble and "bloom," about 5 minutes. Pour the yeast mixture into the base of a mixer and add the warm ale. With the mixture fit with the dough hook, add the salt and slowly add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. As the dough starts to come together during mixing, slowly pour in the olive oil.

• Step 2

  Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and put the dough into the bowl. Toss the dough to coat with the oil, then loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place about 2 hours or until doubled in size.

• Step 3

  Make the Walnut Pesto and Bake the Pizza- In a small food processor, add the basil, walnuts and garlic. Pulse a few times. Add the olive oil and parmesan and pulse again to combine the pesto.

• Step 4

  Pre-heat the oven to 550, which is the highest setting in most home ovens. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the middle rack of the oven before starting to pre-heat the oven. The pizza stone should be hot in the oven when you put the pizza in.

• Step 5

  Take the dough out of the bowl and cut it into two large pieces to make two pizzas. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and dust your hands with flour. We use two methods for our pizza dough. First, with your hands stretch the pizza into a round shape about 10" wide. Second, using a heavy rolling pin, roll the pizza dough to a thickness of about 1/4".

• Step 6

  Brush the pizza dough with olive oil. Spoon dollops of the walnut pesto on top of the pizza and scatter around the fresh baby mozzarella balls. Sprinkle the grated parmesan on top.

• Step 7

  Bake the pizza for about 6-7 minutes or until you see bubbly pockets of dough and the ingredients are cooked and bubbling. We like to turn the broiler on for about 1 minute to get some crispy char on our pizza.