Char-grilled summer vegetable pizzas

I haven't made pizzas at home for a while, which is weird, because they are quite easy to make and always tasty. Now the seasonal vegetables tempted me to make a pizza with them. I bought these beautiful summer squashes and stripy aubergine at a farmers' market and wanted to use them in some nice dishes. The tomatoes came from my own balcony. In my local pub I can get this wonderful char-grilled vegetables pizza and I kind of got my inspiration from that to make these pizzas.

Ingredients

Pizza dough semi-spelt-wheat for 4 crusts (similar recipe here) 

Toppings:

1 pattypan squash

1 aubergine

200 g cherry tomatoes

1 garlic clove

Fresh basil leaves

Mozzarella

Method

Make the pizza dough first and while it's rising, chop up the toppings.

Slice the pattypan squash and aubergine and char-grill them in a grill pan on both sides until they have grilling marks.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and chop the garlic finely.

Grate the mozzarella.

When the pizza dough is ready, roll it out thinly and cover with the toppins.

Bake at 250 C for about 10 minutes or until done.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Cooking video - Portobello pizza

I opened my own Youtube channel today, as I'm planning to occasionally publish a cooking video. I once already posted a purple sprouting broccoli and potato soup video and it was great fun making it. Of course it's much more work editing the videos, but I like it. You can find my channel here. 

So today I filmed myself making portobello pizzas with thin spelt-wheat crust. I didn't use tomato sauce in these, but just put tomato slices onto the base instead. I made 3 pizzas from these ingredients. It depends on the size of each pizza and the thickness of the crust, how many you'll get.

Dough:

200 g spelt flour

200 g wheat flour

2 tbsp dry yeast

1 tsp salt

300 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Filling:

3 portobello mushrooms

200 g tomatoes

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Fresh basil leaves

Salt

Ground black pepper

250 g grated mozzarella

Enjoy the video!

Your VegHog

Smoked tomato pizza

It's already November and now comfort food is more in demand than ever during the dark long nights. Pizza is always great for this purpose and what could be nicer than a pizza night at home.

This is a recipe for a smoky tomato pizza with a spelt crust that gets its flavour from some lovely oak smoked tomatoes. The crust will be first fried crispy on the pan and then grilled in the oven. With that method you can get close to the heat of a pizza oven in your own kitchen and the results are great. Here comes my recipe that made four smallish pizzas.

Ingredients

Spelt crust:

2 tbsp dry yeast

200 g wheat flour

200 g spelt flour

2 tsp salt

350 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Topping:

180 g oak smoked tomatoes

200 g fresh plum tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1 onion

Salt

Pepper

Fresh basil

Olive oil

200 g mozzarella

Method

Make the pizza dough first for the crust. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the water and olive oil and knead. Let rise under a tea towel for about one hour.

Chop the garlic and slice the plum tomatoes and onion.

Heat an oven-proof pan on the hob very hot.

Roll parts of the dough out and place it onto the hot pan followed by the toppings. Leave on the hob for a couple of minutes.

Put the whole pan into the oven under a hot grill. Bake it there until the surface is nicely golden brown and the crust is fully baked. Also here we are only talking about a few minutes depending on the oven performance.

Enjoy the pizza!

Your VegHog

Potato pizza

I was partly influenced by my trip to Copenhagen and partly by the Vegetable Palette food blogging challenge to make this potato pizza. I have been planning this sort of a pizza for ages, but never made one. I made this in the style of a fried pizza (first stage is on a frying pan, then oven), like I have made a few before. In the meanwhile I think that it's the best way to get a crispy crusted pizza with a regular oven. The pizza turned out to be lovely, so from now on I will be making such potato pizzas more often. I used my typical spelt crust as the base and rosemary as seasoning. 

Naturally I want to share this post with the Vegetable Palette for April, where the theme for this month is “White vegetables”. The challenge is hosted by Shaheen from the A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table. 

