Sunday
Oct172010
PFB Number Five: Stuffed Flatbread Pizzas
October 17, 2010 
It was a quintessential Fall afternoon, sunny and clear with a soft breeze and cool, crisp air. The perfect afternoon to snuggle up with a book. The perfect prelude to a relaxing evening home with Mom. The perfect start to an even better weekend ahead.
On my agenda was to create an entry for Project Food Blog Challenge Number Five. The fact that I am able to say this amazes me, as the competition continues to showcase some truly talented people. I am honored beyond belief to be here, and grateful for the opportunity to celebrate food and community with new friends.
Those of you who have shown your support deserve more than a simple thank you. You deserve a dozen cookies hand-delivered to each of your doorsteps. If I had the means to do this, you can bet I would be there tomorrow at 4 o’clock sharp, just as you’re saying to yourself, You know, I could really use a cookie right about now. Oh, if only I could.
Onward to pizza. I am no longer a fan of the greasy, pepperoni-laden hunks of dough with way too much cheese and lackluster sauce that most every kid has at their lazer-tag birthday party. While that used to be great in a pinch, my diet has evolved and my tastes have since changed. I’ve always loved flatbread, and this was my starting point for Friday night’s pizzas.
I knew I wanted potatoes to appear somewhere, so this was my next building block. Potatoes and rosemary are great together, and once this thought crossed my mind, I knew I had the stuffing for my first pizza. On top, nutty Gruyere cheese spills over the edge and embeds arugula and toasted walnuts.
For pizza number two, I wanted to include a very delicious pesto-artichoke-olive tapenade introduced to me about one year ago by my friend a fellow blogger, The Chopped Onion. I love pesto on pizza. I guess I love pesto on anything (like a spoon, or my finger), but when smeared on light and crispy pizza, something miraculous happens. With the pesto, artichoke and olive tapenade on top, my chosen filling was a feta cheese and sun-dried tomato spread. At first, this may seem to you like a lot of flavors colliding into one another. Trust me though, they work beautifully.
The dough: I used 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour along with the remaining quantity of all-purpose flour, and I would not recommend attempting a larger amount of whole-wheat. Unless, of course, you know what you’re doing more so than I, which in all honesty is very possible. Nonetheless, the resulting dough was dense and doughy where I expected it to be, and developed a light crust on the outside, which I love. I might play around with flours next time, adding semolina or chickpea flour for variations in taste, texture and workability.
Served alongside an arugula salad with fresh pears from the tree, figs, toasted walnuts and avocado, these unique pizza pies were a lovely way to start the weekend and a great centerpiece for an evening of quality time with someone I love.
Potato & Rosemary-Stuffed Flatbread Pizza with Gruyere, Arugula & Toasted Walnuts
Ingredients for dough:
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup water, room temperature
Ingredients for pizza:
1 small white potato, scrubbed and peeled
1 small sprig of fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
1 shallot, diced
about 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese or 5-6 thin slices
1/4 cup arugula
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
Instructions for dough:
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. You may have to add more flour on occasion to combat the stickiness. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Divide in half, loosely wrap each in plastic wrap and let rest on work surface for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare pizza ingredients.
Instructions for pizza:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel potato and thinly slice half of it into rounds no more than 1/8-inch thick. Toss rounds in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Toast walnuts in a small skillet over medium flame and set aside.
When the dough is ready, place one half on a floured work surface and roll into as much of a square shape as possible, about 8-10 inches in each direction. Layer potato rounds onto half of the square, leaving 1/2 inch at the edge. Top with chopped rosemary and diced shallot. Fold the free half of dough over and pinch the edges to seal. If you want, you can fold the pizza in half again and press down to flatten.
In a dry nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the pizza for 4 minutes on one side, until lightly browned in spots. Flip over and cook another 3 minutes, until lightly toasted on the other side. Transfer to a baking sheet and top with gruyere, arugula, then toasted walnuts. Place in the oven for 8 minutes, to warm through and melt the cheese. Let cool slightly and slice to serve.
