Here is an easy-to-follow recipe for a high-in-flavor, low-in-fat broccoli pizza.
Instructions
1. Make the sauce. Heat 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Add 1 medium-sized Spanish onion, diced finely. Saute until opaque, about 5 minutes. Add 4 finely minced cloves of garlic to the pan, and stir and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the 16 oz. can of chopped Roma tomatoes to the pot and stir. Add about 1 tsp. each salt and pepper, to taste, and 1 tsp. of honey. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and add 1 tbs. each oregano and basil. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, then cover and let simmer for another hour. The sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
2. Make the dough. Combine 1 cup warm water (around 90 degrees F), 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.), 1 tsp. honey and 1 tsp. kosher salt in a large bowl. Stir very gently to dissolve the honey, then let sit for 5 minutes. The yeast should bloom, and the water should be covered with a foam. At this point, incorporate 2 cups bread flour and mix by hand until the ingredients are just incorporated and the dough is still wet. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a heavily floured surface. Dust the top of the dough with more flour, as well. Begin to knead, dusting with more flour as the dough becomes sticky. Knead for 3 or 4 minutes until the consistency changes to a drier, more incorporated ball. The dough should still be a little loose. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a warm, damp towel. Let it rise for an hour.
3. Prep the broccoli. Cut the pieces of broccoli small. When the broccoli cooks, it will give off water, so make the florets about half the size that you would expect to find on a dinner plate. One large head of broccoli will yield enough florets for the amount of pizza that this recipe makes.
4. Stretch the dough. Preheat the oven to the hottest temperature it has. You can make either four small circular pizzas or two large rectangular pizzas with this recipe, depending on what kind of cookie sheets you have. For the small pizzas, separate the dough into four balls, gently. You can use four separate circular cookie sheets, or alternate between two cookie sheets, rinsing them between batches. For each pizza, take the ball of dough and drape it over the back of your hands, fingers facing you. Begin gently turning the dough, stretching it as you turn, until it is around 6 inches in diameter. Set the dough on one of the floured cookie sheets and finish stretching until the diameter is about 9 inches. The dough should be thin. Repeat this with the rest of the pizzas. For two large, rectangular pizzas, separate the dough into two balls. Stretch the dough on your hands, but focus on making it longer in one direction than the other. Once it is unwieldy, set it on a rectangular cookie sheet and continue stretching until it is roughly 10 inches by 13 inches.
5. Top the pizzas. For the small pizzas, spoon about 4 tbs. sauce into the middle and, using the back of a large spoon, spread the sauce around the dough in a circular motion. For the large pizzas, spoon about 1/2 cup of sauce into the middle, and spread the sauce outward using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle each of the small pizzas with 1/2 cup cheese, the large pizzas with 1 cup each. Divide the broccoli evenly between the pizzas. Do not overload the pizzas with broccoli, or you will end up with a very soggy crust.
6. Cook the pizzas. With pizza, the hotter the oven, the better the pizza. The secret to restaurant pizza that can't be duplicated at home (so you thought) is a superhot oven with a short cook time. That is why you want your oven as hot as possible. Once it is up to temp, put your pizza as close to the heating element as possible (with some gas ovens, that may mean placing the cookie sheet on the bottom of the oven; with some electric ovens, that may mean putting it on the top rack next to the electric heating coil). The pizza will cook quickly, so be vigilant. The small pizzas will cook in 5 to 7 minutes. The large pizzas may take up to 10 minutes, but different ovens vary. Check every 90 seconds after the 5-minute mark to ensure your pizza doesn't burn. Once it is finished, take out of the oven and let it rest on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Slice and enjoy!
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