Here is my Potato pizza recipe:

Ingredients

Spelt crust:

2 tbsp dry yeast

200 g wheat flour

200 g spelt flour

2 tsp salt

350 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Toppings:

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

3-5 potatoes depending on the size

Mozzarella pearls

Sea salt

Black pepper

Fresh rosemary

Olive oil

Method

Make the pizza dough first: Mix the dry ingredients, then add water and olive oil and knead. Let the dough rise in a bowl under a tea towel for about one hour. Later roll out thin pizzas from it.

Chop the onion in thin half rings and the garlic finely. Cut the potatoes into thin slices. I didn't peel mine, as then the potato taste was even more intense.

Cook the potato slices in boiling water for about 5 minutes so that they are pretty much cooked. Put them into a bowl with olive oil, rosemary, seas salt and black pepper and mix. Leave them in the bowl for about 5 minutes.

Heat a large frying pan with a metal handle to the highest setting and place the pizza dough on the dry pan. Place the toppings onto the pizza and leave in the pan for a couple of minutes. Then put the whole pan into the oven under the grill at 250C. Leave in the oven until baked and golden brown. It can take only a couple of minutes or a little bit longer depending on the power of the oven.

Serve immediately and enjoy! Have good pizza moments!

Your VegHog

Fried heirloom tomato pizza

Fried pizza is my new passion. You can read my first post on the subject here, with all the drama around my scorched hand. Now I made a simple basic tomato and mozzarella pizza that was pan-fried first and then grilled quickly in the oven. This method gives the pizza an incredibly crispy crust and a slightly smoky taste.

I can only dream about the lovely tomatoes I purchased in France in the summer (*see the dreamy picture below), but luckily farmers' markets have some nice ones over here as well.

Here's how I made these small pizzas.

Spelt pizza dough

400 g spelt flour

1 tbsp dry yeast

2 tsp salt

350 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Toppings

Tomato sauce (Tomatoes, shallot, garlic, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper)

Heirloom tomatoes

Buffalo mozzarella

Method

First make the dough by combining the dry ingredients, then by adding the water and olive oil and kneading. Let the dough rise for about one hour in room temperature.

Then make a basic tomato sauce, although you can skip this step completely and just put fresh tomatoes onto the pizza. That's also a very good alternative. This time however, I also added a tomato sauce.

Once the dough and the sauce are done, slice the heirloom tomatoes and tear the mozzarella, and you are ready for the frying bit.

Heat a non-stick and oven-proof frying pan very hot on the hob, and also heat the grill setting of the oven as hot as possible. Then place the stretched pizza dough and the toppings into the pan. You can also add the mozzarella onto the pizza after the frying and grilling, then it's nice and fresh.

Leave the pizza in the pan until the crust gets slightly brown below and then pop the whole thing into the oven under the grill for a further couple of minutes. My grill doesn't get that hot, so I had to leave the pizza for about five minutes to get nice colour. The first frying bit is also only a few minutes, so it's a very quick way to make a tasty pizza.

Then repeat the frying procedure to make a few more pizzas, unless you used a large pan that could accommodate the whole dough. This is the bit to be very careful at, as the pan and its handle will be extremely hot.

Drizzle some basil, chilli or garlic infused olive oil onto the pizzas just before serving. These always give a nice edge and extra flavour.

So how about making such pizzas on the weekend?

Your VegHog

Fried pizza with aubergines and mozzarella

Fried pizza is all the craze now, and I decided to make a few of those as well. But here comes a serious WARNING! Be very careful at all times when handling those hot pans! They have been to a very hot oven, and that should not be forgotten. The VegHog wasn't careful enough and scorched its hand severely enough to have to visit a doctor! I'm fine again, and this injury hasn't scared me away from making more fried pizzas as they were absolutely delicious. The frying adds a certain smokiness to the base and makes it crispier than you would achieve in a normal oven.

If you got curious about fried pizza, I would recommend you to read also this Guardian article. There are many good tips for making a good fried pizza. 

