Asparagus, Broccoli and Courgette Pizza with a Spinach Powder Crust (vegan)

I never really need an excuse to make pizza but this time I chose pizza for dinner because I wanted to use my spinach powder again! I really liked the spinach crusted tofu I made before because it didn’t have a hugely strong spinach flavour and I felt it would work nicely to add interest to dough.

The uncooked dough had a very green colour but once cooked it looked paler and simply whole meal which I thought was nice and rustic, bright green pizza dough may be a bit off putting! I wanted to keep it as a “green pizza” so I replaced the traditional tomato base with a tofutti cream cheese base (good way to use up what was left over in the tub!) and I topped it all off with my fave vegetables – asparagus, broccoli and courgette!

I absolutely love asparagus on pizzas, you don’t have to pre cook them as they cook perfectly in the oven but if you have particularly large stalks then I would suggest peeling and slicing them like I have! Similar with the broccoli, little bit of common sense but chop the florets into small pieces so that they cook all the way through.

What’s your favourite pizza topping?

I have a fail safe pizza dough recipe that I use as a base every time before adding any twists such as seeds or herbs, so I used that again for this recipe but I added a few tablespoons of the spinach powder. This made it a little dry so I reduced the amount of flour and that worked perfectly. I felt the dough needed more kneading than usual but once fully kneaded and risen it was lovely and soft, once cooked it was crispy.

I felt the tofutti cream cheese base added a nice twist so I would recommend trying it instead of using tomato purée! As usual I added some chilli flakes and fresh herbs after cooking to add depth. I love mixing cooked and raw ingredients in a dish just for a bit of variety.

Makes 1 pizza

Pizza Dough:
110g Strong White Bread Flour
1 Packet of Easy Blend Dried Yeast
2-3 tablespoons Spinach Powder
1 tblspn Olive Oil
Pinch Salt
55ml Luke Warm Water

Topping:
2-3 spoonfuls of Garlic and Herb Tofutti Cream Cheese
1 Large tomato – thinly sliced
1/2 Yellow or Green Courgette – thinly sliced
4-6 Asparagus Spears – sliced in half if large
4 Broccoli Florets – chopped into smaller florets
2 Spring Onions – finely sliced
Black Pepper
Dried Chilli Flakes
Fresh Basil Leaves – roughly torn

To make the bread dough sift the bread flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast, spinach powder and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the flour and into that add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the luke warm water. Mix it with a wooden spoon combining all the flour and spinach powder until it has come together as a green dough (add a little more water if needed but only 1 tablespoon at a time). Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 8-10 minutes then shape it into a ball, coat it very lightly in oil to keep it moist and place in a bowl covered in cling film for an hour or so to let it rise.

Pre heat the oven to 180c

Roll the dough out until it is to the desired thickness, I like mine really thin! Place the rolled out dough onto the tray you will cook it on then spread over the tofutti cream cheese and assemble the toppings except the chilli flakes, pepper and fresh basil evenly on top.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables on top are cooked and the crust is golden and crispy. Once cooked sprinkle with chilli flakes, black pepper and freshly torn basil.