Friday, February 20, 2009

Egg, Ham, and Spinach Pizza

So guess what I did a few days ago? Made more balls of pizza dough!! This time I used the whole wheat dough recipe from 101 Cookbooks and I added a couple tablespoons of chopped rosemary to the mix. I mostly made the dough because I knew I was going to be making this pizza. I'm really glad I made it because it's really, really, really delicious. It's an Ellie Krieger recipe and it definitely doesn't taste like you are eating lighter. Some of the spinach got a little crispy and it reminded me of the spinach chips I recently saw on Andrea's Cooking Books (I haven't actually tried the recipe yet, but they look so good!). I only cracked one egg onto this for two reasons, one I was just making it to have right away and didn't feel like having more than one egg and secondly, the one egg I cracked was a semi-fail! Oh yeah, it looks good in the picture, but you don't see my baking sheet with egg white dripping down it. I think next time I will do the eggs either in the center or cook them separately and place them on the pizza. The dough was really good too. Kind of like a crisp cracker which is exactly how I like my pizza dough. I loved the herbs in it too.


So now I need your help! I have five more balls of rosemary pizza dough. What other combinations would you like to see?


Egg, Ham and Spinach Pizza
(Slightly adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Serves 4

1 unbaked, whole wheat pizza crust (recipe below)
4 cups baby spinach leaves
Olive oil for drizzling
Kosher salt (optional)
3 slices prosciutto, roughly torn
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 eggs (if making for four people)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place the pizza dough on the back of a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Scatter spinach all over crust. Drizzle with oil and lightly sprinkle with salt if desired (a little will go a long way since the prosciutto and Parmesan are already salty). Evenly distribute prosciutto, Parmesan and garlic on top of spinach. Crack eggs onto pizza, roughly positioning 1 yolk on each pizza quarter. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until spinach is wilted and egg whites are just fully cooked. Cut into 4 large slices.

White Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
(From 101 Cookbooks)

4 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped (optional, but recommended!)
Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. By hand stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Add the herbs if using. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl (to me it looks like a tornado). Add a touch of water or flour to reach the desired effect. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky.

Transfer the dough to a floured counter top. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerator overnight.

When you are ready to make pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before making the pizza. Keep them covered so they don't dry out.

At the same time place a baking stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.

Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and get ready to shape your pizza dough. Uncover or unwrap the dough balls and dust them with flour. Working one at a time, gently press a dough round into a disk wide enough that you can bring it up onto your knuckles to thin out - you should be able to pull each round out to 12-inches or so. If the dough is being fussy and keeps springing back, let it rest for another 15-20 minutes. Place the pulled-out dough on the prepared sheet pan, and jerk the pan to make sure the dough will move around on the cornmeal ball-bearings (you don't want it to stick to the pan).

Top with a few toppings of your choice.

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20 comments:

Unknown said...

darn it i need to make more pizza!!! and use your dough freezing idea :)

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

Esi, you are such a genius! Such wonderful pizza recipes. I love the sound of this one. Eggs, ham and spinach. Almost sounds like Green Eggs and Ham! I like it!

Sweetie, what is NOLA? You mentioned it on your last comment to me. I'm curious. Are you a Jazz buff?

Diana said...

Thank goodness I'm having pizza tonight, or I think I'd begin seizing out of food envy! Okay, maybe I'm being a touch dramatic, but that pizza does look really good! :)

Hmm pizza toppings for a rosemary crust... what about doing a riff on the pototo pie at Riva? It has fontina cheese, slices of yukon potato, sea salt and rosemary. I bet that would be perfect! Or you could do something with chicken, garlic and carmelized onions.

Alicia Foodycat said...

I always drool over your pizzas! I'd like to see you do a Roman style potato, rosemary and garlic one, please!

Esi said...

Teresa, I'm not a huge jazz buff, but I like it a lot. NOLA is New Orleans :)

Diana, I am so loving that chicken spinach idea...

Foodycat, Roman style could be good too. I would have to slice the potatoes super thin because that's the only way I like them (except chips of course)

vanillasugarblog said...

esi that looks good!
I don't know if you want my suggestions...
but I would do maybe a caramelized onion, brie and chutney pizza or calzone. or a bacon, gorgonzola, caramelized onions, walnuts and mozza cheese pizza.
ok now I'm hungry

veggie belly said...

Its so much fun and so satisfying to make your own pizza. And in most cases, its quicker and tastier than ordering delivery!

Reeni said...

It looks so delicious! I have never tried an egg on a pizza, but I want to!! YUM!! Prosciutto, parmesan and grilled eggplant?

Heather said...

ohhhh. of all the places i've put egg, it's never been on a pizza! this sounds delicious! i'm totally inspired :)

Anonymous said...

holy moly that sounds awesome!

Hayley said...

I could eat pizza every day, and this one looks great. Thanks for sharing!

Dee said...

Esi, this looks great, and it has all my favourite ingredients in it too! I had a bacon and egg pizza in australia and i still think about it. Theirs was kinda carbonara-like and I would love to recreate it if I could figure it out.

Anonymous said...

Blue cheese with pears or apples would be great.

Summer said...

What a great combo, this looks delicious. We had a little pizza party last night and let everyone make their own. My current favorite is fontina, proscuitto, asparagus and truffle oil with a little basil and parmesan added at the end. Yummy!

Anonymous said...

That crust sounds wonderful- I love making mine with whole wheat too. :)

Esi said...

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I will have to try another pizza this coming week.

Donna-FFW said...

Amazing pizza!! Rosemary crust, Im thinking olives, campari tomatoes, portabellos? Or maybe a pork themed reuben type thing? It all looks so delicious!

Anonymous said...

http://wheredidmysaucego.wordpress.com/category/homemade/pizza-homemade/ how about a pizza with cheese sauce instead of tomato sauce?

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