Butternut Squash Pizza with Pancetta, Goat Cheese, and Sage
December 15, 2008 by Andrea
Filed under Breads, Grow Your Own, Vegetables
How embarrassing that I’m almost late for my own event! This month has been busy with cookies, cookies, and more cookies, and somehow along the way I forgot that I needed to post for Grow Your Own. It would have been doubly embarrassing since I’m hosting this round. The deadline for posting is December 15, and as long as I get an email from you with all the appropriate information you can still join us.
My inspiration for this pizza comes from my adopted blogger Jennifer at Palate to Pen. She made a butternut squash pizza with prosciutto and white sauce, and the very thought of it had me drooling and dreaming up what else to do with a butternut squash pizza topping. For this pizza I cut the squash into small chunks, thinly sliced a few shallots, tossed it with fresh from the garden sage chiffonade and some olive oil, then roasted it for about 15 minutes in the convection oven until the squash was soft and the shallots glistened. While that was roasting I cooked up some Pancetta and drained it on a paper towel. I cooked it about one minute too long, and I suggest watching it carefully. You want it to render a good amount of fat so it doesn’t linger on the pizza, but not get it too crispy before it goes into the oven. About any pizza dough will do, though I like to use either Peter Reinhart’s dough or a quick whole wheat dough, and we prefer our pizza cooked on a baking stone or on the grill for a nice crispy crust.
The Daring Bakers Make Peter Reinhart’s Pizza Napoletana
I remember seeing Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice for the first time at a bookstore the year it was released. The striking photo on the cover immediately grabbed my attention and I heard my own voice say aloud, “I want to make bread like that.” The book did not go home with me that day, and in fact I waited almost a year before buying it, feeling that I needed to bake more things from some of my other books before adding another bread book to my collection. I was ecstatic the day it arrived in the mail, and I immediately sat down and started reading and tagging breads of interest. For my very first bread, I tackled the Napoletana pizza dough, and I was thrilled with the results. The dough was silky smooth and had enough resting time that I could easily stretch it and make a thin crust, the type I prefer. After falling hard for this dough, I added Reinhart’s American Pie to my wish list, which actually has another variation of this dough formula.
It’s been two years since I wrote about Reinhart’s Napoletana pizza dough (recipe posted there), but time has not diminished my adoration of this dough, and I gladly played along with this month’s Daring Baker challenge. The formula is forgiving enough to allow some whole grain flour, but the original still makes a delicious pizza. Read more
White Grilled Pizza
First things first: there’s still time to enter the Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas cookbook give away! Visit the original post and tell us about your favorite pizza toppings to enter!
The dessert pizza with the cinnamon and ice cream was delicious, but then so were the savory pizzas we made. I chose to top one with a homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil from our indoor garden (photo below), a pizza I knew the boys would like, and the other was based on The Biancan pizza recipe in the book with a few differences. This white pizza (photo above) is brushed with herb- and garlic-seasoned olive oil, sprinkled with Parmesan, and topped with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, red onion, roasted garlic, feta, and a sun-dried tomato pesto that we make every year with our homegrown basil. The boys snubbed the white pizza, but Michael and I really liked it.
Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas Cookbook Give Away
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “Andrea botched up this post because that is definitely not grilled pizza.”
Guess what? It is grilled pizza enrobed in cinnamon sugar with French vanilla ice cream in the middle and chocolate sauce on top. How’s that for an insanely good dessert pizza? Yes, my hand slipped and I went a little overboard with the chocolate sauce, but it still tasted delicious!
This delicious creation comes from Chef Craig Priebe and his first cookbook, Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas, recently released by DK Publishing. I received an invitation to review the book and host a give away, and I only had to think about it for a nano second. Pizza is my favorite food and any chance to play around with my favorite food will make my day! As soon as I saw Priebe’s incredible dessert inspired by churros (photo above), I knew what we would have for our Cinco de Mayo celebration. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Read more
Quick Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Pizza is a staple around our house, something that we really enjoy making and eating. I have wanted to add a whole-wheat dough to our repertoire, and I’ve tried it a number of different ways but not always with good results. I also wanted to experiment with a quick dough, something that I could whip out on a busy day without a lot of rising time. I wish I could say that I had loads of time to make bread and pizza dough every day, but that’s just not the case! Maybe when I’m retired and the boys have all grown up and gone off into the world.
I saw this recipe on Eating Well advertised as a dough you could prepare and have in the oven in just 30 minutes. That’s not really time to rise, just enough time for gluten to start developing, but I thought it was worth trying. The whole wheat flour adds a lot of depth to the crust and can make it too heavy if you accidentally use too much, especially since it loves to soak up the liquid. I think the recipe works better with one tablespoon of flour subtracted from the full cup. The dough does not rise, so don’t expect that, it just has time to rest before shaping. If you can make it the night before and let it rest in the refrigerator it’s even better because the dough is a little slack and easier to roll out, plus the flavors have time to develop even more. It will even perform well after sitting for up to two days. If you like the refrigerated Trader Joe’s pizza dough in the bags, then you will probably like this as it’s pretty similar. Read more
Pizza Caprese
August 14, 2006 by Andrea
Filed under Italian foods
After posting the Napoletana Pizza Dough recipe, I just had to follow up with my favorite way to use it. Our basil and tomatoes are coming in like crazy, and this is certainly a tasty and easy way to enjoy our garden bounty. You just layer on sliced tomatoes and chopped basil, sprinkle on some olive oil, and then top with sliced fresh mozzarella. If you want to get adventurous, throw on some minced garlic. The idea is to keep it simple and allow the flavors of the fresh ingredients to shine.
I like the cheese to melt a bit in the oven, so I put it on before baking, but you can also reserve the cheese until the pizza is out of the oven and then lay it on top Read more
