I am loving this pizza stone from Fiesta Dinnerware! Keeps the bottom nice and crisp and helps make a perfectly round pie. Make your own pizza dough. You literally throw everything in your mixer, mix it for 5 minutes, then let it rest while you prep everything else. No long rising time, no artificial ingredients, it's perfect. I've used oil instead of shortening and it's just as wonderful. I ran out of AP flour so I had to use some whole wheat. Wonk wonk....
Now for the pesto, you can certainly make your own (obviously preferred), but for the sake of time, sometimes you just gotta use jarred. The most important thing with pesto on pizza is the oil. If it's premade, you want to remove as much of the oil that sits on top in the jar that you can. So don't shake or mix it up before you get rid of it! If you don't, the oil can make the dough soft and greasy or it can seep out and sit on top of the pizza. Neither option appetizing. If you make it yourself, decrease the oil you add in significantly to prevent the problem from happening.
This crust. Brush it with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and some Italian herbs. Instead of tossing the crust, that'll be the first thing you take a bite out of...
You can add some cooked chicken marinated in lemon juice and basil, olives, artichokes, prosciutto, so many fish in the the pizza sea.
You make your sea your own.
Own that sea.
#fistbump
Greek Pesto Pizza
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 c warm water
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon shortening
- 1 Tablespoon yeast
- 2 cups flour
- olive oil
- garlic powder
- kosher salt
- onion powder
- Italian herbs
Toppings
- ½ c pesto as much oil removed as possible
- 1 c mozzarella cheese freshly shredded
- ⅓ c crumbled feta cheese
- ½ tomato sliced
- ¼ red onion sliced
- handful pine nuts I buy these in small amounts from the bulk bins, SO much cheaper than pre-packaged
Instructions
- Mix all dough ingredients in mixer, adding yeast last. Start with 1 ½ c flour an let mix in. Slowly add more flour until dough is barely tacky, soft, and has formed a ball that cleans the side of the mixer. Mix 5 minutes, let rest while you prepare your toppings.
- Preheat oven (and pizza stone if you have one) to 425 degrees.
- Roll out your dough on the counter sprinkled with cornmeal and flour.
- Sprinkle pizza stone or pan with more cornmeal and flour to prevent sticking and get that nice crispy crust, then place the crust on the pan.
- Liberally brush the crust perimeter with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian herbs, and kosher salt.
- Prick holes in the crust all over with a fork, then bake 5 minutes.
- While it's baking, toast your pine nuts in a frying pan on low heat until fragrant and golden, stirring frequently.
- Take crust out of the oven.
- Spread pesto on crust, then cheeses, and the rest of your toppings.
- Slide the pizza back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, until the cheese is all melty, the veggies are nice and roasted, and the crust lightly browned.
Erin V says
The little pesto man inside me is cheering with JOY
Aubrey says
mmm... Pesto and Pizza! Two of my favorites! Excited for this one!