Homemade Dough and Pizza Primavera is the pizza that best showcases asparagus, one of Spring’s first vegetables, which is what ‘primavera’ is all about!
What Is Primavera
In Italy, the word Primavera simply means Springtime!
I can’t think of a more delicious way to enjoy spring veggies than on a pizza!
While many of us first notice springtime by the first flowers that pop up, which by the way make for beautiful Edible Flower Cookies, us kitchen folks usually notice the veggies!
Here in America, one of the first veggies of spring, are asparagus, and let’s not forget the herb basil, which is also great on the pizza primavera.
Who Doesn’t Love Homemade Pizza In ‘Primavera’!
A scrumptious homemade pizza, in springtime, is a great blank canvas to enjoy the first flavors of spring, after a long and dormant winter.
Perhaps you happened to have kept a tall pot of cherry tomatoes inside during the winter, or planted them indoors in February.
You may also have small tomatoes ready to pick for your pizza primavera.
If not, let’s buy them and bring their sweet juice to our homemade pizza as well.
Oh, and for sure you kept a window pot of herbs all winter?
If not, pick up a few bundles of your favorite.
Homegrown Herbs For Homemade Pizzas
I didn’t grow up planting gardens or growing plants in my early adult homelife.
In fact, if I tried, I probably killed them due to lack of knowledge as to how to grow plants successfully.
But once I began to explore a vast variety of culinary fun in my kitchen, I reached out to gather the knowledge to know how.
Sometimes a large Garden To Table garden outside, or windowsill pots indoors during the winter months.
At the arrival of springtime, the scent and flavor of basil, being lighter and more floral in flavor, is the perfect herb for my primavera pizza.
Pizza
Pizza is one of the best ways I know to make just about any ingredient come alive into a simple meal, loved by everyone!
When you think of it, the sky’s the limit as to what you can lather a beautiful pizza dough with. A few of my favorites, and trust me, these are only a few:
- Sfeeha – Mediterranean Meat Pies – a dish 2 of my kids and I made on Food Network with Valerie Bertinelli and won!
- Stromboli – both a pizza and a calzone, all rolled up into a loaf, which makes it easy ‘to-go’!
- Pizza Kabobs – my version of a deconstructed pizza on sticks, making it perfect for a party platter.
- BLT Pizza – everything we love about BLT but on a pizza!
Homemade Pizza
There are two-steps to making this scrumptious pizza:
- First we make the dough and let is rise for an hour
- Then we will be preparing the toppings.
While you can buy a pizza dough in the grocery store, this dough is so easy to make, and for sure tastes amazingly better.
I do have a few other pizza dough recipes you might enjoy that alternate the wheat flour by using other types of flour: Almond Pizza Crust or Spelt Potato Dough.
I sprinkle a little grated cheese into the dough so the flavor is spectacular!
Once the dough is mixed and quietly sitting somewhere warm to double in size, you can go ahead and slice the onions and asparagus and have them marinating in the olive oil and garlic.
Pizza Primavera Options
For sure, I want the fresh taste of springtime’s asparagus on my pizza primavera.
While not everyone peels their asparagus, if you do, you know it exposes the tender stalk of the asparagus, making the entire stalk tender.
However, don’t toss those asparagus ends away, I’ve got a fabulous Asparagus Ends soup to make with them.
Another delicious option to this asparagus pizza is to keep it simple with just asparagus and thin slices of Prosciutto.
The same olive oil and garlic drizzle, we will use to marinate the asparagus, gets drizzled across the top just before baking.
Cheeses On My Homemade Pizza
While most often, mozzarella is the cheese splattered across a pizza, you might find a surprisingly better flavor in the pizza cheese coming from a hard sheep milk cheese.
The hard cheeses maintain their form, melt and get toasty on top but they don’t melt into a puddle covering all the other ingredients.
Ingredients Needed
- Flour
- Water
- Yeast
- Salt
- Hard Cheese – preferably a sheep milk cheese
- Asparagus
- Cherry tomatoes
- Onion
- Garlic
- Olives
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- Fresh herbs
Equipment Needed
- 2 large mixing bowls
- Slotted spoon
- Plastic wrap or a dish towel – to cover the dough while rising
- Wooden spoon
- Rolling pin
- Pizza pan or cookie sheet
- Cutting board
- Chopping knife
- Garlic press
- Citrus press
- Oven
Homemade Dough And Pizza Primavera
Equipment
- Pizza pan
- Large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 3-4 cups All Purpose Flour extra for dusting
- 1 1/2 cups Water
- 2 tsp Yeast
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Grated hard cheese
- 1 Asparagus bundle peeled and sliced in half long-ways
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 1/2 cup Onion sliced thin
- 2 Garlic cloves crushed
- 1/2 cup Olives sliced
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/2 cup Fresh basil chiffonade chopped
- 1/2 lb Hard cheese sliced or grated sliced or grated
Instructions
- Pour the water into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar on top. Let it sit for 5-minutes to form a foam.
- Sprinkle salt and a little flour in and stir. Slowly add flour and stir until it becomes more difficult to stir. With your hands begin to press newly sprinkled flour into the dough, turn it over, sprinkle more and continue like this until the dough is no longer sticky to the touch.
- In a clean, lightly oiled bowl, place the dough, cover and set in a warm (not hot), place until it doubles in size, about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Roll out the risen dough on a floured surface and fit onto the pizza pan, or cookie sheet. Allow it to rest while preparing the topping.
- In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon and crushed garlic. Toss the onions and asparagus in the olive oil.
- Dip a basting brush into the oil at the bottom of the bowl and brush generously across the top of the pizza dough and crust.
- Layer the onions and asparagus across the top of the pizza, along with the tomatoes, olives and rough chopped herbs. Lay the slices of cheese on top.
- Bake until the edges of the crust are golden, about 18-20 minutes.
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I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.