enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

IMG_7254
At the farmer's market on Saturday, Paul picked up a pound of basil leaves which means we'll be eating pesto until we turn green. Monday night, we used some on a pizza instead of tomato sauce. Here's our go-to pizza dough recipe and our new favorite toppings.

For the dough :

  • 3/4 cup warm water (around 110*F – Paul says it should feel like a hot tub)
  • 1 tsp white sugar
  • 1 packet of yeast
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • about 2-2.5 cups flour (we start with a mix about 1 C wheat flour and 1 C white flour)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

IMG_7244

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Let sit for a few minutes until yeast bubbles and mixture becomes fragrant.

Add salt, flour and olive oil. Knead by hand or on the low setting in a mixer fitted with the dough hook.

Bread should be mixed very well. Add water or flour in small bits until dough is not too sticky and not too dry. I ended up adding about 1/5 – 3/4 C of extra white flour.

Leave the dough in the bowl and let it sit in a dry place for about 4 hours. (We stick ours in our turned off oven.)

When you are ready to bake, prep your ingredients and preheat the oven to 425*. Our new pizza prep involves a pre-heated pizza stone and pizza peel, but for years we built and baked on a cookie sheet.

Roll out your dough with a rolling pin and extra white flour. To help keep the pizza from sticking, spread out some corn flour on the pizza peel/cookie sheet.

IMG_7249

Pinch up the corners and top with your ingredients.

Our new favorites :

  • pesto (here's our recipe)
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • feta cheese
  • black olives
  • sundried tomatoes
  • grilled onions
  • grilled chicken

Cook for about 25 minutes until cheese melts and crust browns.

Remove and let sit for a few minutes before cutting and enjoying.

Posted in

23 responses to “pesto pizza.”

  1. Sarah Avatar

    We looooooove to eat make-your-own pizza at our house. It is definitely a staple. However, we usually cheat and make ours on whole wheat flat bread, which I have to recommend. Super yummy.

    Like

  2. Lisa @ Lisa's Foods on the Move Avatar

    Yum. That sounds excellent. I’ve been planning to make lots of pesto in the fall before the frost, to make as much as possible so I can freeze a lot for the winter. I may try your recipe when the time comes.

    Like

  3. Melissa Mann Avatar

    This looks delish! And I may have to try out that pizza dough recipe!

    Like

  4. shelby Avatar

    I LOVE pesto pizza! We make ours with just cheese and grilled onions. So yummy!

    Like

  5. Holly Avatar

    That sounds (and looks) DELICIOUS. I’m so hungry right now, aha!

    Like

  6. Tanya S. Avatar
    Tanya S.

    I tried this dough recipe and my dough didn’t rise. I did some googling, and I think my water was too hot and killed the yeast. I’m no pro -still learning. Ever had this problem?
    P.S. I’ve tried many of your bread recipes -YUM! Thanks for sharing.

    Like

  7. elise blaha Avatar

    hey Tanya, hmmm, no I have not had that problem. Did you let it rise in a warm area? Could be that the water was too hot… Im sorry it didnt work for you!

    Like

  8. Tanya S. Avatar
    Tanya S.

    I think my hot tub was to hot 😉 I love this recipe thanks! I’ve tried several of your 40 loaves. And some trial and error makes the difference. Thanks for sharing!

    Like

  9. Shaylin Brunson Avatar

    I’m thinking about starting making pizzas more often for dinners, and I have little to no experience. So when you say you added a “packet” of yeast, is there a specific measurement?

    Like

  10. elise blaha Avatar

    yeast is sold in packets at the grocery store. We used to buy them all the time. But now that I make bread/dough so often, I buy the small jars of yeast and measure it out myself. Usually about 2 teaspoons will work great for this recipe. 🙂

    Like

  11. Catherine Daly Avatar
    Catherine Daly

    My Hubby and I are going to try this wholewheat crust tonight for a fun date night – can I just ask is it bread flour you use or regular? That might be a really silly questions – but we live in the UK and thought I;d check the flour you use for this. Many thanks!

    Like

  12. elise blaha Avatar

    I use just regular whole wheat and regular white. Nothing fancy. Have fun!

    Like

  13. Mattie Avatar
    Mattie

    Hi Elise – Quick question, Approx. how many servings do you get out of one batch of dough? I’m having a pizza party on Friday and trying to decide how many batches to make of your whole wheat. Thanks!

    Like

  14. elise blaha Avatar

    we get just one batch or one pizza. 🙂

    Like

  15. Catherine Daly Avatar
    Catherine Daly

    Thanks so much. Worked a treat! It has become THE pizza base recipe in our home, and tried and tested multiple time since July! 🙂 p.s so very excited for the new stamp collection!

    Like

  16. theperfectnose Avatar

    Thanks for this. Any chance of metric measurements?I’m having trouble with whole wheat bases at the mo’ XS

    Like

  17. elise blaha Avatar

    I do not know them, but hopefully there is an online measurement converter you can use!!

    Like

  18. Katie Avatar
    Katie

    I am committed to finally trying this! When would you use the stone instead of the peel? I am thinking of investing in a good pizza peel.

    Like

  19. elise blaha Avatar

    We use both! You build the pizza on the peel and then slide it off that on to the hot stone.

    Like

  20. Anthology Avatar

    We tried you recipe this weekend, and holy smokes, I will only look to you for pizza recipes from this day forward. We modified the crust slightly by making the crust completely whole wheat- Still delicious! We shared you’re recipe on our blog, and recommended them to visit back for any of your other 40 Best Pizzas! http://anthologydestination.com/eat/our-favorite-homemade-pizza-recipe/

    Like

  21. Sara Avatar

    I’ve been following your 40 Pizzas posts for a while now, and am so looking forward to trying out your whole wheat crust (deep dish style) tonight for dinner. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Like

  22. Sami Avatar
    Sami

    Dear Elise–Your pizza dough recipe has been on my list of things to make for months. I finally did it today. Having tried many–I mean MANY–recipes, including three from America’s Test Kitchen and some from Martha Stewart, yours wins!!! I use all white whole wheat flour which seems to work best for me in baking: cookies, breads, etc. (Haven’t tried cake–because I doubt it will work unless it’s a really moist-ish cake with a lot of structure like carrot cake.) I added a little bit extra water and a good pinch or two of flour, and that’s it. Only one rise! Yes! Nice to roll out–just a little bit of elasticity, which is really what I want. This is the pizza dough I’m sticking with. Aahhhh! No pun intended! Thanks so much!

    Like

  23. Jolie Avatar

    I made this pizza dough last night and it was such a hit! Our friends refused to leave the house without the recipe and said it was the best homemade pizza dough they had ever had! Thanks for sharing. I love, love, love your blog and direct folks to it often (including our friends who loved the pizza yesterday) 🙂

    Like

Leave a reply to Anthology Cancel reply