Pumpkin Pizza Bianca
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Serves: 2 x 30cm pizza
 

Remove from oven, cut and serve



The recipe will give you two x 30cm round pizza bases.

The dough can be made the day ahead and stored in the fridge. To do this simply make the dough, no need to rest it as it will be stored in the fridge, divide the dough in two, wrap each dough in baking paper first (it won't stick to baking paper, but quite possibly will to plastic), and then put into a Snap Lock bag (sandwich size) or Glad Wrap ... place in the fridge and take out the next day when you are ready to roll it out.

I haven't frozen the dough yet, but quite honestly I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work too. If you do freeze the dough, remove it from the freezer the night before you plan to use it and allow to defrost in the fridge.

If you are going to pre-make the dough and plan to use the garlic and rosemary topping (which makes it a Pizza Bianca), then I would suggest you do that fresh on the day you are rolling/baking the pizza ... it is so much nicer fresh (and less "stinky" being held in your fridge), and you won't be disappointed as the smell of the pizza baking with the aroma of the garlic and rosemary is to die for! NB: be aware that the amount of garlic/rosemary stated in the recipe is for one pizza so if making two you will need to double that quantity.

You only need 420g of cooked pumpkin for this recipe, but I always cook more as I like to have extra cooked pumpkin in the fridge as it is great added to salads, frittatas, or simply spread on toast (don't laugh, it's delicious with a bit of seasoning), so cook more than you need but only use the 420g specified. This step can be done a day ahead with the pumpkin stored in the fridge until needed.

I only have standard 30cm round plain pizza trays ... if you use the trays with holes in them (which are supposed to allow for better browning but mine have always been fine), I would suggest you place the dough on baking paper first and then on the trays. The dough is quite soft and I am unsure if it may stick a bit in the holes making it difficult to remove once baked. You could do a test run and see what happens, but this recipe has been tested on my trays which worked perfectly.

To ensure an easy release from my trays I sprinkled one with a light coating of polenta, and the other with a light smear of olive oil ... both options worked beautifully with both pizzas came off the trays easily ready for cutting.
Ingredients
  • 500g water
  • 600 to 800g pumpkin (use 420g and keep rest for another purpose)
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled (NB: this is per pizza)
  • 3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves only (NB: this is per pizza)
  • 520g white spelt flour, or plain flour
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp sea salt flakes, or 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 60g olive oil
FOR THE TOPPING
  • sea salt flakes
  • olive oil
FOR THE PIZZA TRAYS
  • polenta or olive oil
Instructions
  1. Place water into ™ bowl
  2. Cut pumpkin into 2.5cm cubes, place into Veroma base, cover, and then position on top of ™ bowl
  3. Steam 16 minutes / Veroma / speed 4
  4. Test for doneness ... you want the pumpkin cooked but not falling apart ... be aware that it will continue cooking whilst it cools so if there is a little resistance that is fine
  5. Put aside and allow to cool for an hour, or pre-make the day before and store in fridge in a sealed container until ready to use
  6. When ready to make the dough place garlic and rosemary into ™ bowl and chop 3 seconds / speed 7, put aside (don't worry about cleaning the bowl as the leftovers will be incorporated into the dough)
  7. Place pumpkin into ™ bowl and chop 4 seconds / speed 4, stir mix around and repeat 4 seconds / speed 4
  8. Add flour, lemon zest, baking powder, sea salt and olive oil and mix 6 seconds / speed 6
  9. Scrape around bowl, then knead 1 minute / kneading button
  10. Dough should now be all together in a ball
  11. Turn ™ bowl upside down onto a floured surface (I use my baking mat) and twiddle the base of the blades to release the dough (it should just drop out, but if there is any left in the bowl then turbo x 1 to release and add that to the dough)
  12. Sprinkle dough with flour and bring together into a rectangle - it will be a little sticky so you will need to use the flour, wrap in Glad Wrap (or the baking mat), and place into fridge to rest for 30 minutes
  13. Preheat oven to 200 degrees fan forced, and if baking the two pizzas at the one time ensure that the racks are positioned well apart
  14. Prepare your trays with either a sprinkle of polenta, or a good smear of olive oil and put aside
  15. Remove dough from fridge, place onto a well floured surface and divide into two, put one aside
  16. Sprinkle dough with flour and using a rolling pin roll the dough out to a rough circle big enough to fit your tray, rolling from the middle outwards (add flour as needed to stop dough sticking to rolling pin)
  17. Sprinkle flour over surface, quickly fold into quarters (see pic), lift dough and position onto baking tray (see pic) and unfold dough
  18. Use your fingers to pull dough around and position it on the tray so that it is evenly spread (this is easy to do as the dough is quite soft ... don't fuss too much with it ... it's pizza!)
  19. Spread half the garlic and rosemary mix onto the base with your fingers
  20. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and a light drizzle of olive oil
  21. Prepare the second pizza
  22. Place pizzas into oven and bake for 10 minutes, turn pizzas around swapping them over on the racks and continue for another 7 to 8 minutes until a nice golden colour (I have to swap racks in my oven because I have "hot spots" but if you have an oven with an even bake then this may not be necessary)
  23. Remove from oven, loosen pizzas from trays and place on wooden boards before cutting into desired pieces
Recipe by The Passionate Pantry at https://www.thepassionatepantry.com.au/pumpkin-pizza-bianca/