Broccoli + Kale Pizza on a Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

Whoa! What is that?! Something savory? Something that could be considered *a meal*?! On my blog?! Okay, are you over your shock yet? Let's get to this pizza.

I saw the crust recipe months ago on The Way the Cookie Crumbles, and I've made it several times, though never took photos of it. I made it again today, after staring at the contents of my fridge and searching for inspiration, and knew I couldn't hold out on you any longer.

This is the perfect last-minute meal. It can be ready in 30 minutes from start to finish. That's right, homemade pizza in 30 minutes. So, if you're burned out from Thanksgiving cooking/baking and need a great meal today that requires little effort, this is the recipe for you.

It is a delicious crust; crispy around the edges, soft on the inside, buttery, flaky. It is like a thin crispy biscuit. This is definitely a recipe that you want to have in your arsenal.

Quick Baking Powder Pizza Dough

adapted from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (plus more for dusting)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup whole milk

cornmeal for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 500. Place baking stone on center rack. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, and using a pastry blender, incorporate butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk slowly, only using as much as you need for all of the flour to be moistened. Knead 2 or 3 times in the bowl until dough forms a ball. Divide dough into 2 pieces for 2 12"pizzas or 4 for pieces for 4 8" pizzas. Sprinkle pizza peel with cornmeal. Dust ball of dough with flour, place on peel and roll out with floured rolling pin. The dough will puff in the oven, so roll it out fairly thin (1/8" or so) for the best results. Place in fridge while you prepare your toppings.

Broccoli + Kale Pizza

1 small bunch of broccoli (about 1/2 pound)

1/2 bunch of kale (about 6 leaves)

2 teaspoons olive oil

salt to taste

1 cup grated sharp white cheddar

1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan

Pour olive oil into skillet and heat over medium flame. Add salt. Cut broccoli into small pieces. Chiffonade kale. Add broccoli to skillet, stirring to coat with oil. After about 2 minutes, add kale, stirring until coated with oil. Cook for another 2 minutes, or until broccoli and kale are almost cooked.

Top crust with veggies. Cover in cheddar, then parmesan. Transfer from pizza peel to baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are nicely browned and crispy.

Mediterranean Pizza (with Broccoli)

After seeing the delectable asparagus, fingerling potato and goat cheese pizza on Wendy's blog Pink Stripes I was inspired to make pizza of my own this week. 

For my crust, I used the same recipe she did from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart . It was the October 2008 Daring Bakers challenge, and let me say how fantastic it is. It is unbelievably simple to make - especially in a stand mixer. The dough takes less than 10 minutes to put together, nd doesn't require multiple turns of kneading and rising - simple, simple, simple! This recipe calls for tossing the dough. I had never tossed pizza dough before, but I was eager to give it try. It wasn't a terribly graceful operation, but it was  lot of fun, and it worked! I used 2 of the 6 balls of dough that the recipe makes, and ended up with pizzas approximately 12" in diameter. 

I went a little crazy with the toppings, but it all worked together, and the pizzas were delicious. I topped them with locally made tomato sauce, broccoli, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parmesan, fresh mozzarella, gorgonzola, walnuts and fresh basil. So yummy. The recipe for the crust can be found here at Rosa's Yummy Yums