A few years ago my husband and I started an easy Friday night meal tradition – Pizza Night.
But instead of buying pizza from the frozen food section or our local pizza shop, we started making homemade pizza, topped with our farm’s freshly harvested vegetables.
Since I spend 8-10 hours on Friday harvesting, washing, & packing for Saturday morning’s farmer’s market, I didn’t have it in me to cook something extravagant.
And my husband was also hitting the end of the work week and was just mentally done, so we wanted to make things simple on ourselves as new parents.
You might be thinking….homemade pizza sounds like wayyyyy more work than calling up the local pizza shop for delivery (we live in rural community & don’t have modern services like Door Dash…).
But it’s actually quite simple — and it’s very affordable.
Below I’m sharing my tips for keeping it simple, using seasonal veggies that you’ll find at the farmer’s market, and 2 homemade dough recipes.
How to Keep Homemade Pizza Simple
If you can, you can mix the dough and freeze it to use it when you need it.
When I can, I like to make a few batches of the pizza dough, let them rise, and then put them in the freezer.
When I go to use the dough, I pull it out overnight or the morning of.
If I pull it out in the evening and plan to use it for the next night’s dinner, I’ll leave it in the fridge to defrost.
If I pull it out in the morning and plan to use it for tonight’s dinner, then I’ll leave in on the countertop.
Using Seasonal Vegetables for your Pizza
We typically think of pepperoni and cheese on pizza, maybe some peppers, but rarely will you find more interesting vegetable toppings on pizzas at your local shop.
This is where you get to be creative.
Or maybe take inspiration from a restaurant that makes “gourmet” pizzas and be a copycat.
These vegetables should be cooked on your pizza for about 10 minutes:
- peppers
- tomatoes
- eggplant (cut into discs)
- zucchini or summer squash (cut into discs)
- fennel bulb or stalk
- garlic or garlic scapes
- onions or scallions
- leeks
- potatoes (thinly sliced)
- broccoli or cauliflower
These vegetables should be tossed on your pizza and cooked for the last 3-5 minutes of the bake:
- arugula or spinach
- kale or collard greens
- mustard greens or dandelion greens
- raab or broccoli rabe
- fennel fronds or fennel leaf
- fresh herbs, like basil, dill, cilantro, parsley, oregano, sage, etc.
Some vegetables combos to try on your homemade pizza include:
- fresh tomato, basil, and peppers with mozzarella cheese on an olive oil base
- broccoli rabe, black olives, and ricotta with mozzarella cheese on an olive oil base
- peppers, tomato, and parsley with mozzarella cheese on a tomato sauce base
- any green (like arugula, kale, or spinach) and ricotta with mozzarella cheese on a garlic scape pesto base
Pizza Dough Recipe
This recipe can be made in the morning and then enjoyed that night for dinner.
Or if you forget, you can add some sugar to the yeast & hot water mix and have a batch of dough made in about 30 minutes. Enough time to preheat the oven and chop your veggies!
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups bread/pizza dough flour or all-purpose flour (I use this Organic Italian-Style Pizza Flour from Janie’s Mill)
- 1 packet of Fleishmen’s dry yeast or 2 ¼ tsp of Bob Red’s Mill active yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tsp sugar (*only needed when making dough 30 minutes before you’re ready to prep your pizza)
Directions:
- If preparing dough to be used immediately, add sugar and yeast to water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Omit this step if preparing to be used the next day or more than 3 hours later. Simply combine the water and yeast with the flour, salt, and olive oil in the next step.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and olive oil. Add yeast and water to dry mixture.
- Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.
- Let it rise for 15 minutes or overnight.
- Bake pizza at 450F with toppings for 20-25 minutes. If you don’t have a pizza stone, stretch or use a rolling pin to shape the dough over parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe
This recipe makes enough for 2 pizza crusts. You can also make this recipe ahead of time and store in the fridge for about 1 week.
Also* If you used to buy the sourdough pizza crust from me at the farmer’s market, this is the EXACT recipe I used to create the dough!
This recipe is adapted from @everything.sourdough on Instagram.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup active sourdough starter or discard
- 4 cups + 2 TBSP Pizza Flour (or you can also use bread or all-purpose flour) (I use this Organic Italian-Style Pizza Flour from Janie’s Mill)
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
Directions:
- Combine starter and water. Add salt and flour, mix until well combined.
- Cover with a damp towel and proof overnight at room temperature, 70-75° or until doubled on size. If it’s winter, you can leave in your oven with the oven light on to make sure it stays around 70°
- Stretch and fold dough a few times, and then shape into 2 equal-ish size balls. At this point, dough can be used now or stored in the fridge for 5-7 days. Note: dough will lose it’s rise if left too long in the refrigerator.
- Stretch or use a rolling pin and some extra flour to roll out the dough on a cookie sheet or pizza stone. Note, this is a sticky dough, use flour as needed.
- Lightly oil shaped dough (where the sauce and toppings will go) with olive oil (this helps keep the bottom of your crust crispy) and then top with your favorite sauce and toppings.
- Bake in a preheated 500° oven on the middle rack for 10 minutes on your pizza pan. Then carefully slide the pizza off the pan directly onto the oven rack. Bake for 5-6 more minutes until pizza crust is browned and the toppings are bubbly.
Need some more inspiration for what to make next with your veggies from the farmer’s market? Check out these recipes:
Schul Farmstead 