spinach pesto provolone pizza

I promise I make more than pizza. Taylor really liked this variation, so even though I've posted lots of pizza recipes, I figured this would be worth sharing. I bought pesto in bulk the other day from Costco and divided it up into about 1/2 c. portions to freeze. Now I take one out whenever I want to make anything with pesto! So glorious.

spinach pesto provolone pizza 

dough adapted from Smitten Kitchen

{dough}

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1/2 cup warm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

{toppings}

1/3 c. grated colby jack cheese

3 T grated provolone cheese {I ripped up a large, thick slice intended for sandwich making}

1/4 c. pesto

1/4 c. finely chopped spinach

garlic powder

cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Measure flour in a large bowl, make an indentation and measure the yeast and salt. Pour warm water water over the mix and stir lightly until yeast and salt are dissolved. Add honey and olive oil, stirring entire mixture. Mix in mixer with dough hook for about 5 minutes, adding more flour if too sticky, until dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Or knead by hand, 8 minutes or so until a piece of it stretches in your hand without breaking. 

Dough should be stretchy and not easily break when pulled but should not be sticky or get stuck easily on your hands. If it doesn't stretch and is too firm, thick feeling after kneading for a while, add a tiny bit of water. If it's too sticky after kneading for a while, add more flour. Kneading introduces air to the dough and builds up gluten, it's really hard to over knead so once it's the right feeling, knead two min or so more.

Lightly oil a bowl with cooking spray (you can use the same rinsed one you made the dough in) Dump in the dough, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in a cotton dishtowel leave it undisturbed for about two hours (ideally in a warm, undrafty place) until it has doubled in size. To speed up this process you can also place in an oven on 150 and it should double in size in an hour. It's ready when two fingers pressed firmly leave an indentation and the dough does not bounce back into shape.*

Oven to 500. Stretch dough out thinly into desired shape on pizza pan or cookie sheet. Should make a circle at least 14 inches in diameter (depending on how long it's had to rise) Spread pesto, sprinkle spinach, top with cheeses. Sprinkle garlic powder over all, generously on the crust. Bake 8-10 minutes until crust is lightly browned. Sprinkle freshly ground cracked black pepper over warm cheese.

*I usually double this dough and after the rise, divide it in half and freeze half in a well sealed freezer ziploc. Once I'm ready to use I let it thaw either in the fridge or on the counter until I'm ready to use it. Once it's thawed in the fridge or even at room temperature, it's still sort of rising so keep that in mind. Roll it out a bit more thinly if it's had lots of time to thaw then rise and it may make a thicker crust. ...but it can't ever really be messed up!

{ overnight pizza }

a pizza update. the garlic powder addition and how you can do it overnight.

Pizza with Homemade Dough

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

the doubled and updated version of this dough
yields one 20- 24 inch pizza or two 10 - 12 inch pizzas
3 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water {use the microwave, warm about 45 seconds }
2 tablespoon olive oi
2 tablespoon honey

Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add honey, olive oil then warm water. Stir mixture. Knead into a ball once you can no longer stir. Let it rest for a bit and it may be easier to knead
Knead it for about two minutes, pulling, folding and pressing backing to itself with the heel of your hand. Knead until a piece of it stretches in your hand without breaking, and feels and smells like pizza dough. Lightly oil the same rinsed mixing bowl with shortening, butter or cooking spray. Dump in the dough, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it tightly in plastic wrap. Store in fridge at least 12 hours, until you're ready to use. I let mine rise about 4 hours, froze it in a well sealed plastic bag, sprayed with cooking spray, then put it back in its bowl in the fridge the next morning for about 10 hours before using. I bet it would have been fine in the fridge for a total of 24 hours, no problem.

Roll or stretch onto pizza stone or baking sheet. Heat oven to 500.
Toppings seen above:
1/4 c. pesto
1 c. mozzarella
1 c. Parmesan Reggiano
quartered kalamata olives
chopped artichoke hearts
sliced tomatoes
chopped baby spinach
black pepper over all
garlic powder {ESPECIALLY OVER THE CRUST!}



Bake for about 10 minutes.

::pizza margherita::

pizzas have proved to be a yummy and versatile way to incorporate veggies and good cheese into our lives. i've successfully frozen the dough after rising and then on the designated day, allowed it to thaw through the day in the fridge, and then come to room temperature before rolling out.

