Pizza is one of those fast food items that I don’t necessarily find unhealthy, especially when prepared at home, keeping the bottom thin and making good choices on toppings. Of course, homemade pizza is really not very fast food either as the dough's resting time is quite long, but in my opinion, every minute is completely worth it.
As I bake sourdough bread at home, I always use sourdough as a pizza base, but if you don’t spend a few hours every week on bread baking, you can use any other recipe with yeast that you like. OR if you wish to get even faster results, just use a large flatbread or tortilla as a base, and you will get the whole recipe done in 10 minutes!
I also always bake on a pizza stone as it gives a stone-oven effect in a regular electric oven, but again – if you don’t have it, just use a standard baking sheet and bake the pizza for longer. The result will not be 100% the same, but it will still taste good.
Talking about the toppings, this pizza is quite far from your regular tomato-based sauce and salami slice. I always like green food, so I figured why not give it a go on a pizza, and I could not be happier with the results. The earthiness of spinach, mild artichokes and crispy sunflower seeds make this pizza just amazing. I definitely recommend you try it out next time you make pizza. As a bonus, sunflower seeds are high in vitamin E that I always seem to be lacking in my diet, so another problem is solved.
P.S. If using vegan products, I recommend keeping away from coconut-based yogurts and cheeses as the taste is often too dominant, but any other alternatives work well, and you can also use vegan crème fraiche instead of yogurt.
Spinach and Artichoke Pizza
Cooking time: 20 minutes + resting time of 2 hours
Yields: toppings for 1 pizza, dough recipe for 4 pizzas
Ingredients:
Dough for one pizza
½ onion
2 cups of spinach
The rind of ½ lemon and a tiny bit of juice
½ cup (vegan) greek yogurt
A drop of oil for frying
Salt, to taste
½ cup artichoke hearts from the jar
1 tbsp sunflower seeds (can be substituted with pine nuts)
¼ cup mozzarella or vegan alternative
To serve:
Fresh spinach leaves
A few shavings of (vegan) parmesan
Instructions:
Prepare the dough (you can use your regular recipe or the one I share below) and leave to prove.
If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven on maximum heat at least an hour before you start baking.
Chop the onion and fry on low heat until translucent (it takes around 5 minutes). Add the spinach to the pan and let it wilt. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
Mix the spinach mixture with yogurt, lemon rind, and – juice, season with salt.
Cut the artichoke hearts to quarters.
Roll the dough as thin as you can – I like to do this on parchment paper as it makes it easier to move it around.
Cover the dough with the yogurt-spinach mix, arrange the artichoke slices on top, sprinkle with seeds, and tear the mozzarella on top.
Bake on a pizza stone with the fan on until cooked and crispy.
After baking, add some fresh spinach leaves and parmesan shavings.
Ingredients for pizza dough:
2 tbsp activated sourdough starter
1 cup of lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups of flour
½ tsp salt
Mix all the dough ingredients in a big bowl. I find it best to use hands for mixing.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until the dough is nice elastic, cover the bowl, and leave it to rest in a warm place for about 2 hours.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.
Have you been eating pizza too frequently? Give your body a cleanse, with this Yoga for Detox, Cleansing & Vitality program!