Bread,  Food,  Pizza,  Vegetables

Ratatouille Pizza

May 2, 2011 /

Happy Monday all! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. The weather here was so gorgeous, I think Spring may finally be upon us. It was sunny and 70 both days of the weekend and it was truly glorious. Now in true Spring tradition it is supposed to rain the *entire* week :-(. Ah well, at least the weekend was nice and now that I have to be stuck inside for work it will be rainy.

Don’t forget to stop by Becky’ s Bake Sale today and check out all the goodies that she has. Everything looks SOOOO yummy!!! Head on over and check it out and make a bid or 2! 😉

For those of you who missed it, Chef Dennis asked me to do a Guest Post for him last Friday and I wanted to share the recipe here again for any of you who maybe don’t know Chef Dennis or missed the post…if you don’t know him pop over and introduce yourself. He is great! Thanks again Chef Dennis for asking me to do the Guest Post and also helping me to get my first #1 on the Top 9! So exciting! 😀

Ingredients for Ratatouille Pizza (including dough):

For Dough:
  • 3 2/3 cup bread flour
  • (2) ¼ oz envelopes instant yeast
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cup tepid water
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup herbs (I used fresh basil, fresh parsley, dried oregano, and dried rosemary)

Mix flour, yeast, salt, & herbs in bowl. Make a well in the center and add the tepid water and olive oil. Combine the dry and wet ingredients using your fingers until you can form a ball with the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Put some muscle into it people!

Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom of a large bowl and use a paper towel to rub the entire bowl with the olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and rub the top of the dough with olive oil.

Let the dough rise for about 2 hours or until it has doubled in size. You can get about 2 pizza crusts out of this recipe. This dough freezes marvelously! Which means that you can make the dough and then place the remainder in the freezer until you are ready for your next pizza night.

Once the dough has doubled in size, lightly dust a surface with flour and turn your dough out of the bowl onto it. Using a floured rolling pin start to roll out your dough into a pizza shape. You will need to flip the dough and stretch it as you work to get the shape you want. Be patient!

For Pizza:
  • 1 eggplant
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 2 small zucchini
  • 2 small yellow squash
  • ½ small red onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 3-4 tomatoes of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup part-skim mozzarella
  • ¼ cup fresh shaved parmesan
  • Fresh Basil
  • Fresh ParsleySalt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375º

Cut all your vegetables into very thin slices and place onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables into the oven for about 15 minutes. I find that if you pre-cook your vegetables just a small amount it really brings the flavors together nicely. Also, it helps get some of the moisture out of the vegetables before you put them on the pizza, that way your pizza doesn’t get soupy once cooked. If you prefer to put the vegetables on the pizza raw, go for it! I am sure it will be just as delicious.

With your dough that you prepared and rolled out, pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and spread on the dough. This is your “sauce” for the pizza. Finely chop your garlic and sprinkle over the olive oil. Also take your pre-roasted onion and arrange however you like.

Now what you want to do is start to layer your pretty vegetables. I really don’t think it matters if you start in the center or on the edge. I personally started on the edge, leaving about a 1” gap between the edge of the dough and where I lined the vegetables. Layer the vegetables one on top of the other in a circular pattern. I started with the eggplant and then placed a tomato on top of it, then a piece of squash on top of that, and then a piece of zucchini on top of that. You get the idea. Line your pizza dough until you have filled the entire crust.

Press down gently on the vegetables once you have lined the entire crust. This will help make the pizza thinner and not look so much like an accordion because of all those vegetables you just stacked, hehe. Using your fingers pull the 1” edge that you left unlined and fold gently. Use a fork to push down on the rolled dough edge. This will help seal the crust.

Take your mozzarella and sprinkle it over the top of the pizza. I lifted up the veggies in certain areas and sprinkled cheese, then pressed them back down so the cheese would melt nicely into the vegetable layers. Top the mozzarella with the fresh Parmesan.

Place into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbly and the crust is nice and crisp. Once it comes out of the oven sprinkle with fresh parley and basil.

I hope you all have a great start to your week!!

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