Pizza with Grilled Vegetables, Pesto & Goat Cheese

I had some friends over to look at photos of my European trip. I figured if I had to get their attention for over 1000 photos I should probably entice them with some food. I figured pizza was a classic thing to have since I was featuring some photos from Italy. It was also nice because I could pre-make the pizza and then just throw it in the oven when it came time to eat. To make the pizza more Italian I used my homemade pesto and tomato sauce as the base and topped it with grilled vegetables and goat cheese. Grilling the vegetables adds so much more flavour to the pizza. You can also roast the vegetables (if you do not have a grill) to intensify the taste of the veggies.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 tsp dry active yeast

4 tsp honey

2 cups organic whole wheat flour

1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

add herbs if desired (oregano, basil, chili flakes)

Place the yeast and honey in a large mixing bowl and pour the heated water over the mixture, stirring until well blended. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes until foamy. Add the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and salt and stir with a fork until a coarse dough forms

Continue to mix by hand until a dough ball forms and all the flour is well blended. Cover the bowl and place it in a sink with about 4 inches of hot water in the bottom. The heat from the warm water will help the dough rise. The dough will double in size in about 40 minutes.

Punch it a few times with your fingers and let it rise another 30 minutes. Remove from the bowl and cut the ball into four equal pieces or 2 pieces. Can refridgerate unused dough for a day or two.

Pizza Sauce

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup minced onions
1 clove garlic minced
2 cups tomato sauce
1 can (5oz) tomato paste
2 T dried oregano
1 T red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar

Add salt, pepper, chili flakes, italian seasoning as desired to kick it up a bit. Cook onions and garlic in saucepan for 3min until softened. Add the rest of the ingredient and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 min. Cool before using. Makes about 2 1/4 cups.

Basil Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts

2 medium sized garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a food processor combine the basil, pine nuts, cheese, garlic, and salt and pepper. Pulse in a the food processor. While pulsing slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream. Add more salt and pepper if needed.Makes 1 cup.

Pizza Toppings

1 yellow zucchini
1 green zucchini
tomatoes (orange, yellow, red)
eggplant
red peppers
goat cheese
optional (Italian sausage)

Slice the vegetables to ½” thickness (lengthwise for zucchini and red pepper and in rounds for eggplant). Brush with olive oil and grill on each side over med heat (only a few minutes per side). Let cool before placing on the pizza or will be soggy.
Cook pizza crust slightly before adding the pesto, tomato sauce and vegetables. Crumble with goat cheese and cook for 20 min at 400F. Usually broil it for a couple minutes after it is cooked. Watch the pizza and check it at 15 min to ensure not burning as all ovens differ.