{ pizza margherita }
INGREDIENTS
this pizza dough
1/2 a roma tomato, thinly sliced, then cut into bite sized pieces
about  3 tablespoons to 1/4 c. good basil pesto (homemade or fresh from a Central Market or Whole Foods type food bar)
fresh mozzarella cheese
freshly cracked pepper
DIRECTIONS
oven to 500. roll out prepared dough. spread pesto generously and evenly on the pizza, leaving a little crust. crumble/drop/ small cheese chunks. cheese spreads significantly when it melts, so don't fee like you have to cover up the pesto. leave holes, a little bit goes a long way. place tomatoes evenly around pizza. sprinkle tops of tomatoes with pepper.

bake for about 10-12 min on a pizza pan or a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.

enjoy!

pizzaschettas

I had been planning to make a pizza with goat cheese and squash last week, inspired by SmittenKitchen but never had time. Still hoping to get my dough making practice in, {still overcoming that aforementioned fear of yeast} I conjured up a way to turn the pizza into an appetizer for our Friday night dinner guests. I decided to further flavor the squash with butter and sugar, reminiscent of my grandma's "squash" that I loved, though it was probably more butter and sugar than squash.
Roaming through the store, I encountered my friend brie and knew I must take action. Brie is heaven on earth. Seriously. So I decided to try out brie as well and think I found some pretty good toppings to "compliment the flavors," if you will. Check it out, they turned out really good and were pretty fun too.
One more thing. If you've never ventured into the realm of exiting cheeses, it's really so very worth it. Proof that there's a God who wants us to enjoy life and eat good food. In my opinion, good cheese is truely a manifestation of heaven on this fallen rock. They may be expensive, but since they're so flavorful and textured and rich and all that great stuff, you really only need to eat and serve and savor them in small portions. Your guests won't expect to be served a plateful of brie, but it's amazing how a tablespoon or less of good cheese can make anyone say whoa, heaven has come to earth, please invite me over for dinner more and I don't care what you make me eat after this because that made my night.

Or maybe that's just me.....

It's possible.

goat cheese & sugared squash pizzaschettas
INGREDIENTS
half of this prepared and risen pizza dough, or about 1 1/2 cup (12oz) pizza dough
1/4 cup soft goat cheese
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup very thinly sliced and quartered yellow zucchini squash
2/3 tablespoon butter
2-3 tablespoons sugar
DIRECTIONS
Oven to 450. {note} I used goat cheese with the lemon already in it. Found at HEB. Combine lemon and goat cheese. Rub both sides of squash slices with butter and toss with sugar. Or, in small, microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Mix in sugar. Add squash slices and stir, coating evenly in sugar and butter.

Roll out pizza dough to about 1/4 of an inch thick, cut with small biscuit cutter into circles about 3 inches in diameter. Stretch them with your fingers to help them keep their shape and thinness and place on pizza stone or pan. Generously spread about a tablespoon of cheese on each dough circle, leaving a little "crust." Top with one to three squash slices, depending on how many fit.

Bake 10 minutes or until dough begins to brown.

brie & toasted pecans pizzaschettas
INGREDIENTS
1/2 of this prepared and risen pizza dough, or about 1 1/2 cup (12oz) pizza dough
8-10 oz softened brie cheese {heeeaaavenn. do you hear the angels singing?}
1/4 cup chopped raw pecans
chipotle raspberry dressing
DIRECTIONS
Oven to 450. Roll out pizza dough to about 1/4 of an inch thick, cut with small biscuit cutter into circles about 3 inches in diameter. Stretch them with your fingers to help them keep their shape and thinness and place on pizza stone or pan.

Top each round generously with about a tablespoon of cheese. I flattened a chunk of cheese in my fingers then pressed it into the dough, helping keep the dough flat as well, but still leaving a "crust" of dough. Then I topped the flattened piece with another, more thick chuck right in the middle. Place as many pecans on top as fit.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until dough is browned and looks like pizza crust. Can be baked a longside the goat cheese ones on the same pan, if you're making both types, While still warm, top with a few more little chunks of brie. Once cool, top with a teaspoon or two of chipotle raspberry dressing {a little bit goes a long way} or place dressing on the side with a spoon for self service.... Some weirdos like my husband claim to dislike this stuff.

That's the only picture I got of the brie ones with the raspberry chipotle. Please excuse the fact that half of it is missing.

green pizza

Pizzas are such a great leftovers meal. Especially since I'm overcoming my fear of yeast. Since we've been frequenting The Grove, it's inspired me to throw just about anything on there. Too bad I didn't have any mushrooms, then it'd be heavenly. But then I probably couldn't call this Green Pizza.


