Taste&Create VIII: Pizza with Zucchini, Mushroom and Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients for the Crust:

1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4-1/2 cup of warm water
1/2 tablespoon of honey
2 teaspoons of yeast
1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1) In a bowl mix flour and salt. In another bowl add honey, yeast and warm water and let it sit for about 5 mins until foamy.

2) Add olive oil to the flour bowl and slowly add the yeast mixture. Adjust water as required. Knead the flour till a ball of dough forms. Leave the dough to rise for about 1 hr.

3) The punch the dough with your knuckles to release the air and make small balls according to how big you want your pizza to be. Roll the dough using your hands by pushing it outwards. Then top the pizza with your favourite toppings.

Ingredients for Topping:

1/2 zucchini, chopped
Mushroom sliced into small pieces
1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 sprig of rosemary, stripped
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 450 F.

2) Place tomatoes, onion, mushrooms and zucchini on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with minced garlic, a pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Top with rosemary leaves. Place in the oven for 8 mins until zucchini is slightly tender.

Ingredients to complete the pizza:
Extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Cooked veggie mixture
1/3 cup of fresh Mozzarella, grated

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 425 F.

2) While the veggies are roasting, spread out pizza crusts and brush it with a little extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 5-7 minutes until crust is done, but not browned and remove from oven.

3) Top the crust with veggies mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella pieces. Bake the pizza. The actual time for baking is 5-8 mins if the crust is thin enough. As you can see in the pic, my crust is quite thick and i had to bake it for about 20 mins. So make sure the crust is about 1 inch thick, not more than that. Remove from the oven once the crust browns . Serve immediately.

Recipe Source : Dianne's Blog

Result: This was my first attempt on preparing pizza and i was pretty happy with the result. "Simple and delicious :-)"

This is my entry for the food event Taste&Create VIII post .