Have you ever tried avocado on pizza? I hadn’t tried it until I included it in this summer pizza we made a couple weeks ago. It’s actually really good! But then again, I think a almost anything tastes good on pizza – especially homemade pizza – because I just love it to no end!
Sometimes pizza could be a bit heavy, especially on hot summer days, but this pizza was nice and light, and still had a a lot of flavor. Lately I’ve been really into homemade pizza prepared without tomato sauce. Instead, I just add sliced, vine-ripened tomatoes, a little more olive oil on the crust, and a generous topping of grated Italian cheese(s). Of course you can add sauce if you like, I just don’t think it’s necessary.
Summertime Veggie Pizza
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose or white whole wheat like King Arthur’s
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon yeast I prefer highly active
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus additional for rubbing on dough balls
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- a little rosemary optional
- For topping use more or less of following ingredients (to taste):
- 1 cup or more fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
- 1 white or red onion sliced
- 2 jalapeno peppers sliced
- 1 avocado cut in 1 inch pieces
- 4-5 fresh small tomatoes flavorful tomatoes make a big difference
- 2-3 cloves garlic crushed or sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsely roughly chopped
- fresh parsley crushed red pepper if desired
- grated Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese if desired
- a little cornmeal to dust on pizza peel
Instructions
- For the dough, add the yeast to the 2 cups of water for several minutes until it becomes foamy. Add the sugar, olive oil and vinegar.
- While the yeast is dissolving in the water, add the flour, rosemary and salt to bowl of electric mixer (that has dough hook attachment) and whisk a couple times.
- Note: You can also use a food processor - OR you can just do everything by hand (instructions below)!
- For electronic mixer with hook attachment: Process on medium high for several minutes. After about 7 minutes, check the dough. If the dough is still tacky and sticking to the bowl (not forming in the center on the hook), add more flour by the tablespoon until it does. The dough should be clinging on the hook and not sticking to the bottom and the sides. To test the dough for readiness, pinch off a small piece and stretch - it shoud be elastic and look a little transparent when stretched. Total kneading time with the mixer is about 10 minutes. Once complete, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead a couple times to from into ball.
- Place in bowl rubbed with olive oil, cover with towel and let sit for two hours until it doubles in size.
- After two hours, turn out onto lightly floured surface, punch down and knead a couple times and cut in 1/2 or in three equal pieces. Form into neat balls and use as needed. To use the next day, rub lightly with olive oil, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight (I prefer using 1-4 days later for better flavor).
- For the pizza, preheat oven (with pizza stone if you have one) to 500 degrees F. Place rack in the center of the oven.
- Stretch out your dough and push downward in center with fingers to desired shape and size.
- Dust pizza peel (or parchment paper) with a little cornmeal and lay down your dough on top of it, reshaping it and leaving a little more thickness on the edges.
- Drizzle a little olive oil on dough and then evenly arrange cheese, leaving about an inch at the edges for the crust. Add toppings.
- Slide onto pizza stone and let cook for about 8-10 minutes until dough is nicely browned on the edges.
- Remove and garnish with the fresh parsely, parmigiana cheese, crushed red pepper.
- Enjoy!
This looks delicious! I am a huge fan of simple, homemade pizzas! And, will be trying this! Love your blog!
Thank you!
A guilty-free pizza treat! Love it!
I’ve never had avocado on pizza before, but this looks really summery and fresh!
I hadn’t either and I really enjoyed it on this pizza! Thanks for stopping by!
My 2 year old will love this. I might have to make half of it without onions 🙂 Thank you for the post.
Yes, I have to customize for the little ones too! Sometimes we just make mini pizzas so everyone could have it the way they like/