I’m late to the party, but I finally got here. I finally joined Pinterest and I’ve been having so much fun creating boards and pinning images. I’m not sure why it took me so long to jump on board, but it’s addicting!
It’s so easy to find things on Pinterest. I wanted to create a Pumpkin Pizza for dinner last night, but I needed a little inspiration. So I did a search on Pinterest for Pumpkin Pizza. I found a great selection of photos and recipes. Who knew? I sure didn’t know pumpkin pizza was that popular.
I decided to adapt the Country Pizza Dough recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Pizza Quest site, but my creative inspiration came from here and here. I found all of these lovely recipes via Pinterest. So there you go… I may be a late adopter, but I finally arrived.
Here is my Pumpkin Spelt Pizza topped with mozzarella pearls, spinach, garlic and crushed red pepper.
Pumpkin Spelt Pizza Dough
Makes: 4 – 8 oz Pizzas
Adapted from: http://www.fornobravo.com/pizzaquest/instructionals/59-written-recipes/71-country-pizza-dough.html
Ingredients:
- 3 cups (15.65 oz) White Spelt Flour
- 1/2 cup (2.5 oz) Whole Grain Spelt Flour (I used home milled flour)
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 3/4 cup canned Pumpkin
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for oiling the dough and bowl
Directions:
Step 1: Mix the ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients together with a wire whisk or wooden spoon. Then mix the wet ingredients together and add to the dry ingredients. Stir or mix until a loose dough forms. I mixed this dough by hand, but you can use a stand mixer if you prefer.
Step 2: Knead the Dough slightly and Shape into Balls. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes, then mix again until it forms a tacky ball. Transfer the dough to an oiled work surface. Rub a little bit of the oil in your hands and shape the dough into a smooth ball. You don’t need to knead the dough very much. The gluten will develop during the cold fermentation in the refrigerator.
Step 3: Place the dough in the refrigerator overnight. Place the dough ball in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with plastic. Place it in the refrigerator overnight. The dough can be used after 6 hours or up to three days after you place it in the refrigerator.
Step 4: Remove the dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before you plan to bake the pizza. Divide the dough into four 8.5 oz pieces and shape into tight dough balls. If you plan on making all 4 pizzas, place all of the dough balls on a baking sheet, mist them with spray oil and cover with plastic. Let the dough warm up to room temperature for at least 90 minutes. If you want to save some for another night, wrap the extra balls in plastic wrap (or place in an oiled freezer bag) and refrigerate for up to three days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Step 5: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a pizza stone on the middle rack at least 1 hour before you plan to bake the pizzas. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can bake it on a baking sheet.
Step 6: Spread the dough onto parchment paper. Once the dough has warmed up to room temperature, spread one of the dough balls out onto parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal or oiled with olive oil. I used olive oil to make it easier to spread.
Step 7: Bake the Pizza. Transfer the pizza (on the parchment paper) onto the preheated baking stone (using a pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet) and let it parbake for a couple of minutes. Remove from the oven and add the toppings of your choice. I topped my pizza with marinara, mozzarella pearls, spinach, crushed garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning. Return the pizza to the oven and let it bake for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.
Step 8: Remove the pizza from the oven using a pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet and let it cool slightly before serving.
This pizza was really good. I didn’t even taste the pumpkin. I rolled my pizza out pretty thin so the crust was thin and crispy and the crushed red pepper gave it a delicious hint of heat. Yum!
Happy Baking!
Cathy
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