So here's how I made my first fried pizza ever.

Spelt pizza crust:

It of course depends on the size of your pan, how many pizzas you'll get out of this amount of dough, but it should be at least a few small ones. And this time I made my crust a bit thicker than usual.

2 tbsp dry yeast

400 g spelt flour

2 tsp salt

350 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

First make the crust. I made a spelt crust, because I recently bought spelt flour in bulk. You could also make a half spelt, half wheat crust, which is what I normally make.

Toppings:

4 tomatoes (mine were tomato tigerellas from my own garden)

1 red onion

1 garlic clove

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp salt

Fresh basil leaves

200 g buffalo mozzarella

4 mini aubergines

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp oregano

What to do:

Make a quick basic tomato sauce by chopping the onion, garlic and tomatoes finely and cooking them in olive oil until the flavours blend nicely. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. You can also make a pizza without a tomato sauce and just put some tomato slices on the base. That is just as good, only a bit different.

Roast the mini aubergine slices brushed with olive oil and oregano at 220C for about 10 minutes until tender and golden brown.

Heat a non-stick frying pan with a metal handle (it has to be able to take the heat of the oven) very hot and also heat the grill setting of the oven as hot as possible. Then place the stretched pizza dough and the toppings into the pan. I put my toppings onto the base in this order: tomato sauce, some mozzarella (more will be put on after the baking), basil leaves and roasted aubergines.

Leave the pizza in the pan until the crust gets slightly brown below and then pop the whole thing into the oven under the grill for a further couple of minutes. My grill doesn't get that hot, so I had to leave the pizza for about five minutes to get nice colour. The first frying bit is also only a few minutes, so it's a very quick way to make a tasty pizza.

When the pizza comes out of the oven, tear some buffalo mozzarella on the top and serve, but still be careful with that pan! I also made a different one with extra heirloom tomato slices on the top.

Have you tried this sort of pizza before, and what do you think of the idea?

Your VegHog

Mushroom and rocket spelt crust pizza

Saturday night and it's pizza time again! A vegetarian pizza is always a good option and I claim that homemade pizzas are actually quite healthy, as there's only fresh produce added and the finest ingredients used. The fresh rocket on the top of this one contributes even more to the healthy aspect.

I made once again a spelt crust for this pizza and I think it went very well with the earthy mushrooms and peppery rocket. I tend to make either a spelt-wheat or a rye-wheat pizza base each time.

This is a recipe for two medium pizzas.

Spelt crust:

2 tbsp dry yeast

200 g wheat flour

200 g spelt flour

2 tsp salt

350 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Topping:

200 g closed cup mushrooms

1 shallot

250 g mozzarella

100 g baby plum tomatoes

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp nettle salt / sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

70 g wild rocket

Method:

First make the dough by mixing dry yeast, wheat flour, spelt flour and salt and then adding lukewarm water and olive oil. Knead to a pizza dough and let rise under a teatowel for about one hour.

Prepare the toppings by slicing the mushrooms, shallot, tomatoes and mozzarella.

Divide the dough in two and roll it out thinly to round pizza bases. Place the toppings and the seasoning (oregano, salt and pepper) on the bases and bake at 200C for about 15-20 minutes.

Place the fresh rocket on the pizzas before serving and it's all done.

Your VegHog

Mini pizzas

I missed to post this on the weekend when it would've been more suitable, but here it comes anyway. Veggie pizzas are so nice, especially for a lazy Saturday film night, or even for a kids' party. This time I made veggie mini pizzas with different toppings. I have listed below the ingredients I used, but you can get creative and put your own favourite toppings on.

Ingredients for about 12 mini pizzas

Pizza dough:

400g wheat flour

100g semolina + some for dusting

2tbsp dry yeast

1tsp salt

350ml warm water

2tbsp olive oil

Topping:

250g grated mozzarella

1 orange pepper

1 onion

180g tomatoes

100g spinach

85g green olives

1 garlic clove

Basil leaves

Make the dough first. Mix the dry ingredients together, and then add the lukewarm water and olive oil. Knead a while into an even dough and let it rise under a tea towel for about one hour.

