Thea’s Pizzeria was opened in Miami in 2012 by British former model Thea Goldman. This was after being a partner in another Miami pizzeria since 2007.
I learned about this pizza by watching The Cooking Channel show, “Pizza Masters”. Cousins Francis Garcia and Sal Basille run successful pizza shops in New York. They travel all over the country to discover unique pizzas.
On Season 2 Episode 1, “Miami Slice” in 2015, they travel to Miami to Thea’s. The restaurant closed in 2017, but the Cooking Channel’s website had the actual recipe from Thea. It’s a good thing I’m an old person that prints out recipes with paper and ink. The Cooking Channel website now redirects to the Food network site and this recipe is no longer there. I printed this out over a year ago and found it in one of the haphazard stacks of recipe printouts littering my office.
I made some edits, added more information, and improved the organization of the recipe to make it easier to follow and set you up for better success. I also added instruction images, and fixed some measurements that were off.
I use a NY-style dough recipe, and bake it in a regular home oven. Trust me. It comes out great.
This recipe is for a 14″ pizza, with some measurements also given for a 12″ pizza. See my NY-style Pizza Dough Recipe here, and see my How-To on Forming the Pizza Base here.
As I said, I baked this in a conventional home oven. I have a pizza stone on the bottom rack, and a pizza steel on the top rack. The oven gets preheated to 525º F, and then holds for one hour before baking the pizza. (If your oven will go to 550º, do that, and if you have convection, do that too.)
I went for 7 minutes on the stone on the bottom, and then switched to high broil, and moved the pizza to the steel on the top rack for 1-2 minutes – turn it 90 degrees half way through. (Keep an eye on it though. It may need more or less time on broil.)
If you only have a stone, just keep it on the bottom rack the whole time. If you only have a steel, keep it on the top rack, and just switch to broil at the end.
The prep time does not include making and fermenting the dough, which is linked in a separate recipe. You can substitute a store-bought dough if you want, but making your own and fermenting it isn’t hard, and yields phenomenal results.
I bought a Vigo artichoke hearts, marinated, and quartered 24 oz jar.
You will use some for the artichoke cream, and some for the toppings. I suggest straining the artichoke hearts as you need them.
I made the cream sauce a day in advance, and only strained enough artichokes to make the sauce. That way the rest of the artichokes could stay marinating until I used them for the pizza toppings the next day.
Between the two uses, most of the jar will be consumed. I had six quarters left. I also had some leftover cream sauce that I later mixed with the leftover artichokes and cooked chicken thighs over pasta.
Thea's Artichoke Pizza
Equipment
- 1 Pizza Peel (Wooden)
- 1 Pizza Stone or Pizza Steel
- 1 offset spatula for spreading the cream sauce as it is a little thick
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 14 oz Pizza Dough for 14" pie (See dough recipe link in instructions below.) 12 oz for 12" pie) (See dough recipe link in instructions below.)
Artichoke Cream Sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 medium Spanish Onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 8 oz artichoke hearts marinated, quartered, strained (see notes)
- 1½ cups heavy cream
Pizza Toppings
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 4 quarters artichoke hearts marinated, quartered, strained (see notes) (photo shows 6 quarters, but I only used 4)
- 6-8 oz shredded mozzarella
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 4 oz baby arugula
- 3 oz aged Parmigiano-Reggiano shaved slices
Instructions
Pizza Dough Base
- See my Pizza Dough Recipe: https://pizzaismylife.com/pizza-dough-recipes/easy-ny-style-pizza-dough-recipe/
- See my How-To on Shaping the Dough: https://pizzaismylife.com/pizza-dough-recipes/how-to-form-the-pizza-round/
Artichoke Cream Sauce
- Strain the artichokes and weigh out 8 oz.
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and onions and sauté until translucent.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the artichokes and cream, and stir.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper again.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Puree in a blender until the sauce is smooth.
- Move sauce to a bowl for easier topping of pizza. Set aside.
Preheat Conventional Home Oven
- I baked this in a conventional home oven. I have a pizza stone on the bottom rack, and a pizza steel on the top rack. The oven gets preheated to 525º F, and then holds for one hour before baking the pizza. (If your oven will go to 550º, do that.)
Topping the Pizza (Pre-Bake)
- Strain 4 artichoke quarters. (Six are in the photo, but I only used four.)
- Stretch the dough to 12 inches in diameter.
- Spread the artichoke cream evenly over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border for the crust. (An offset spatula is a good tool for spreading the cream sauce.)
- Sprinkle the dried oregano over the top.
- Pull off individual leaves from the artichokes and distribute evenly over the sauce.
- Cover the pizza with the mozzarella.
Baking the Pizza
- Bake at 525° F 7-8 minutes
Topping the Pizza (Post-bake)
- Slice the pizza first
- Add black pepper
- Spread arugula
- Add Parmigiano-Reggiano
Notes
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