California Veggie Pizza
Honey-wheat crust pizza with eggplant, broccoli, mushrooms, red onions, sun-dried tomato, corn and mozzarella
Ingredients
For the pizza
- ½ tsp dried yeast
- ¼ cup + ½ tsp warm water
- ½ cup bread flour
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 ½ tsp honey
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp olive oil
For the toppings
- 1 large Japanese eggplant
- 100 grams white mushroom
- 1 small bunch baby broccoli
- ¼ cup frozen corn kernels thawed
- ½ small red onion thinly sliced
- 2 halves sun-dried tomatoes strips
- 4 tbsp marinara/pizza sauce
- 1 ½ cups grated Mozzarella cheese
- Olive oil
- Salt pepper
- ¼ cup goat cheese optional
Instructions
To make the dough
- Dissolve the yeast in the water and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Place the dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour the liquids. Combine the ingredients using a wooden spoon. Then lightly oil your hand and knead the dough for 5 minutes. The dough will be lightly sticky at this stage.
- Lightly oil the dough ball and the interior of a bowl. Place the dough ball in the bowl and seal the bowl air tight with a cling wrap. Set aside at room temperature to rise until double in size, about 1 ½ - 2 hours.
- After the dough had doubled, punch down the dough and form into a round ball. Place in the same bowl and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the dough from refrigerator 2 hours before assembling the pizza. Sprinkle flour on the dough and on the working surface. Roll the dough into 9-inch diameter, ½-inch thick circle.
- Pinch the dough between your fingers all around the edge of the circle, forming a rim that rises about 1/4-inch above the center surface of the dough.
To make the toppings
- Cut the eggplant into ¼-inch-thick slices. Brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill them for 2 minutes or until tender.
- Cut the mushrooms into ¼- inch thick slices. Heat oil in a pan and toss the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms on medium heat until all liquid has evaporated and the edges begin to brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Cut the broccoli into small florets and blanch them in boiling water for a minute. Drain and plunge into cold water. Once cool, drain and set aside.8. Use immediately, or cool and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Heat a small pan over high heat and roast the corn kernels for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
To assemble the pizza
- Preheat the oven to 200 C | 400 F. Place the rolled pizza on a floured pizza pan. Spread the sauce to within 1 inch of the outer edge of the dough. Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Then place the eggplant, followed by mushrooms, onion and sun-dried tomato. Sprinkle corn and top with broccoli.
- Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the pizza. If using goat cheese, break it into small pieces and distribute over the pizza.
- Transfer the pizza to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese at the center is melted.
Notes
- Do not put salt directly into the yeast water because this would kill some of the yeast.
- Do not over mix the dough as it will produce tough and rubbery dough.
- You can use the dough after the first rise. But keeping it overnight makes the dough more chewy and flavorful.
- You can make the normal pizza dough recipe instead of honey wheat dough. Note that the honey wheat dough tends to rise more slowly.
- You can use normal eggplant also. If using large ones, halve them and slice. Also go for normal broccoli if baby broccoli is not available.