In the meanwhile you can prepare the toppings. Chop the veg into suitable slices and grate the mozzarella. I didn't make a tomato sauce this time, but just used tomato slices instead.

Once the dough has risen, roll chunks of it out into small and thin circles. Roll them out on semolina so that the crust will get a nice crispy semolina finish.

Place the toppings on the crusts and bake the pizzas at 220C for about 10 minutes until fully baked. Serve warm and enjoy!

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Tomato and olive spelt crust pizza

To celebrate my 200^th blog post I decided to dedicate it to a wonderful favourite of mine, a vegetarian thin crust pizza. I wanted to reach the 200 post mark this year and it looks like there will be a few more to come as we are approaching the main eating season of the year. One thing is very clear to me, I certainly wouldn't have the strength and enthusiasm to do this without you, my dear readers. So thank you so much for reading, commenting and trying out the recipes, you are the best!

On to today's recipe: I made a juicy tomato and olive pizza on a spelt crust. The olives I used had a hint of lemon and I would recommend you to add little lemon juice if you can't get hold of such lemony olives. Unlike to my regular habits I didn't make a tomato sauce for this pizza, but covered the crust with great local selected tomatoes and huge basil leaves.

The crust:

14g dry yeast

200g wheat flour

200g spelt flour

350ml warm water

2tsp salt

3tbsp olive oil

The topping:

Selected tomatoes

Fresh basil

Mozzarella

Green olives

Ground black pepper

Make the spelt crust first. I normally prefer either half spelt or half rye crusts instead of crusts fully made of wheat flour. Mix the dry ingredients together and add the warm water. Knead it to an even dough and add olive oil. Then knead for a while further and let it rest under a tea towel for about 40 minutes.

In the meanwhile slice the tomatoes and grate the mozzarella. As you will notice, this pizza doesn't need much work at all.

When the dough has risen enough, roll it into a thin crust. Place the basil leaves, cheese, tomatoes and olives on it and grind some black pepper on the top. I would normally put the cheese on the top, but this time I placed it under the tomatoes and olives, which was a very good choice for this particular style of pizza.

Bake the pizza at 200C for about 10-15 minutes until the crust is crispy and the cheese melted and golden brown. Serve the pizza with good wine and enjoy.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Rosemary, garlic and mozzarella spelt crust pizza

My aim was to make a very different kind of pizza than I would usually do, so I ended up making a fully new type of crust and a tomato-free filling. On that note I'm not sure whether it should be called a pizza or not. It would work well as a side bread to a pasta dish or a salad as well. I chose to use spelt flour in the crust, which made a very tasty and crispy crust. My recipe makes either 2 small thin crust pizzas or one larger one.

Ingredients

The crust:

100g wheat flour

100g spelt flour

7g dry yeast

175ml warm water

1tsp salt

2tbsp olive oil

The filling:

Fresh rosemary

1 cloveless garlic

Mozzarella balls

Lemon juice

Chili flakes

Olive oil

Prepare the dough for the crust first. Mix the dry ingredients together and add the warm water. Knead to an even dough and add more flour or water if needed. Finally add olive oil to finish off the kneading. Let the dough rise under a tea towel for about one hour. There's not much to prepare for the filling, so you can just rest most of the time while your dough is rising. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

Once your dough is ready roll it out on a baking tray. Brush the surface with olive oil. You can even use some homemade rosemary oil for this. Then place the garlic shavings and rosemary leaves on the crust. I used cloveless garlic for this and shaved thin slices of it with a peeling knife. Add the mozzarella balls and press little lemon juice on the pizza. Sprinkle some chili flakes on the top. Bake for about 10 minutes until the crust is crispy.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog