Red, White, and Green Pizza

in Pizza, Summer Tomatoes, Vegetarian

As much as we really, really, really wanted to move out of our old neighborhood – gun shots at 2am? Um, no thanks – there were three things that I was really not looking forward to leaving behind:
– Foodie Baby’s nursery. Foodie Groom and I painted the nursery ourselves. Bunnies, dragon flies, and all. First baby. First nursery. But not the first time I cursed that stupid blue painter’s tape.
– A relatively quick drive for Connie’s Frozen Custard. A vanilla concrete with double pecans can turn that frown upside down faster than a blue margarita from El Patio. But only slightly faster 🙂
– Locatelli’s Pizza

I used to think that there was no such thing as bad pizza. It was easy to believe because I was living on bad pizza. During college, I was a connoisseur of cheap freezer pizzas. 10 pizzas for $10. Of course, the freezer in my apartment only held 8. And half of that space technically belonged to my roommate… I have a habit of getting bogged down in details, especially those details that don’t matter.

We eat a lot of homemade pizza. And we eat a lot of take-out pizza. While our new house is 34.1 miles from Locatelli’s, the good news is that we have completely unpacked the kitchen and I can cook again. The first thing we did when the last box was unpacked? We ordered pizza. (We’re only human!) The next night? We made pizza. There’s nothing like that new kitchen smell, when it’s pizza in the oven 🙂

Red White and Green Pizza

A meatless pizza topped with fresh tomatoes, red bell pepper, goat cheese, and basil.

Ingredients

  • For the dough:
  • 2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 pkg)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup warm water, divided
  • 1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for oiling bowl
  • 1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
  • Cracked black pepper
  • Cornmeal, for dusting
  • For the sauce:
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • pinch red pepper flakes
  • cracked black pepper
  • 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • salt
  • For the toppings:
  • 1 large roma tomato, seeded and sliced
  • 1/2 medium red bell pepper, chopped
  • 3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
  • 3/4 cup shredded fresh mozzarella
  • small handful of fresh basil leaves

Instructions

  1. Make the dough: Place sugar and 1/4 cup water in the bowl of your stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast over top. Let sit 10 minutes until frothy. Add the remaining water, flours, gluten, salt, olive oil, cheese, and several grinds of pepper. Mix on low with the dough hook. Knead on medium-high for 7 minutes. The dough should completely come off the sides of the bowl but will still be a little sticky. Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the bowl or spray with cooking spray, and place the dough back in, turning to coat. Cover and let rise until doubled. (In a slightly warmed oven, this takes about an hour.)
  2. Preheat oven to 450. Turn dough out onto a pan or peel dusted with cornmeal. Shape the dough into a 14-inch round and transfer to the oven. Bake for 7 minutes, docking any air pockets that form with a fork.
  3. Make the sauce: Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic, red pepper, and a few grinds of black pepper and cook until the garlic just begins to brown. Add tomatoes and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Salt to taste.
  4. Assemble the pizza: Top the crust with sauce, shredded mozzarella, tomatoes, red bell pepper, and goat cheese. Transfer back to the oven to melt the cheese and brown the edges of the pizza. Top with basil leaves before serving.

Notes

Yields: 1 14-inch pizza

Crust heavily adapted from Gourmet

Estimated time: 1 hour 45 minutes

17 comments… add one
  • jennifer owen

    Yum, this pizza looks delish! We had homemade pizza 4 nights out of the 6 we were at home last week.

  • Welcome to your new home (and kitchen)! 🙂 That pizza looks great. I finally made my first pizza entirely from scratch a few months ago and it was totally worth it!

  • Nothing like getting the kitchen up and running. Best of luck in the new home! That pizza is making me drool. 🙂

  • Liz @ Blog is the New Black

    That pizza looks so delish. Congrats on the new home!

  • Wow that pizza looks delicious! And I have never heard of the frozen custard place? where is it? I live in Houston…

  • Annette D

    Welcome Back!

    That pizza looks yummy!

  • Congrats on the new home and that pizza looks delish! I love a good whole wheat crust and I’ve never included wheat gluten – does that help the texture?

    • Ellen – I think it definitely improves the texture in a quicker rise. The dough is a little fluffier and more tender.

  • Mellybrown

    Ah, you moved! I was wondering where you had gone! Congratulations on a new home and here’s to finding lots of tasty eats in your new ‘hood!

  • YUM – this pizza looks awesome. I love homemade pizzas.

  • Enjoy your new home and kitchen.You are right, nothing beats the smell of freshly bakes from your oven and your pizza looks so good, I may have to make some for dinner (I;m human too 😛 )

  • Congratulations on the move!! I LOVE a good pizza, but have had more than my share of bad ones [I love trying out new places, most of them end up closing down a week or two later :P].

    That pizza looks delicious, I’ve never made one at home, but now I want to. Oh, plus, way to tease us!! 🙂

  • Congratulations on your new kitchen, I mean house!

  • Vegolicious

    Mmm this pizza looks divine. I’d love for you to submit one of your beautiful photos, and a link to your post, to my new vegetarian food photo gallery showcasing beautiful and flavorful vegetarian food.

  • Meghan

    What type of yeast should I use? Active dry yeast or
    Instant yeast?

    • I use active dry. Either will work, you just skip the proofing step with instant.

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