Savory Pumpkin Pizza Dough!

Welcome back! Hope everyone is having a great weekend thus far. Since I made the recipe I'm going to share with you here, I have not stopped thinking about it. Okay, well maybe I have been able to think about and focus on other things, but let's just say that thoughts of this savory pumpkin pizza dough have been dancing around in my mind quite a bit since I made it a few days ago. ;-) It has changed my life.

I found this recipe several weeks ago when I was perusing an awesome new cooking blog I found called "The Cooking Photographer." I saw her recipe for savory pumpkin pizza dough and knew I'd just have to make it at some point! That time finally came a few days ago when I had some leftover canned pumpkin that I wanted to use up. Suddenly, it hit me! Make that pumpkin pizza dough, Colleen!!!

So I did. :)

All in all, this was a very easy recipe. It does call for active dry yeast, so it involves letting the dough rise for an hour or so. It's important to know that ahead of time so you can plan accordingly! The link to the recipe can be found here, but I'm also going to copy and paste the instructions for you below.

Ingredients:
½ cup barely warm water
1 teaspoon honey
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
3 ½ cups bread flour
1 cup canned pumpkin, (Not pumpkin pie filling)
2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions:
1. Measure water in a wet measuring cup and stir in the honey and yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes.
2. In a stand mixer with a dough hook add all the ingredients including the yeast mixture and knead for several minutes.
3. Turn the dough onto a clean surface and knead with your hands for a couple more minutes. Coat a large bowl with a little olive oil, toss in the dough turning coat once to coat, and cover in plastic wrap.
4. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until large and poufy.

I followed the recipe almost exactly. The only things I did differently were omit the onion powder and add about 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary instead. I could really pick up on the rosemary flavor in the dough, so I was pleased with that addition! I have to say that the pumpkin flavor was subtle but still there, for sure. I think the level of "pumpkin-ness" was just right, personally. I even think that people who don't care for pumpkin might even like this dough!!

Time for pics!

I made this pizza on my awesome new Pampered Chef pizza stone. LOVE this new addition to my kitchen! I've used it twice so far, and I already can't wait to use it again. :)

On this particular pizza, I put on a regular tomato sauce with sauteed green peppers and onions, roasted asparagus, and roasted sweet potatoes (both the asparagus and sweet potatoes I had leftover from roasting the night before). And on half the pizza, I put small pieces of leftover baked pork chop I had cooked a few days before. Yummm. I love using up leftovers as pizza toppings! Remember my other post about being creative with homemade pizza? This pizza is definitely a good example of that creativity. ;-)

Mozzarella!

Here she is in the oven. :) I baked the pizza at 400 degrees for about 15 - 17 minutes or so.

Look at that puffy crust!!

This dough was SO good. It was dough-y and airy, yet it was slightly crispy around the outside crust too. It was just the right texture for pizza dough, in the Barbershop's opinion. And as I said earlier, the pumpkin flavor was noticeably there but definitely not overpowering at all. It's a winning recipe, friends!

I had a little extra dough, so in addition to the large pizza, I also made a couple rolls.

Check out that inside of that roll! Oh my goodness. I could have easily eaten like 6 of these rolls in one sitting. Next time I make this dough I think I might just make rolls out of it! (by the way, if you look closely at the picture of the roll's inside, you can see a speck of rosemary on the left side there...click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see it :)).

If you're looking to be slightly adventurous in the kitchen, I definitely think you should try this savory pumpkin pizza dough. And when you do, let me know how it's changed your life because I know it will.

:)