Squash Blossom Pizza

With tomato sauce and torn fresh mozzarella, the toppings are simple on this squash blossom pizza to let the flowers be the star of the pie.

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.

Instead I used them as a topping on this grilled squash blossom pizza.

It just felt like the right way to pay respect to my big market purchase.

How To Make A Squash Blossom Pizza

First, I made the dough and let it rise.

During the summer, we eat grilled pizza multiple times a week.

Because of its high temperature, the grill is the best way that I have found to get restaurant-like crust.

In my dream world, I would have a pizza oven in my backyard. For now (and probably forever), I will keep at it with my grill.

Once the dough was ready and the grill was hot, I rolled out the pizza.

Then I grilled it on both sides making sure it was bubbled and charred.

After that I took the crust off the grill and spread on tomato sauce.

After carefully separating the petals of the squash blossoms, I arranged them on the pizza.

I tore fresh mozzarella and scattered that in between the petals.

Finally, I returned the squash blossom pizza to the grill for a couple minutes to let the cheese melt.

Not only did the blossoms look beautiful, but they added a fresh flavor to the grilled pizza.

I will definitely put them on my farmers market shopping list again.SaveSaveSaveSave

Squash Blossom Pizza

• Author: Paige Adams
• Prep Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 6-8 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 16-18 minutes
• Yield: 1 12-inch pizza 1x

With tomato sauce and torn fresh mozzarella, the toppings are simple on this squash blossom pizza to let the flowers be the star of the pie.

Ingredients

• 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

Instructions

1. For the dough, combine the water, yeast, sugar and olive oil and let stand for 5 minutes until foamy. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until it forms a shaggy dough.
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. (Alternatively, the dough can be mixed in the bowl of a stand mixer using a dough hook.)
3. Gather the dough into a ball, transfer to an oiled bowl and cover. Place the bowl in a warm spot to allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours.
4. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on medium high heat.
5. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough in a 12 inch 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.
6. 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.