Beet, Feta & Kale Pizza

Do pickled beets, feta cheese and kale sound like a strange combination for pizza toppings?  I promise, they are delicious together!  This is a recipe from The Scrumptious Pantry and was demonstrated in the cooking class I attended last weekend.

My dad is visiting this week and he and I quickly devoured this pizza for dinner last night, then decided we definitely need to make it again before he leaves, that's how much we both liked it.  Chris doesn't care for beets, so you can guess what his opinion was on this pizza.

After buying Tipo "00" flour at Glorioso's, I wanted to try a new pizza crust recipe and Jamie Oliver's recipe is a winner!  I cut his recipe in half, which still gave me enough dough for four thin 12" pizzas.  I have three dough balls in the freezer awaiting more pickled beets and kale.

Are you familiar with Tipo "00" flour?  According to Serious Eats, it is the finest grade of flour milled in Italy, and it has a consistency similar to baby powder.  American bread flour produces stretchier, chewier breads than Italian "00" bread flour. 

Having used both types of flour to make pizza dough now, I don't really have a preference as they both produce delicious crusts, but I'll likely use bread flour in the future only because it's easier to find than Tipo "00" flour.

One of my favorite aspects of this pizza is that it's not a heavy meal, as many traditional pizzas can be, especially with the very thin crust that I rolled.  Did you know that you're not suppose to stretch pizza crust and that you need to use a rolling pin to prevent it from shrinking back when baked? 

 

That was one of the lessons in the cooking class last weekend.  I'm definitely guilty of simply stretching the dough in the past only because I wanted to avoid dirtying a rolling pin.  Not having a dishwasher is definitely a negative influence on my cooking habits.

Beet, Feta & Kale Pizza 

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Ingredients

Crust (makes 4 very thin 12" pizzas)

• 3 1/2 cups bread flour or Tip "00" flour
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1/4 oz packet) active dried yeast
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

Toppings (for one 12" pizza)

• 1 1/2 cups (about 5 oz) chopped pickled beets
• 1 1/2 cups fresh kale, finely torn
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 3 oz feta cheese
• olive oil

Instructions

Crust

• In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together. In a large measuring cup, mix the yeast, sugar, olive oil and water together, letting is rest for a few minutes.
• Pour the measuring cup into the flour mixture and using a fork to combine. Once it starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.
• Place the ball of dough in a large greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm place for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
• Remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it a bit to push the air out with your hands. Divide the dough into quarters, if you like a very thin crust or thirds for a thicker crust.
• Roll out one section of dough into a 12" circle with a rolling pin and freeze the remaining sections of dough.

Toppings

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush the dough with olive oil and then evenly distribute the beets and feta. Bake for 7 minutes.
• Top pizza with kale and sprinkle with thyme. Bake for another 3-5 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Crust Recipe Source: Jamie Oliver, Pizza Recipe Source: The Scrumptious Pantry

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