My family loves going out to eat at a pub near our house in St Albans called the Wicked Lady. They have a wonderful menu that features many appealing main meals to suit every preference. Everything is made to a very high standard so you have every confidence that whatever you get, it will be good. However, no matter how hard I try, every time I go there I order the SAME THING! I wish I could break my routine, but it is just so good! What is it you ask? The Rustica Pizza; a vegetable pizza that could turn even the pickiest of eaters into vegetable lovers! Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but it is really good!!
Now I am not quite ready to invest in a wood fire oven, but I thought I would attempt my own version with a honey wheat crust to bulk up the nutritional profile. The goats cheese of course is the star of this show and so I thought I would add plenty to my version.
The crust ended up in more of a rectangle shape, but actually you see that in restaurants a lot now! So I am making this a more modern pizza.
The dough was sweet, but nutty, exactly what you would expect from whole wheat flour, and the vegetables worked great with the goats cheese. I added some regular cheese under the vegetables to make it more cheesy, but you could easily get away with not adding that.
Healthy, tasty, and very filling! An all around star!
Super Veggie Honey Wheat Pizza
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/4 cup (40g) wheat germ (found in health food shops)
2 cups (300g) whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
1 packet of yeast (21g)
1 cup (250ml) warm water
1/2 cup (150g) pizza sauce
2.5oz (65g) goats cheese
1/2 cup (70g) shredded cheese of choice (I used a blend of mozzarella and cheddar)
Vegetables of choice
¼ eggplant/aubergiene, sliced and quartered
½ large tomato, sliced
3 mushrooms, sliced
¼ red onion, sliced
¼ red pepper, sliced
¼ yellow pepper, sliced
Handful of spinach
½ tbsp basil
Instructions
Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl until completely dissolved. Leave to thicken for a few minutes
Mix the wheat germ, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the honey and yeast mixture, slowly pulling it the dry ingredients into the well to mix. Once a dough has formed, cover and leave for 10-15 minutes to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees and prepare your vegetables.
Stir the basil into the pizza sauce. If you are using fresh basil, put this on top of the cheese layer.
Roll the dough out onto a floured surface or pizza pan and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the dough from the oven and cover with your toppings; the pizza sauce and basil, followed by your cheese of choice. Add the vegetables and the goats cheese on top.
Cook in the oven for around 15 minutes until the edges are crisp and the cheese is bubbly.
Looking for a more sophisticated pizza? How about my Gorgonzola and Pear Grilled Pizza?
