Spinach white pizza: taking a break from tomato.
March 22nd, 2011 by MaryJane RobbinsRecipe: Spinach White Pizza
Isn’t it delightful that some things in life are never going to get old, and there will always be a new and different version around the corner?
Take shoes. Someone is always going to be out there creating new designs for shoes to tempt (or torture) your tootsies.
Or movies. For better or for worse, someone will spend their days working hard to bring viewers the latest and greatest in boy-meets-girl-meets-zombie-superhero-dancer-on-board-a-sinking-ship-with-jewel-heist-adventure-supernatural-twist-ending films. I can hardly wait.
To me, few things take as well to adaptation as pizza. When your components are crust, sauce, and some toppings, there really is no end to the combinations you can try. Remember the days when anchovies were the most exotic thing you could order on pizza? I do.
Trust me, if I ever meet Wolfgang Puck, I will kiss that little man’s feet for really opening the world of pizza up at Spago in the 1980s with the Prince of Pizza, Ed LaDou. Together they revolutionized pizza as cuisine, making over 250 different pizza “concepts.” including the ever-popular Buffalo chicken pizza. (check out Wikipedia for more history on cool California-style pizza.)
So, let’s take a break from the tomato sauce/cheese/pepperoni pizza that saw us through football season, and make our Spinach White Pizza. Rich ricotta cheese, plenty of mozzarella, and garlicky spices form a base for tender sautéed spinach. Fresh feta cheese adds a bit of bite for a fabulous finish.
Here we go with Spinach White Pizza.
Prepare a batch of your favorite pizza dough. Our Pizza Crust recipe is great; it make two 14″ pizzas, which is a perfect size for the amount of filling in this recipe.
Had I been smarter, I would have rolled and stretched the dough before putting in the pans. It was a bit more slippery this way, but you’ll see that I managed pretty well. I know you’ll be the wise one and stretch your crust first.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine:
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese or pizza cheese blend
2 to 4 teaspoons Pizza Seasoning
If you plan on using feta on top of your pizza, use the lesser amount of pizza seasoning in the ricotta mixture. As you can see, besides the fragrant onion and garlic and spices, pizza seasoning does contain some salt.
Combine the cheeses and spice until creamy and smooth-ish. Set aside for the flavors to mingle and marry as you sauté the spinach.
Wowza! Once you pop open a bag of fresh spinach, it reminds me of those toys kids soak in water to make them grow. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger!
Heat 2 tablespoons of garlic oil or olive oil in a large skillet until it just begins to shimmer. Add the fresh baby spinach. Don’t worry, it will cook down quite a bit. If it doesn’t all fit at once you can wait until it wilts a bit and add more to the pan.
Add a pinch of salt to the leaves, and toss with tongs in the hot oil until the spinach wilts. When most of the spinach has wilted down, remove the pan from the heat and drain the spinach in a colander to remove any latent moisture.
Remember now, your pizza is going to be beautifully flat and perfect, as you’ll stretch it beforehand. Mine, maybe not so much this time. The center is fine, but that front edge could have been a bit thinner, eh?
Par-bake the naked crust for about 10 minutes, until it just begins to color.
Spread half the filling mix on each pizza and return to the oven briefly while you grab the spinach and feta topping. You don’t HAVE to return them to the oven, but it keeps the filling hot and melt-y.
Spread half the spinach over each crust, and top with 1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese, if desired (1/2 cup feta total for both pizzas).
Return to the oven to finish browning the crust. This should take another 8 to 10 minutes. The feta will also begin to brown, just a touch.
Mmmm, the garlic and spinach aroma of this pizza will make your mouth water. This pizza reminds me a lot of an inside-out calzone or stromboli, all crusty-cheesy-veggie goodness.
So often we get caught up in the red sauce and meat topping pizza trap, it’s nice to have an option that can highlight the flavors of the crust. It’s an excellent option for a vegetarian dinner, too.
