Donna Hay's Pizza Pie - IHCC

 This week, the members of the I Heart Cooking Club are exploring Donna Hay's take on pies and tarts ... and since I've been making a lot of traditional pies of late, I thought I'd stretch the idea of pies a bit .... and go for a pizza pie with a combination of luxe toppers. I used Donna's dough recipe, which is not my traditional whole wheat and wheat germ enriched version, but a simple white crust.

This particular pie is all about the toppers, as far as I'm concerned ... prosciutto slivers, fresh cherry tomato halves, capers, black olives, fresh rosemary, black pepper, and slices of moist Bocconcini mozzarella. So delicious!

I just got two new bread stones, so I fired one up  in a really hot oven and slid the prepped pizza pie onto the hot stone. The crust was hit with a lot of heat right off the bat and crisped up beautifully.

This was a really pretty pizza to look at ... and really easy to devour!

So, there you have it ... Donna Hay's Pizza with Tomato, Olives and Rosemary

Basic Dough

Ingredients:

1 tsp. active dry yeast

Pinch sugar

⅔ c. warm water (109° F)

2 c. all purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

¼ c. olive oil

1. Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water and whisk to dissolve the yeast. Set aside for ten minutes to proof.
2. Place the flour and salt in a deep mixing bowl. Make a well.
3. Pour in the proofed yeast and olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough ball forms.
4. Scrape all the shaggy dough its from the sides of the bowl and begin to knead the dough right there in the bottom of the bowl. Knead for about five minutes.
5. When the dough is smooth and shiny and springy, cover the bowl and set it in a warm place to rise for about half an hour to 45 minutes.
6. Shape the dough into rolls or roll out for pizza or bake as a loaf.

Pizza with Tomato, Olives, and Rosemary

Ingredients:

1 batch dough (above)

Olive oil for drizzling

4 bocconcini (each about 2 inches in diameter), sliced

10 oz. cherry tomatoes, washed, dried, and halved

4 shaved slices of prosciutto, cut into ½ inch ribbons

⅓ c. black olives, pitted and halved

⅓ c. capers, rinsed well and drained and dried

1 tbsp. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Cracked black pepper … plenty of it

1. Place a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 425° F.
2. Roll the pizza dough out on a foil-lined cookie sheet to make a rectangle about 14 x 8 inches.
3. Sprinkle the dough with a bit of olive oil and black pepper.
4. Distribute the capers over the crust. Add the prosciutto, bocconcini, black olives, tomato halves.
5. Sprinkle on the rosemary and more black pepper and olive oil.
6. Remove the hot stone from the preheated oven and place on an insulated surface (on hot pads). Take the corners of the foil and pull the pizza from the cookie sheet onto the hot pizza stone.
7. Return the hot stone to the oven and bake the pizza for about 20 minutes.
8. Remove and let the pizza ‘cure’ for five minutes. Then, slice and serve with a green salad and cold drinks.

Time to head over to IHCC to see what everyone else is sharing this week! Hit this link and check it out!