This just might be my new favourite pizza. I have never in my life thought a pizza could be a pizza without tomato sauce, and I was wrong. I made this Spinach & Alfredo Whole Wheat Pizza recently and fell in love. Take a look and try it for yourself!
Recently I came across My Bizzy Kitchen food blog. Well, I first found her in Instagram and then teh blog. I watched her make pizza and learned so much that I was previously missing out on. Read along and find out how to get perfect pizza.
Inspiration From Other Food Bloggers
So, I watched her step-by-step her way through her Friday night kitchen. And by the way, she makes you feel like you are there as well and you’re her best friend. I have no idea who this woman is and I am sure I will never ever meet her, but in cyber land I hang out and watch her videos every single night. She’s a whole lot of fun and her kitchen never stops.
Assembling Pizza on Parchment Paper placed on top of a Pizza (or other wooden) board
Short story short, I watched the pizza making to the end and it looked delicious and so much was learnt!
One more thing I saw in that little series of video clips last Friday night was that she assembled her pizza directly on parchment paper and then, when it was ready, put it directly on the pre heated cast iron stone in the oven. Umm, that looked like a good trick. Guess what? It sealed the deal and there’s no going back. Crispy perfect pizza base that would make any wood fired oven proud.
Let’s take a look how I did my pizza.
Notes about the pizza
- If you are not familiar with making Pizza Dough and find it intimidating, really it’s pretty easy. It’s all in the dough and it really isn’t that hard. The trick to good dough, is making it soft and elastic. Honestly, soft dough is the key to good pizza dough. If you are kneading your dough and it’s tough, you most likely aren’t going to end with a great base.
Click Here To Read All about Pizza Dough!
- I find the key is to add the water gradually and keep stirring until you have somewhat sticky but manageable dough. It took me many a failed pizza to figure this out, but sticky is where it’s at. Trust me! So, once you have a slightly sticky dough, you are ready to knead it out. If the dough keeps sticking your hands just flour your hands or add a teaspoon more flour to your dough. Keep kneading and it will become less sticky over the 5 or so minutes that you knead the dough. The dough will be ready to leave to rise when it’s springs back slightly when you touch it. Then you can just cover it and leave to rise.
- Rise time will vary. This honestly depends on so many variables. I have had pizza dough rise in 20 minutes and sometimes take an hour and a half. So basically until it has doubled in size. Be patient, it will rise.
Do I Really Need Cast Iron?
- The simple answer is no you don’t. But you won’t get a crisp base without a preheated solid surface to cook the pizza on. A pizza stone, cast iron or a baking steel all work best.
- I cooked this pizza on a cast iron stone on top of parchment paper. I can’t tell you enough times, how crispy the base was. It was perfection! If you don’t have a cast iron baking stone or any baking stone for that matter, don’t fret. Just use your trusty ol’ pizza pan. They work, you just don’t get as crispy of a base.
- As for the sauce, it was so delicious on the pizza. I was so skeptical, but I loved it and can’t wait to make it again. If you make the sauce in advance it will harden and will need to be slowly reheated on the stove top. You may even need to add a little extra milk to get it to to right consistency if reheating.
- Also, you can make your pizza dough in advance and put it in a ziplock bag and keep it in the fridge. I do this all the time for pizza dough. Pizza dough keeps about 10 days in the fridge. Alternatively, you can freeze it
If you love pizza be sure to check out my Caramelized Onion Mushroom and Caper Pizza, it’s delish! Happy cooking friends and I’ll see you all soon.
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Get the recipe!
Spinach & Alfredo Whole Wheat Pizza
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 Cup strong white flour
- 1 Tablespoon dry active yeast
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 3/4 Cup warm water
For the sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 Cups milk
- 3/4 Cups parmesan cheese
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Teaspoon dried oregano
Topping:
- Fresh spinach
- 1 cup Mozzarella shredded
- 2 Teaspoons oregano
Instructions
- First make the dough. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, white flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Stir to combine. Add the olive oil and give a quick stir. Gradually add the warm water, stirring as you add it. Once you have a slightly sticky dough, start kneading the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it becomes elastic and springs back slightly when touched. This will take about 5 minutes. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave to rise until it has doubled in size. About one hour.
- Make the sauce. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, add the butter until it melts. Whisk in the flour and continue to whisk until you have a paste. Slowly whisk in the milk and stir constantly until you have added all the milk and you have a thick sauce, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and add parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place the rack at the lowest setting and place your pizza stone or cast iron pan on top of the rack.
- Punch down the risen dough and divide into two balls. Place each ball on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Roll out the dough to about a 9 or 10 inch pizza base. Cover with sauce, leaving about 1/2 inch around the edge of the pizza. Cover with Mozzarella and add a sprinkle of oregano. Toss over the spinach. Transfer the parchment paper to the baking stone. Bake for about 6 – 8 minutes or until the base is crispy and the cheese is melted and slightly golden.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Thanks For Stopping By & Hope To See You Soon!
