Broccoli and Feta Pizza
My mom started the tradition of making homemade pizzas every weekend back when I was in high school. Instead of eating at the dinner table, we put a big tablecloth on the coffee table in the family room and eat in there while watching a movie together. Now as an adult, I still enjoy making homemade pizzas on the weekend. This broccoli and feta pizza is one of my favorites! My husband and I very rarely order pizza because we much prefer the taste of our own pizzas compared to the popular pizza chains out there and because we can control the ingredients (and the grease!)!
When it comes to the dough, I don’t usually make my own. My grocery store (Publix) carries raw pizza dough in their bakery and it is much easier (especially on a Friday night!) to just buy it ready-made. It tastes the same as if I would have made it myself without all the fuss! But, if you want to make your own, I love the Olive Oil Pizza Dough recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I originally found it through another food blog that I like to read, My Baking Addiction. You can get the recipe here.
Broccoli and Feta Pizza
Ingredients:
Serves 4
– 1 lb. chilled pizza dough
– 1 1/2 cups cooked broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces
– 1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
– 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
– 1/2 cup reduced fat feta cheese (crumbled)
– 1 Tbs. garlic, minced
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. black pepper
– 1/4 cup all-purpose flourDirections:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare pizza stone or pizza pan by brushing a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil onto the stone or pan.
2. Coat dough and hands in the flour so that the dough does not stick to your hands. Roll out the dough until it is approximately 1/2 inch thick.
3.Using a pastry brush, brush the extra virgin olive oil all over the rolled out dough. Brush garlic evenly over the pizza. Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly. Spread cheese evenly over the pizza. Sprinkle broccoli* and feta cheese.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on the crust and the bottom . Once the top is a light golden brown, I like to slide the pizza off the stone or pan directly onto the oven grate so that the bottom of the pizza can get nice and brown.
5. Remove pizza from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Cut it up, pour yourself a glass of wine, pop in a movie, and you have yourself a perfect Friday night!
*Notes: In order to cook my broccoli, I usually steam it over the stove or in the microwave in a bowl of water. Before you put the broccoli onto your pizza, make sure that it has been drained, otherwise your pizza might be watery. I like to squeeze out the water by putting the broccoli onto a paper towel.
6 Comments on “Broccoli and Feta Pizza”
Looks good! I would not have thought of marrying broccoli with feta on a pizza.
Colline, it is the perfect marriage! :)
What’s your method of getting the pizza to the pizza stone? Or do you not preheat the stone in the oven?
Melissa, I sometimes preheat it which I know is the “proper” way to use it. However, I almost always make a mess and have issues with the dough losing its shape when I try to transfer. I am considering getting a paddle. But, yeah a lot of the time I just put some oil on the stone and roll the dough out on the stone without preheating it. I still get a decent amount of crisp doing it this way. I’ve never had a stone crack on me for putting it in a hot oven, but I know I am not really using it the correct way. What is your method? I would love some tips!
Ok, nice. I’ve never put oil on my stone before, but I’ll give it a try. I always preheat my stone in my oven, and I set the oven as hot as it will go. I roll the dough out on parchment paper, then I can easily slip the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and slide that onto the preheated stone. Before I put the pizza in the oven, I trim excess parchment paper, just cause it burns and I’m terrified of starting a fire (but there have been times that I forgot to trim it and its fine). Once the pizza is on the stone in a 500+ degree oven, it really only takes 5-7 minutes to bake, and I keep a pretty close eye on it. (I noticed on your chicken post you say to not bake the chicken too long so it doesn’t dry out, but cooking the pizza this way has it in the oven for 8 minutes max, so I wonder if that would work better for chicken?) Let me know if you try it!
I’ve thought about the parchment paper, but I was afraid of the burning thing. I’m thinking about getting a pizza peel and paddle. They are pretty cheap on Amazon. I’ll let you know how it works!