Eating With St'yle: Kyle's First Pizza

(Posted by Kyle)


According to Steph's New Year's post, we will be presenting some of the kinds of meals we eat, for the entertainment of some, and the edification of others who sometimes wonder what exactly we do eat. So here's the first installment.

GREEK PIZZA WITH WHOLE WHEAT CRUST

From Moosewood Restaurant Cooking For Health

Unless my memory is completely on the fritz, I believe this is the first pizza I have ever made by myself from start to finish. I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've made pizza dough, anyway.

The dough: Mix 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast and 1 tsp sugar in 1 cup warm water and set aside until yeast is dissolved and is bubbly. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 tsp olive oil,  and 1 tsp salt. Cover and place in a warm spot to rise for 45 min.

In a food processor, puree one 15 oz can garbanzo beans (drained), 3 Tbs water, 4 tsp lemon juice, 1 Tbs olive oil, and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside.

In a skillet, cook two cloves of minced garlic in one Tbs olive oil for a minute. Add 10 oz (5 cups) chopped fresh spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted and still bright green. Set aside.

Oil a 14 or 15 inch pizza pan. Use a spatula to scrape the dough onto the pan. Flour your hands and push and pat the dough evenly over the pan, forming a ridge at the edge.

Spread the chick pea puree over the dough, and top with the spinach, 2 cups chopped tomato, and one 14 oz can of drained and chopped artichoke hearts. Sprinkle with 1 tsp dried oregano, ground black pepper, and 3/4 cup grated kasseri, feta, or asiago cheese.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until crust bottom has browned.

We used a goat's milk feta cheese, and added kalamata olives to half. The garbanzo base is just a Tbs of tahini away from being hummus, so you could probably use store bought hummus if you're like me and don't like cleaning the food processor.

We were very pleased with how this turned out and will be making it again for sure.