Please bake, rate and review our recipe for Spinach White Pizza.
Print the recipe.
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:04 am
This pizza looks delicious. I love making pizza at home. The possibilities are endless and I can make it just the way I like it. Once I settled on a dough recipe I like and figured out how to get the best crust from my oven I was good to go! I have been experimenting with white pizzas as well. Who knew they could be so tasty? I just started making my own ricotta cheese and used it on a caramelized onion and proscuitto pizza. This spinach pizza looks just as good. Thanks so much!
~ MaryJane
http://www.justonedonna.com/2011/03/caramelized-onion-proscuitto-and.html
Thanks for sharing Donna. Caramelized onion goes on nearly every pizza I make at home. We cook up big batches of onion and keep in the fridge, using them on everything! Thanks for the blog link too.
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:28 am
My favorite is pizza. This looks so delicious. Spinach is my go-to ingredient too. I often use mascarpone cheese instead of ricotta and then top with the veggies and cheese. Also lots of fresh basil! My first recipe for pizza was from Wolgang Puck.
I hope you like this version too, Lorraine. I tested out a new pizza baking method last week, and really loved the results, hope to bring that to you all soon. ~ MaryJane
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:03 am
Looks like a great start to me…
Now I just need to add some sauteed mushrooms and fresh roasted peppers and red onion and perhaps some steamed tender broccoli… and I gotta make that crust half whole wheat…
Mmmmm… looks like that’s what we’re having this weekend
thanks for the inspiration!
Take that recipe and run with it baby! The mushrooms and onion sounds like a great twist. ~ MaryJane
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:50 am
I love such pizzas! Yours looks mighty scrumptious and so beautiful. I am drooling now…
Cheers,
Rosa
http://www.rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.com
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:45 am
I buy a huge tub of spinach last night, and wake up to this incredible recipe. Coincidence? I think not! I’ll be trying this toNIGHT!
Hope you all love it as much as we did! ~ MaryJane
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:07 pm
This looks terrific! I, too, have been experimenting this winter with white pizza. My current fave is a thin coating of good olive oil on the dough, followed by small dollops of chevre (don’t scrimp), thinly sliced cooked potatoes (Yukon Gold if you have them), more chevre, snipped fresh rosemary and a thin sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan. I bake it on a pre-heated pizza stone, set on the floor of my gas oven.
We have the great good fortune of a local creamery that sells incomparable chevre at the farmer’s market, but I’ve also made it with grocery store goat cheese and that’s delicious, too!
That sounds amazing. I have yet to try pizza with potatoes, but it’s definitely on my list. Thanks for sharing!
~ MaryJane
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Oh this looks and sounds like my dream food. I hate red sauce on pizza and always make mine without it. Spinach, Feta, and Garlic….what’s not to love?
Glad we could help with a “hold the red sauce” pizza. I’d love to hear what other kinds of pizza you make without the tomato. Care to share? ~ MaryJane
March 22nd, 2011 at 4:18 pm
This looks great! As it happens, I also have some bottles of kalmata olives and marinated artichoke hearts in the fridge
LOVE the artichokes on pizza, or on the side to schmear on the crusts. ~ MaryJane
March 22nd, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Wow, this pizza looks and sounds amazing. My husband is Italian and loves making pizza so I don’t usually get the chance to make it as pizza is his “thing” and he likes to make the dough first thing in the morning when he gets up at 6 am. I am a lucky girl. When we are in Italy, we always have pizza bianca or white pizza. It varies by region and where he comes from it is made with just olive oil, salt and rosemary. It is made first thing in the morning and if you don’t get it then, you are out of luck. Just thinking about it makes my mouth drool. Needless to say, when we do pizza, we do one with sauce and toppings and the other with only oil, salt and rosmarino. Next time we will definitely do it your way. Can’t wait.