I realize I'm using spaghetti sauce on this but I sort of like how it's sweeter and plus this jar is much more versatile if I use it for more than just spaghetti. I also like how these come in flavors. The tomato & basil has chunks of tomato that add to pizzas. In my honest opinion. Obviously you could just use marinara sauce or even tomato paste with some garlic but that wouldn't be as random....
Note the feta placement in the bottom picture. Taylor claims to not like strong cheeses, but I really do. And they make pizzas and a lot of other dishes much more fun. So I thought I start him out on feta {since blue cheese would probably be a criminal starting place....but we'll work up to that}. I put a little cluster to see what would happen, and he ate it! I informed him later, at The Grove actually, that he likes feta. Was that mean? I'm not sure but it makes it easier to cook for both of us if I can work on cheese diversification.


green pizza
INGREDIENTS
this pizza dough, or prepared dough {some hebs sell raw dough near their deli section}
1/4 cup thinly sliced and then quartered zucchini
1 cup uncooked baby spinach leaves
4 tablespoons of this pesto, or basil pesto
1/3 cup cooked chicken, diced
1/3 cup shredded colby jack cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesean cheese
3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup of your favorite, well seasoned tomato sauce {or omit and increase the pesto!}
DIRECTIONS
Lightly saute zucchini and spinach {or zap in the microwave} until just beginning to look and feel cooked. I cooked the spinach just about all the way and then squeezed out the moisture and diced it. I cooked the cut zucchini till it was tender but not completely cooked. {see note}

Oven to 550. Cover pizza stone or baking sheet with parchment paper if you have some. {I'm never consistent about using parchment paper}. Roll out pizza dough to desired thickness, will {or should} rise some. Spread pesto then tomato sauce. Sprinkle with about 2/3 of the cheeses. Add zucchini, spinach and chicken evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the cheeses. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

{note} I'd never tried these veggies on a pizza and wasn't sure if they'd cook all the way, being put on the pizza raw. So I gave them a head start. I have no idea if it was necessary but they turned out great.


{recommended variations for your green pizza} asparagus, green peppers, green tomatoes, arugula. ooooo arugula...

pizza dough (with yeast!)

Yeast makes me nervous. It's this freaky alive substance that eats and grows. Kneading makes me nervous too. Releasing the gluten...gummy...silky...stringy...chewy. I feel that these are severely subjective adjectives. Don't underdo it and don't overdo it. Then there arises (heh) the issue of all these whilly nilly bread making peoples that just whip this stuff out without overmixing or overgrowing or "killing" things. Its just that this exact chemistry with specific water temperatures, hungry fungi and strange consistency specifications makes me nervous...
We are baking! This is chemistry, people! I need times! Specific times! Measurements! Specific measurements! I'm a rule follower! I can't handle whilly nilly!
The reason there is often a specified water temperature in bread making recipes is to proof the dough to ensure it's not dead. My heroine over at Smitten Kitchen skips this step for her pizza dough and saves me the uncertainty of water temperature measuring. We'll just assume my yeast is still alive and kickin...

Pizza with Homemade Dough
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/2 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast*
1/2 cup warm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
*If using instant yeast, use a tiny bit less
Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water, honey and olive oil, stirring mixture. Dump all clumps and floury bits onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball.
SmittenKitchen recommends: "If you are finding this step difficult, one of the best tricks I picked up from my bread-making class is to simply pause. Leave the dough in a lightly-floured spot, put the empty bowl upside-down on top of it and come back in 2 to 5 minutes, at which point you will find the dough a lot more lovable."
Knead it for just a minute or two. {update: this maybe what s.k. said but I found it needs to be kneaded for about 5 minutes. Or more. Knead until a piece of it stretches in your hand without breaking. Lightly oil the same rinsed mixing bowl with shortening, butter or cooking spray. Dump in the dough, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap {update: a cotton dishtowel} and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size. It's ready when two fingers pressed firmly leave an indentation and the dough does not bounce back into shape.

Dump it back on the floured counter and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.
Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and preheat your oven to its top temperature. Roll out the pizza, toss on whatever topping and seasonings you like.

Bake it for about 10 minutes until "it’s lightly blistered and impossible to resist."
Then clean your kitchen.


{notes}
I used instant yeast instead of dry active yeast. It made me nervous.

After the intensive google research I conducted to figure out the difference, I gathered that I was supposed to do a tiny bit less instant yeast. Something about 80%. Though the consensus among many random "authorities" on various bread loving message boards was that it "didn't matter." Those whilly nilly bread peoples!

All that I was really able to determine was that the instant yeast would make the dough rise faster. Naturally, the name is a give away. Thanks for nothing, whilly nilly bread people. Once I began making the dough, I read the package of instant yeast. The conversions were in grams and I didn't feel like troubling to convert grams to teaspoons. So I did a scant 3/4 t. instant yeast. My confusion began when the package said to double the water. Now that's a lot more water and a significant deviation from my original recipe. And that made me feel scared. And whilly nilly. I think I ended up adding about an additional 1/4 cup of water. It seemed "silky" and didn't break when I took a chuck and spread it out in my hands (windowpane test?). Smitten's one to two hours timeframe also was a little too whilly nilly for my taste and was merely fuel to the fire of my confusion about this whole instant yeast fiasco being faster.

I let it rise in my pantry for about an hour and 15 minutes.
I cooked it at 500 degrees.

It was good. Success!