end of summer pizza with roasted bell peppers, eggplant, proscuitto, and arugula

end of summer pizza

with roasted bell peppers, eggplant, and arugula

As summer slowly draws to a close, I find myself trying to squeeze in as much of the season's pretty produce as possible. This pizza takes well to all kinds of fresh and roasted veggies and is a great way to use up any of the week's left over produce.

for the dough:
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups hot (not boiling) water
3 cups pizza or bread flour, plus extra if needed
pinch of salt

for the sauce:
1 14oz can whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
pinch of salt

for the toppings:
5 small bell peppers
2 baby eggplants or 1 medium eggplant, trimmed and chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
fresh mozzarella, torn into bite sized pieces
4 slices prosciutto
4 small handfuls arugula

In a small bowl, dissolve the honey and yeast in the hot water. Set aside for 10 minutes. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour and a pinch of salt. Add the water/yeast mixture and stir on medium speed until water is fully incorporated and dough has a sticky consistency. The dough should clear the sides and bottom of the bowl but still stick to the hook. I usually need to add a few drops of water and/or a pinch or two of flour to get the dough to this consistency. 

Prepare a lightly floured surface. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on floured surface, and gently knead a few times, forming a ball. Place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl and set a warm slightly damp cloth over the top of the bowl. Let dough rise in a warm place until it has more than doubled in size, about two hours. 

Meanwhile, prepare your sauce and toppings. For the sauce: combine the tomatoes with the oregano in a large bowl. Using an immersion blender, blend the tomatoes until they reach a smooth but lightly chunky consistency. Be careful not to over blend tomatoes as seeds will become bitter. Season with a pinch of salt, cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge until ready to use.

For the toppings: preheat your broiler on high. Place bell peppers on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and roast under the broiler until peppers are fragrant and just beginning to brown, turning once or twice during the process. Remove from oven, set aside to cool, then remove stems and seeds and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place chopped eggplant on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle eggplant with olive oil and roast in oven, turning once or twice, until it is just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

When you are ready to make your pizza, preheat oven as hot as it can get, mine reaches 550 degrees F. Place a pizza stone in the hot oven and let warm for 15-30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface, knead a few times, then roll into a log. Cut dough into four equal pieces.

Take one of the dough pieces and stretch/roll out until it is an 8-inch round {there are tons of resources online for how to roll out dough, try this one}. Transfer rolled out dough onto a lightly floured pizza peel. Taking care to not spill toppings on pizza peel, top pizza with desired amount of sauce. Place 1/4 of the peppers, 1/4 of the eggplant and desired amount of cheese on top of the sauce. Tear apart one slice of proscuitto and scatter around the pizza. Make sure pizza can easily slide off peel, then transfer to preheated stone. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese has melted, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven with tongs, let cool for a few minutes, top with a small handful of arugula, then slice and serve. Repeat with remaining three doughs.