Mini Garden Pizzas

This year we’ve decided to devote a section of our garden to ingredients that are perfect for making pizzas with. A pizza garden, if you will. If you have never made pizza with garden fresh veggies, you are missing out!

Two of our favorite pizzas to make are a simple Margherita, which features fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and fragrant basil leaves, and a Gremolata Pizza, which is simply fresh mozzarella sprinkled with a citrusy summery mixture of parsley, garlic, and lemon zest.

We forgo tomato sauce and instead brush the pizzas with a little olive oil before topping them with our ingredients. This way you get to really taste the flavors of those simple ingredients, fresh from the garden. They really shine when they’re not overpowered with competing flavors. Once you try pizzas this way, you may never use pizza sauce again!

How To Grow Your Pizza Garden

Check out the short video below to see how we grew our own pizza garden!

What You Need

Makes 12 mini pizzas

• 1 recipe Quick Pizza Dough (see below for recipe)
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 ball Fresh Mozzarella , thinly sliced (regular shredded mozzarella works as well)
• ½  cup Grape or Cherry Tomatoes, sliced
• 1 recipe Simple Parsley Gremolata (see below for recipe)
• Salt and Pepper, to top
• 10-12 Fresh Basil Leaves

How-To

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Divide the dough into 12 equal sections.

Step 2
Shape each section of dough into a ball.

Step 3
Roll each ball into a circle that is 1/8” thick. Place the dough circles spaced 2” apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Step 4
Brush the top of each dough circle with olive oil.

Step 5
Top each dough circle with a few slices of fresh mozzarella.

Step 6
Top half of the dough circles with 5-6 tomato slices, each.

Step 7
Sprinkle the remaining half of the pizzas with gremolata (about 1-2 teaspoons, each). Sprinkle the pizzas with salt and pepper. Bake in the preheated oven on the top rack for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and crust is golden brown.

Step 8
Remove from the oven and top the tomato pizzas with basil leaves.

Serve immediately!

Simple Parsley Gremolata

• ¼ cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
• 3 Garlic Cloves, finely minced
• Zest of 1 Lemon

How-To

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix together. Sprinkle over pizzas, meat, fish, pastas, etc. Store the Gremolata in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated. Will keep for about 1 week.

Quick Pizza Crust

• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon Yeast
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons very warm Water

How-To

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the olive oil and water and mix on low speed until the mixture comes together to form a ball. Add more flour if the dough is sticky. Up the speed to medium and mix for another 5 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes. Use dough to make mini pizzas.

Enjoy!

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