Pesto Pizza

P is for Pizza, precisely Pesto Pizza and it’s my favorite kind of pizza. This is my second recipe from the land of Italy after Focaccia. I love thin crust pizzas and the one that I posted earlier is also a thin crust one and today’s recipe is also a thin crust one. Will you believe me that this pizza is a perfect weekday dinner and it can be prepared within 30 minutes with proper planning? No, I am not kidding, and that’s what I am going to share today, how I planned and prepared this.

Ok, I made this as a semi-homemade recipe as I used store-bought pesto. I know I have posted homemade pesto recipe before (the post needs a picture update) but as I had some leftover store-bought pesto, I went with that. But I prepared the base from scratch though.  I followed the same thin, crust recipe that I posted in my margarita pizza and followed the same procedure that I followed for my Obinon i.e. I prepared the dough in the morning before going to work and kept in the refrigerator and let it rise. By evening the dough was all set, and all I had to do was knead, assemble and add the topping and bake. Boom, our dinner was ready. Now tell me, isn’t this a perfect weekday dinner. I know I am repeating this again and again. Cooking is all about planning. 

Coming back to pizzas, we love thin crust pizzas and non-tomato based ones. We always opt for pesto ones. The basil sure has some magic in it. :-)  CPK’s wild mushroom pizza Blue line’s white pie pizza is on my to-do list. Kiddo has passed the cheese pizza stage, and I am super glad that we can try all the other varieties now and this pesto pizza is one of his favorite pizzas. So without any further ado, here is pizza recipe,

But before, the recap (All three years, it’s a recipe starting with P :-) ) from previous marathons and then the recipe. The printable recipe at the bottom.

• Day 16 | 2015 – Pizza Puffs
• Day 16 | 2016  – Pitlai
• Day 16 | 2017 – P – Pesto Pizza

Ingredients:

For the base: (This is one base, double the measure for 2 )

For pizza dough:

• Lukewarm water – 1/3 cup
• Active dry or instant yeast – ½ tsp heaped
• All-purpose flour – 1 cup
• Salt – ¾ tsp
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Oil for greasing

For the toppings:

• Pesto – 3 tbsps
• Chopped mushrooms – ¼ cup
• Cherry tomatoes – 6
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese – as required

Steps:

• Sieve the APF and add salt, sugar, and yeast. Combine it nicely.
• Now slowly add water (2 tbsps. at a time) and start mixing the dough to form a ball. If the dough is sticky, add more flour or if it’s too dry add more water.
• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
• Grease a big vessel with sufficient room for the dough to rise with olive oil.
• Spread some oil on top of the dough too. Now wrap the bowl with cling film, and for a slow rise, you can keep in the refrigerator for up to 8 or 9 hours. For the instant growth, you can keep it a warm place for about 2 hours or until it doubles up. I kept in my refrigerator.

Kneading:

• Once the dough has raised, remove the cling film and punch it down.
• Knead it on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes to build the gluten content and to remove all the air pockets. (as you can see, kiddo helped me)

Rolling and Assembling Pizza:

• Dust the pizza stone with the cornmeal or semolina.
• Preheat the oven along with the pizza stone to 500 degrees F. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can directly bake in the baking trays.
• Dust the surface where you are going to the roll the pizza with flour and using a rolling pin or chapati roller into a thin crust like below. If you prefer a thick crust, roll accordingly.

• After rolling, let it sit for 15 minutes.
• Then spread the pesto evenly and then the grated cheese, chopped mushrooms, and tomatoes. You can add in any order.
• Now carefully, transfer this rolled pizza onto the hot pizza stone.

• Reduce the oven temperature to 475-degree f.
• Bake the pizza at 450 degrees F for about 8-10 mts till the crust turns golden brown, and cheese is all bubbly.

• Carefully remove the pizza and serve hot.

Notes:

• You can choose your favorite topping. You can go for other cheese varieties, sun-dried tomatoes or veggies of your choice.
• Roll the pizza according to your crust preference.
• It’s not mandatory to place the dough in the refrigerator. During weekdays, I usually prepare the dough in the morning and put them in the fridge to rise. But you can keep them in a warm place and once the dough has doubled up, make sure you prepare the pizza within 2 hours if not refrigerate it.
• As I used instant yeast, I didn’t proof it. If you are using active dry yeast, mix the yeast in the Luke warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then use this mixture for preparing the dough.
• Instead of APF, you can make the pizza base with wheat flour too.

Pesto Pizza

Homemade Vegetarian Pesto Pizza topped with mozzarella, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The pizza base is prepared with home made pizza dough.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe

Prep Time: 8 hrs 30 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 9 hrs

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 3

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

For pizza dough

• Luke warm water – 1/3 cup
• Active dry or instant yeast – ½ tsp heaped
• All-purpose flour – 1 cup
• Salt – ¾ tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Oil for greasing

For the toppings

• Pesto – 3 tbsps
• Chopped mushrooms – ¼ cup
• Cherry tomatoes – 6
• Shredded Mozarella Cheese – as required

Instructions

Steps

• Sieve the APF and add salt, sugar, and yeast. Combine it nicely.
• Now slowly add water (2 tbsps. at a time) and start mixing the dough to form a ball. If the dough is sticky, add more flour or if it’s too dry add more water.
• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
• Grease a big vessel with sufficient room for the dough to rise with olive oil.
• Spread some oil on top of the dough too. Now wrap the bowl with cling film, and for a slow rise, you can keep it refrigerator for up to 8 or 9 hours and for the instant rise, you can keep it a warm place for about 2 hours or until it doubles up. I kept in my refrigerator.

Kneading

• Once the dough has raised, remove the cling film and punch it down.
• Knead it on lightly floured surface for 5 minutes to build the gluten content and to remove all the air pockets. (as you can see, kiddo helped me)

Rolling and Assembling Pizza

• Dust the pizza stone with the corn meal or semolina.
• Preheat the oven along with the pizza stone to 500 degrees F. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can directly bake in the baking trays.
• Dust the surface where you are going to the roll the pizza with flour and using a rolling pin or chapati rolling pin into a thin crust like below. If you prefer a thick crust, roll accordingly.
• After rolling, let it sit for 15 minutes.
• Then spread the pesto evenly and then the grated cheese, chopped mushrooms, and tomatoes. You can add in any order.
• Now carefully, transfer this rolled pizza onto the hot pizza stone.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 450-degree f.
• Bake the pizza at 450 degrees F for about 8-10 mts till the crust turns golden brown, and cheese is all bubbly.
• Carefully remove the pizza and serve hot.

Notes

• You can choose your favorite topping. You can go for other cheese varieties, sun-dried tomatoes or veggies of your choice.
• Roll the pizza according to your crust preference.
• It’s not mandatory to place the dough in the refrigerator. During weekdays, I usually prepare the dough in the morning and put them in the fridge to rise. But you can keep them in a warm place and once the dough has doubled up, make sure you prepare the pizza within 2 hours if not refrigerate it.
• As I used instant yeast, I didn’t proof it. If you are using active dry yeast, mix the yeast in the Luke warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then use this mixture for preparing the dough.
• Instead of APF, you can make the pizza base with wheat flour too.

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 Sending this recipe to Valli’s Anniversary Mela Event.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75

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