Feta & Sun-Dried Tomato-Stuffed Pizza with Pesto, Olive & Artichoke Tapenade
Ingredients:
1/2 quantity whole-wheat dough, recipe above
1/2 block feta cheese
6 sun-dried tomato halves
1/2 container or 1/2 recipe basil pesto
1 small jar pitted kalamata olives
1 small can or jar artichoke hearts
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, pulse feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes until well combined. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Clean the food processor, then add pesto, olives and artichoke hearts. Pulse until thoroughly combined but not too smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Roll out the other half of the dough into an 8 to 10-inch square, once again. On half of the square, spread the feta cheese mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edge. Fold the other half of dough over the top, pinching the edges to seal. You can fold the pizza in half again if you wish, then lightly roll to flatten. In a dry nonstick skillet, heat pizza for 4 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes, until lightly browned on the other side. Transfer to a baking sheet and spread with pesto tapenade. Bake for 8 minutes to heat through and melt the filling. Remove, let cool slightly, and slice to serve.
The best part about these pizzas is that they are even better the next day. I reheated slices of the potato & Gruyere and I enjoyed the sun-dried tomato & pesto tapenade pizza straight from the fridge. With a crisp apple, I was set for lunch.
If you make these yourself, experiment with flavors. I'd love to try pears instead of potatoes and rosemary, and pesto with sliced tomatoes instead of tapenade. No longer do I play lazer-tag for my birthday, and no longer will I settle for delivery disasters. Growing up never tasted so good.
Reader Comments (28)
You made it this far because you absolutely deserve to!
Congratulations on making it this far and get ready for more. Because this was another great entry!
this looks absolutely delectable! The photography alone won me over. Got my vote !
Yummy Sarah your pizzas look really yummy, thanks and wish you good luck :)
This looks beyond delicious - I want some right now! Great recipe!
You had me at Fig! And then you went and made my heart swoon at the mention of feta and sun dried tomatoes! Wonderful recipe and gorgeous photos! I look forward to reading more of your posts!
How to choose? Can it be done? I am not too sure. Send over a slice of each and I'll give it a go. GREG
As the lucky guest for this quiet pizza dinner, I assure all readers of The Chocolate Fig Blog, the pizzas tasted even better than they look...and they look really yummy!!! Thanks Sarah for a wonderful Mom/Daughter Friday Dinner!
Sarah,
You shouldn't be suprised by how far you've come with this as your entries have all been incredible. The diversity of your selections for each stage of this contest show off your creativity. I envy your friends and family as I am sure they reap the benifits!
Best of luck,
Rick
Nicely done- these look like a perfect fall dinner!
Your.pics.are.gorgeous. Voted!
These look so good, miss. I'm seriously contemplating picking up what I lack to make that potato-rosemary stuffed one. Seriously great job on this one :)
OK. OK, you already had my vote but then you went and mentioned something about a dozen home-baked cookies.......Great!!
By the way, could you just put something like 'bland and tasteless foreign foodstuff' on the parcel, so the guys in Chinese customs don't open them and eat them all before I get them? Because if you write 'delicious home baked goodies by The Chocolate Fig' that's the last I'll see of them. Thanks for that!
Oh...and the pizzas? They look superb!
What a great idea to do stuffed flatbread - they look amazing! Actually, instead of cookies, can I just have these pizzas delivered to me instead? No offense to your cookies, of course, which I'm sure are delicious but these photos of yours are making me crave pizza.... and it's midnight. :)
wow! phenomenal, your work is beautifully shot, drool worthy. you definitely need to move forward, I'm craving whatever you have planned for the cooler/road trip challenge. good luck!
Leila
Sarah, the pictures are stunning -- and I have no doubt these creative and beautiful pizzas tasted every bit as good as they look. I know what I'm making this weekend!
Holy mackarel; I want to eat at YOUR house!
Very interesting! I haven't tried stuffing pizza like this but now I'm going to have to try it. Good luck!
Another great entry, Sarah! I don't make pizza but I sure would like to taste one of yours.How about it?
Your photos are absolutely stunning (love the rosemary, in particular) and this pizza looks wonderful! Voted!
This looks insanely delicious! Voted :)
Voted! Gorgeous.
Drooling!
What a lovely spin on pizza. Very elegant and unique!
Great idea. I want to eat my screen.
Wow, these look AMAZING! I love that they're stuffed! You have a vote from me!
For my entry, I made pizza for all the wrong times of day: some Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes and Pizzas Benedict :) Come see if you'd like!