Three cheese-garlic pizza on pumpkin pizza dough

Well, here is my first post of 2015! I can't believe it's January again already. Winter time is a good time for pizzas (actually we eat pizza pretty regularly around here - homemade pizza is a common Friday/Saturday dinner!) 

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Ever since I saw this Pumpkin Pizza Dough recipe, I've been very intrigued by the idea of incorporating winter squash puree into a pizza dough. I was surprised by how nice the pizza dough turned out - I thought the puree would make it too wet or difficult to work with, but that wasn't the case at all! It turned out perfectly. 

You can't really taste the pumpkin/squash flavor in it, but it adds a depth of savory flavor to the crust. For a first try, I stuck with a cheese pizza to see how the crust tasted, but now I think you could put pretty much any pizza toppings on it that you'd like. 

This dough recipe will make two 10-11 inch pizzas. The pizza recipe is also for making two pizzas. I think the dough would also make terrific breadsticks or dinner rolls - something I will likely try in the future. Also, you can use pretty much any cooked and pureed winter squash in this dough. 

I used Long Island Cheese Pumpkin because we have so many, but others like butternut, regular pumpkin, hubbard, etc. would work as well. I used homemade pumpkin puree, but canned is perfectly fine.

Pumpkin pizza dough
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup cooked pumpkin/winter squash puree (or canned pumpkin puree)
1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl
1 teaspoon sea salt
3-4 cups bread flour

Three cheese-garlic pizza
1 recipe for pumpkin pizza dough (above)
cornmeal, for dusting
2-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
4 cloves garlic, pressed or very finely minced
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
freshly ground black pepper
red pepper flakes for serving, optional

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, mix together the water, honey, and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin puree, olive oil, and salt. Then stir in 3 cups of bread flour. Put the mixer on and begin the knead the dough on low speed, scraping down the sides as needed. Add more flour if needed (I used 3-1/2 cups) to get to a tacky consistency. Continue to knead the dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes. The dough should come together and be off the sides of the mixing bowl.

While the dough is kneading, stir together the olive oil, pressed/minced garlic, and pinch of salt and set aside. 

Take out the dough and shape it into a ball. Lightly oil the mixing bowl, place the dough back in, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place to rise for one hour. After the dough has risen, divide it in half and roll out into two 10-11 inch circles on a lightly floured surface (if using a pizza stone, rectangles if using baking sheets). You can roll it on parchment paper if needed, but I found the dough to be easy to work with and transfer. Lightly dust your pizza stones/baking sheets with cornmeal.

At this point, you can crank your oven up to 500 degrees.

Transfer the dough to you pizza stones/baking sheets. Top each one with half of the olive oil/garlic mixture, spreading it in an even layer and leaving about 1/2 inch around the edges of the dough for the crust. 

Top each pizza with half of each of the cheeses, half of the Italian seasoning, and a couple good grinds of black pepper. 

Cook the pizzas on the bottom rack of the oven, one at a time, for about 12 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese becomes bubbly and browned on the edges. 

Let cool on hot pads for a few minutes before slicing. Top with red pepper flakes, if desired.