This is a guest post from our friend, Leah, who blogs at Crunchy Farm Baby.
Pizza is a very important staple food in our home. If it isn’t on the menu once a week, I will inevitably hear, “Hey, we haven’t had pizza in awhile.” Of course, when I say pizza, I don’t mean Papa Johns (although, nothing beats those breadsticks)…. I mean delicious homemade, fresh dough pizza. Sounds like a pain, right? Guess again! It’s one of the easiest meals I make! Not counting the 45 minutes-1 hour of time it takes for the dough to rise, it’s a meal that can be made from start to finish in under 30 minutes. What mom isn’t thrilled to hear that? I like to change up our toppings to keep things fresh, but one of our favorites in the summertime is my Savory Summer Pizza recipe. I’m happy to be able to share with you my super easy, light and fluffy pizza crust recipe, as well as our favorite toppings; but once you get the crust made, have fun experimenting with the toppings! Enjoy!
Savory Summer Pizza
Ingredients:
Crust:
2 packets quick-rising yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tbs maple syrup
Salt, to taste
3-3 1/2 cups of flour (any kind works, but I use a pastry flour that I buy in bulk from a local farm)
4 Tbs olive oil, plus some for drizzling in the bowl
Toppings:
pesto
onion, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (this is even better with sun-dried tomatoes!)
handful of arugula
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, grated
2 peaches, chopped
Directions:
1. Make the pizza dough. In a mixing bowl, combine water, yeast, and maple syrup. Whisk until yeast is dissolved and let sit until foam develops – about 5-10 minutes. Add salt and olive oil and slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time until a dough forms. Knead the dough for a few minutes, adding flour if needed. You don’t want the dough to be sticky, but don’t use so much flour that it’s tough.
Add a drizzle of olive oil into the mixing bowl and then toss the ball around to coat it. Cover and let set in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until doubled in size.
2. Press the dough onto a greased pizza pan/cookie sheet. Bake at a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.
3. Spread pesto over crust and arrange other toppings. Bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
Leah blogs at Crunchy Farm Baby, where she writes about all things having to do with a crunchy lifestyle – natural/attachment parenting, vegetarian/vegan cooking, gardening, raising chickens, chemical-free cleaning, and shares stories about her life with her husband and one-year old on a small farm in Pennsylvania.
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Twitter: crunchyfarmbaby
says:
Thanks so much for sharing my guest post!!
Leah recently posted..Playtime at the Creek
Twitter: ashleybookshelf
says:
This looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Twitter: frugalfoodiemom
says:
Could this dough be made in the bread maker? I am actually making homemade pizza this evening (coincidental, eh?), and had another pizza dough recipe I was going to use (in the bread maker). But I will try your’s instead if you think it will work in the bread maker.
Carrie R recently posted..Pinspiration in the Kitchen- Creme Brulee French Toast
That pizza looks so yummy! I love the idea of adding chopped peaches
Twitter: mommy_GAGA
says:
Looks delicious! Must try this one out.
Deanna U recently posted..Zebra + Blue = Unique Baby Shower Theme for Boys!
Twitter: 8DaysAWeekMom
says:
Oh my gosh the next time I go to the store I’m getting stuff for this! Yum! Great job on the post
Savannah recently posted..Funny Friday 7/6
Wow! this Pizza Recipe looks really delicious. I’m so excited to try this. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Brave is nice, beautiful and moving new fairy tale that fits seamlessly into the genre; Princess Merida is a wonderfully multi-facted heroine; the film shapes itself around problems that are familiar and understandable and will be well-understood and appreciated by kids and parents alike; the supporting characters that are given the most attention are well-crafted (but too bad for those others that fall by the wayside). The visual effects are flawless, in my opinion, the best of al thel Pixar films.
Hey, great pizza. It would be great if you linked it in to Food on Friday Series which is all about pizza.
Twitter: chascouponmom
says:
This looks like a great recipe! I would never have thought about adding maple syrup in place of sugar…
Heather ~ Acting Balanced Mom recently posted..#globalgiveaway hop: #WIN one of TWO EdenFantasys GC *ADULT CONTENT*
Twitter: makobiscribe
says:
This looks so yummy!
Jennifer Medeiros recently posted..Christmas in July Giveaway Hop
Twitter: rockinmama
says:
I’ve never thought to use maple syrup in crust…does it make it sweet? And peaches…interesting…is it still savory? Or kind of sweet? I’m genuinely curious….
Caryn B recently posted..iCapture: Toronto, Canada
Twitter: thespringmount6
says:
This looks really yummy. We eat a lot pizza because we can add so many things to it and I can add lots of veggies. So I am always looking for new ideas.
Debi recently posted..Zombie Burst App for iPhone: Kicking Some Zombie Butt
Twitter: BillElliott2006
says:
Thanks for the great pizza recipe, we love to make homemade pizza when all the kids come over, everyone helps out