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:48 am
I’ve gotten turned off by tomato sauces and have been doing more white versions on pastas and such. Since I can’t do pizza crusts right now, I plan on making the cheese mixture and a batch of sauteed spinach to keep in the fridge. I’ll make mini
“pizzas” using sliced, toasted english muffins popped under my
toaster oven broiler.
I bet the mixture would be great on top of spaghetti squash too for a totally veggie meal. ~ MaryJane
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:45 pm
This looks so delicious…perfect example of why I love KAF! By the way, I love you guys so much that my soon-to-be husband and I are road tripping to your store on our honeymoon next week.
Happy Wedding Day and Happy Honeymoon! Hope you enjoy your trip. ~Amy
Now, THAT”S a husband who knows how to keep his lovely wife happy! Be sure to swing by the Norwich in for a home brew on your way out of town. Best wishes to you both ~ MaryJane
March 24th, 2011 at 8:11 am
YUM. This looks amazingly delicious! I love being creative with pizza at home. I have a few fun ideas on my blog for pizza topping combinations:
http://whatisbakinginthebarbershop.blogspot.com/2011/02/be-creative-with-homemade-pizza.html
And I also have fun recipes for breakfast and dessert pizzas!
Last night for the first time I finally made my own pizza dough too, but it was a no-yeast dough actually! It was actually made with beer. Fun! The next time I make pizza at home though, I’m definitely going to try the KAF pizza crust recipe! I love you guys. I live in MA but get the chance to come to your store quite often still! Thanks for always having such wonderful products and recipes!!
Thanks for sharing, I’ll be one my way to check out your site soon. I’m from MA too, so happy to see you here.
~ MaryJane
March 24th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
This recipe looks terrific! Can’t wait to try it. I grew up in Vermont and love that I can get King Arthur flour out here in California. We will be adding slices of fresh avocado to this pizza! Visit our farm: http://www.CaliforniaAvocadosDirect.com
March 24th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
just made this for dinner, wonderful thank you
March 25th, 2011 at 11:49 am
Really dislike red sauce (in any form, on any thing) so have been making white pizza for years. My favor topping is an arrangement of fresh mozzarella, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, roasted red pepper strips, all blanketed by a generous layer of Fontina cheese. And some times I even add oil marinated white anchovies. For me, it is food for the Gods!
I love the final touch of white anchovies, Elaine. this sounds totally decadent…
PJH
March 25th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Gee, that pizza looks yummy. I love white pies. But I’ve gotta say the cooking times look way long. I make pizza every week, using a pizza stone in a 450F oven preheated for an hour. It only takes 10 minutes max to bake. You’ve got me burning it for twice as long. What’s up?
~ MaryJane
We’d be the first ones to say “stick with what works for you”. All ovens run differently, so use the times as guidelines, not commandments.
March 25th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
I made this crust and it was the best for me yet. In fact the whole pizza was outstanding. I will make this crust my “go to crust”. It was light with the right amount of crunch. Red sauce has definitely taken a back seat. I have also done a white sauce that has crispy bacon on top. Keep them coming KAF.
March 26th, 2011 at 6:55 am
Yum!!! I might just have this for dinner tonight! I am forever trying new pizza recipes as it is one food that we never tire of! With a delicious salad, it makes such a great dinner! Thanks for new inspiration!
April 1st, 2011 at 7:09 am
The crust recipe says to let the dough rise 90 minutes in the pan – did you do that in this case or is that not necessarily required? I’m making this tomorrow and I’m bringing it to someone’s house to assemble and bake there, so I need to know if I can just bring the dough in a heap and put in the pans when I get there and not have to wait another 90 minutes before we assemble. Or, if it would be best to put it in the pans at home and let it rise.
I think you should start the rise at home if you don’t wish to wait the full 90 minutes after you arrive. You can put plastic bags around the pans with the rising dough to transport them and then allow them to rise the rest of the way at your destination. ~Amy
April 13th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I just made this with the addition of tomato slices and kalmata olives. And Oh, My, Goodness. Changed my life! haha so good! Thanks for the recipe!