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.
PrintSquash 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.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 6-8 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 16-18 minutes
- Yield: 1 12-inch pizza 1x
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
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.
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.)
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.
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on medium high heat.
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.
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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