Saturday, May 23, 2009

Purple Pizza Dough Sneaks in a Vegetable



My seven-year-old daughter Clara thought this pizza was the coolest yet, thanks to bright purple dough. She didn’t even care that I dyed it with a cooked beet. I was, for a moment, the greatest mom ever. At least until I sent her to go pick up her room.

This crust is great. It has good flavor, and doesn’t taste like beets surprisingly. I thought it might, and then I’d never live it down around here.

I topped Clara’s personal pizza with quick homemade red sauce, mozzarella cheese, and Canadian bacon. My next post will cover the adult pizza toppings. Which were fabulous, and with purple crust of course!

Makes two 12” pizzas

3/4 cup cooked and chopped beets, lightly packed in a liquid measuring cup (or see notes)
Enough almost warm water to make 1 cup when mixed with cooked beets, plus 1 Tablespoon.
1 package bread machine or active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
3 cups all-purpose flour (Use good quality all-purpose or bread flour)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the bowl

1. Scrub beets under warm water to clean. Stab a knife into it a few times for venting. Line a plate with paper towels, place the beet on the plate, and cover with a paper towel. Microwave the beet on high for several minutes until easily stabbed through with the knife. Cool completely.

2. Chop the beet into chunks. Place 3/4 of a cup of the chunks (lightly packed) into a liquid measuring cup. Top with enough water to make 1 cup. Puree the beet/water mixture in a blender until smooth. (A couple small chunks are ok, but you might end up picking them out as you roll the dough. You can also strain beet mixture through a fine mesh strainer if you have one.) Pour the mixture back into the liquid measuring cup and top with enough water to make 1 cup, then add 1 more Tablespoon.

3. Add all the ingredients into a stand mixer bowl. Mix with the dough hook until well kneaded.

4. Remove from the bowl and knead by hand for 2 minutes on an unfloured surface. (If you have a counter that stains find another place). Then pat into a ball.

5. Grease a large bowl with olive oil and add the dough, flipping once to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled.

6. Roll out the dough on a floured surface, do the final stretches by hand by gently pulling the ends with your fingers. Place on a lightly oiled and coarse cornmeal covered pizza pan, and then add the toppings.

Notes
1. Adding more beet flesh to the dough will make a deeper purple crust.

2. Sauce recipe can be found at http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2009/05/zesty-old-school-style-pizza-sauce.html

3. Grilling information can be found at http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2009/04/lets-talk-dough-pizza-dough.html

Recipe by Laura Flowers.



31 comments:

Kara said...

I LOVE this. Love it. I'm all about adding veggies in unusual places and I've been known to add finely chopped spinach to my pizza dough before, but I never thought of beets. The purple is purely awesome! :) Now I'm gonna have to do this next week!

square kitchen said...

hi Laura, what a cool idea... I agree with your daughter, I love this pizza, too. Tres jolie! Anja

Ginger said...

That is really really unique!! I am definitely going to have to try this for my family. There is no beet taste at all? I love beets so that would be ok for me but I have a picky eater. Have a great day.

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

How wonderful!

Donna-FFW said...

Love how you added the beets and got to be a hero at the same time..

Swedish Mike said...

This is really nice and different recipe. A great way of getting the kids to eat some more vegetables.

I've just been ordered to cook this soon so I think it is safe to say that you are getting a following for your purple pizzas ;)

// Mike

Ciao Chow Linda said...

What a novel idea. For a minute, until I read the ingredients, I thought you had topped it with potatoes (which by the way makes a delicious pizza topping).

Risa said...

Such a great way to sneak in some extra veggies.

Oceanside Creations said...

What a great idea! This looks fantastic and I love beets.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you everyone! I love comments. :)

Anonymous said...

I happen to LOVE purple and pizza, so what could be better than a purple pizza! Well. I guess a beet pizza! I just ate a bunch of beets this week, thinking, "there is no better vegetable." I agree with you, use this crust then top with roasted beets, caramelized onion, and feta. (maybe some arugula?) Oh the possibilities are endless......Thanks for the post.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Ohh great idea danazia! Writing it down now...

The Cooking Photographer said...

Hi Ginger,

No beet taste in the crust. Really. I was thinking I would have to make one with sliced beets and goat cheese on top so I could have a few beets for myself. I might do that today with the leftover dough.

Laura

pixen said...

simply marvelous idea! The dough kind of reminded me the skin of Japanese Sweet Potato which is purple but inside is golden yellow and very sweet! This is great for Halloween too :-)

Bethie said...

Beautiful color!

Esi said...

Laura, you're so creative. I love this purple dough idea.

Susie said...

What a pretty pizza, I can't wait to try it! Thanks for sharing and happy it doesn't taste like beets...

Marta said...

Great idea Laura! I'm all about the sneakiness these days ;) Beets just make it look so pretty and I'm sure they added a nice sweetness to the crust as well. You're a sneaky and rocking mom :)

Lauren said...

That is the coolest pizza crust I've ever seen! Love adding beets to main dishes for added color and nutrition. :)

crankycheryl said...

What a great idea! I can't wait to try to get this into my kids. (As soon as I score the digital video camera I'm eying I'll be sure to upload the whole experience onto crankycakes.com.)

The Cooking Photographer said...

I would love a good laugh! That would be awesome Cheryl!

I remember feeding a friend's kids fruit cake and the response was, "What is this evil cake you're trying to feed me?"

I wish I had that one on video lol.

Laura

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you for the comments!

Sara @ Our Best Bites said...

Love this idea! I'm going to take your word that it doesn't taste like beets because I don't like them, but I do like purple! Great idea.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Kids ... what a delight. And the purple crust, fabulous idea.

Yesica N. Cook said...

This is faaaaabulous!! Just made pizza for the first time, can't wait to try the purple version. Looking forward to the next post!

Michelle said...

That looks absolutely gorgeous!

Stephanie Quilao said...

That is sooooo cool! My triplet nieces would love that too.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you Stephanie! I didn't realize anyone was still reading this one. Yay!

Laura

Amy said...

I recently came upon your site and saw this pizza and it is fantastic! I just made it for my family tonight! However, mine turned out red--almost magenta! Must depend upon the beets! Thanks for a great idea!

Amy

Unknown said...

I wonder, have you tried using beets in other bread doughs to give them that bright purple color?

I think it would be a fantastic treat for childrens' sandwiches. Similar to that rainbow-swirl bread that was popular in the 90's, without all the nasty dyes!

Debonair_Darling said...

I'm going to be making this pizza for my daughter's party tomorrow. I'll post pics on my blog too..we're doing a forest theme, and I wanted something fun and special for the main dish. This was perfect! Thank you for sharing with us all.

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