I want to be upfront about this. I didn't expect to like the winter harvest pizza from Digging Up the Dirt. Yes, obviously, I selected it as a recipe to vote for on Saturday, but in part because I never would have made it without someone voting for me to try it. I need to be perfectly clear about this, because while I read Andrea's headline, I wondered how this could possibly be anyone's favorite pizza of all time.
Now I know.
I really liked this pizza. Thin crust whole wheat pizza dough is difficult to get right. It can be too brittle, too toothsome, to dry, too crunchy, too difficult to swallow, too much like a health food. Andrea's version was perfect - managing to be light and pillowy while still having a nice complex flavor from the wheat. I did let mine rise a little longer than her recipe called for, 1.5 hours instead of 1 hour, but it's cold here and her side note mentions the rise time will depend on the heat and humidity (or lack thereof).
Preparing the toppings for the pizza was a lot faster than I expected it to be. You start with roasting some squash in the oven, and while you do that, you start pan-frying your bacon, then chop some leeks, saute them a little while you quarter 4-6 Brussels sprouts, add those to the leek pan, and chop up the hazelnuts, dates, and blue cheese. That's all! A lot of the prep work time overlaps with the cook time.
Ingredients
Chelsea's Perfect Pizza Dough (makes enough for 2 dough balls)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast ¼-ounce packet
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water plus more as needed
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for oiling the dough bowl
- 1 ⅓ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Winter Harvest Pizza
- 2 ½ cups butternut squash skinned and cubed (about 1-1 ½ lbs)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
- pinch Kosher salt
- 4 grinds fresh black pepper
- 1 large leek white and light green parts only
- 1 ½ cups Brussels sprouts (about 4-6 sprouts) trimmed and quartered
- 4 strips thick-cut bacon
- 1 ball Chelsea's perfect pizza dough
- 2-3 Medjool dates
- ¼ cup hazelnuts
- ½ cup (55 g) blue cheese crumbled
Instructions
Chelsea's Perfect Pizza Dough
- In a small bowl, stir the yeast with the warm water and pinch of sugar, then set aside to let the yeast bloom for about 10 minutes. (If the yeast doesn't froth, discard the liquid and start again with fresh yeast.)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together the flours and salt, then add the yeast mixture and the olive oil. On medium-low speed, knead the pizza dough for about 4-6 minutes, until it forms a cohesive soft and supple ball (you can also do this by hand, it will take about 8-10 minutes). Drizzle a little olive oil on top of the dough ball, flip it over so the olive oil is between the dough and the mixing bowl, then cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let sit for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size.
- After the first rise, knead the dough again for about 4 minutes, either by hand or with the dough hook in a stand mixer. Cover the dough ball and set aside about to double in size, another 60-90 minutes.
Winter Harvest Pizza
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. On a baking sheet, toss the cubed butternut squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil plus a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Roast until the cubes are fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Set aside the squash and increase the temperature of the oven to 450 F.
- Carefully clean the leek, rinsing off any dirt, then slice the white and light green parts into rings and start sauteing them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet set over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally so they don't burn.
- Trim and quarter the Brussels sprouts and add them to the pan with the leek after the leek has been cooking at least 2 minutes. Continue cooking the vegetables until the Brussels sprouts begin to brown, then remove from the heat.
- Meanwhile, start frying 4 slices of bacon in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon through but don't cook until crispy as it will crisp up more in the oven. Let it drain on paper towels set on top of a plate. Once it's cool enough to handle, roughly chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Transfer the cooked squash to the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the maple syrup, and a pinch of Kosher salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Process until smooth and creamy, then measure out 1 cup worth of the puree.
- Roughly chop the hazelnuts, pit and finely chop the Medjool dates, and crumble the blue cheese.
- Roll the pizza dough out on a lightly floured surface into an approximate round about 12 inches in diameter. Transfer it to a pizza stone or baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Spread the 1 cup of squash puree out over the dough, almost all the way out to the edges (add a little more if necessary). Top with the leek and Brussels sprout mixture, then the bacon, followed by the dates and hazelnuts. Sprinkle the pizza evenly with the crumbled blue cheese, then bake until the crust turns golden along the edges and the vegetables are slightly charred, about 15-18 minutes.
