Roasted Tomato, Pesto Pizza

You've all probably made homemade pizza before. It's fun to make and you can please everyone when you let them top their own! We used to make it growing up and mom would let us put our own toppings on. Back then my kid-friendly pizzas had zero veggies. I loaded mine up with sauce, meat, and cheese! My pizzas have grown up a bit with me and now I've gone the complete opposite with toppings.

Toppings are the fun, easy part of pizze for me. You can be creative and try new combinations without totally destroying it. (Unless of course you were to add something strange like celery. Don't you try to tell me celery is tasteless, not true.) What I've struggled with is the crust. I've tried making it from scratch many times and just can't get the right texture. It's usually a little too soft and the slices droop. But not today!

The Delallo superfine flour saved me as well as cooking the crust almost all the way before adding the toppings.

Usually in my posts I include what I've been learning from my Bible Study or life in general but I'm not coming up with anything that doesn't feel forced. I think that's simply because what I've been studying is small, specific sections of John that I can't yet put into an overall thought. So, here's a taste of what the book is like that I've been going through.

Kathleen Nielson is a professor of literature and has written the Bible study book I'm using now. She does a great job of getting the reader to look deeply at a passage and help them (me) understand the context, connections, and application within that passage. Sometimes I don't fully know what answer she is looking for so I have to skip a question or come back to it later. 

Chapter 2 is where I'm reading now (one chapter of John per week) and she's making some cool connections about Jesus' presence at the temple during Passover. After reading in Exodus about the original Passover, it clicked that Jesus being in the temple, talking about his future crucifixion is kind of ironic. Here is the ultimate sacrificial Lamb standing where many burnt offerings have been offered for sins. Now, He has come to be the only sacrifice we need for forgiveness from God. 

She makes you think. I'm excited to see what else I'll learn.

Back to pizza! To be honest, I don't measure very often. If I'm baking I do because you can mess up baked goods pretty easily. But with this pesto, you can throw in more basil leaves or garlic depending on what flavors you want to stand out. It's also best to mix the pesto ingredients in a food processor. I just have my Ninja blenders which work well but not as well as a real processor.

Melted fresh mozzarella is so good! If you can't find fresh, I understand. The bagged, shredded cheese will do the job, but trust me, fresh is better!

Roasted Tomato, Pesto Pizza

Makes one 12 inch pizza (6 slices)

Crust:*

Delallo superfine flour (I used half the bag and halved the instructions on the package, listed below)

1/4 tsp yeast

2/3 cup lukewarm water

1/2 tsp salt

Toppings:

8 oz fresh mozzarella

-sliced in 1/4 inch (or thinner) slices

Roasted tomatoes

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp oregano

Pesto

1 garlic clove

5-6 fresh basil leaves

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

2 tsp salt

2 Tbs pine nuts

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Prepare the pizza crust in advance if it needs to rise. Mine did. You should be able to refrigerate the dough for a day or two after it has risen if needed. 
2. Preheat oven to 350° F. Slice the tomatoes in half and toss in olive oil and oregano. Spread them out skin side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Put in the oven for 20 minutes. 
3. Put pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor. Blend until ingredients are fine. 
4. Increase oven temp to 450° F and press out pizza dough on an oiled pan to desired thickness. Use a fork to poke holes all around the dough to prevent bubbles. Bake for recommended time on package. (I baked mine for 10 minutes)
5. Take the crust out of the oven and spread the pesto evenly over it. Then place the roasted tomatoes all around the crust. Finally places slices of mozzarella on top. They will spread, so don't get them too close to the edge. 
6. Place pizza back in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on it and take it out when the cheese has melted well. Enjoy!

*any pizza crust will work fine, this one was just a brand I wanted to try:)