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SUMMER VEG PIZZA W/ PESTO
I have been on a serious pizza kick lately and have been eagerly trying to perfect the “homemade pizza.” In lieu of going the typical pepperoni, I dug through my CSA offerings and found some epic cherry tomatoes and peppers. I had fiddled around with making a pesto using arugula and sunflower seeds for a party last week and had some succes so I decided to give it a whirl again.
Oftentimes, when making pizza at home, the pizza cooks unevenly - the bottom burns before the cheese is browned or the dough doesn’t rise properly and the top is charred crispy. After some serious googling and stumbling upon this very informative article over at the Slice the answer was obvious: cook your pizza in two different stages. For this pizza I start on the grill (it gets about 100 degrees hotter than my oven) and use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. After the bottom of the pie has browned slightly (roughly 12-15 minutes) I’ll throw it under my oven broiler for 60-90 seconds or just until the crust has a bit of char.
Ingredients:
1 Pizza Dough*
1/2 Cup Pesto*
1 Small / Medium Green Pepper
1 Small / Medium Yellow Pepper
3/4 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
3/4 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Red Chili Flakes (optional)
1 Tablespoon Butter
* Recipes below…
Turn your grill on full blast - mine tops out around 650 degrees. Grease up the iron skillet with butter (sides too!) and set aside. Roll out your pizza dough so that it is just a bit smaller than your iron skillet and drop in the skillet. With your hands even out the dough in skillet and pull the dough up the sides of the skillet - this will become your crust later.
Spread the pesto evenly on the dough and add tomatoes and peppers. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the veg and add black pepper and chili flake.
Throw the pizza (in the skillet) on the grill and let cook until the bottom of the pie is lightly browned, about 12-15 minutes. HINT: I use a butter knife to life the crust to check the bottom. Pre-broiler:
Once the pizza is done on the grill, put the pizza under the oven broiler 60-90 seconds. This will cook the top of the pizza, brown the cheese and char the crust. HINT: Keep a close, close eye on the pizza while under the broiler. You can go from delicious to burnt-to-hell in an instant. Post Broiler:
Remove pizza from skillet, let cool for a couple minutes, slice and serve.
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PIZZA DOUGH:
3 Cups AP (or Bread) Flour
1.5 Cups Water
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined. If using a mixer, throw on the dough hook, add all the water and turn the mixer on low and let mix until everything is combined. If mixing by hand gradually add water and start stirring. Once water / dry ingredients are combined throw the sloppy mixture on a floured surface and knead until you have a lightly tacky dough ball.
The dough ball should be lightly tacky but not sticky. If the dough is too sticky add more flour, if the dough is not coming together in ball - add more water. Lightly oil the dough ball, return it to the bowl and cover with a damp cloth.
Let the dough sit and proof for at least an hour (I prefer 6-8). After the dough has double in size, punch it down and knead for about a minute on a floured surface. Stretch the dough out into a loaf-like shape and cut into 4-6 even slices. Mold the slices into small(er) dough balls and cover again with the damp cloth and let sit/proof for another 30 minutes to two hours.
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PESTO (W/ ARUGULA & SUNFLOWER SEEDS)
1 Cup Arugula (I used Wasabi Arugula from Trader Joes)
1/4 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 Lemon (Juiced)
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Clove Garlic
Add all items in a food processor and chop/destroy until chunky. Add more lemon, seasoning if there’s not enough acid/tang to the pesto.
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