I finally did it. After years of admiring squash blossoms at the farmers market, I bought a bunch. I don’t know what took me so long to give those vibrant orange flowers a try. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to just stuff them with cheese and fry them, which might be the most popular way to eat them. Sometimes I splurge on fried food when I’m at a restaurant, but the idea of standing over a hot pot of oil on the stove intimidates me.

After carefully separating the petals, I arranged them on a squash blossom pizza. I did my summer standard and grilled the pie, but inside the oven would work, too. I kept the toppings simple with tomato sauce and torn fresh mozzarella. The flowers added a hint of squash flavor, but their more significant contribution was in the looks department. The petals on this simple pizza made the slices almost too pretty to eat.
Squash Blossom Pizza
Makes 1-12-inch pizza

2/3 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil plus more for bowl and brushing pizza
1-1/2 cups bread flour plus more for work surface
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup tomato sauce
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn
6 squash blossoms, de-stemmed and petals separated

In a small bowl, combine the water, yeast, sugar and olive oil. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and process until a ball of dough forms. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on medium high heat.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough in a 12″ circle. Place the dough directly on the grates and grill for 3 minutes with the lid closed until the crust has grill marks and has puffed up. Turn over the crust and grill for an additional 2 minutes.

Remove the crust from the grill. Spread the tomato sauce leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edge. Arrange the mozzarella and squash blossoms on top.  Put the pizza back on the grill for a couple minutes to let the cheese melt. Slice and serve right away.

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