Vegan Courgette and New Potato Pizza

Courgette and New Potato Pizza

I love pizza! and nothing beats a fresh homemade pizza fresh out of the oven.  As soon as I saw the first new potatoes in the shops I wanted to try out this recipe.  The soft potato, sweet onion and garlic works really well with the thyme, thinly sliced courgettes and pine nuts.  The base takes a little time to raise, but you can easily make the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge until you need it.

I will definitely be making this again.  I can’t wait until the prime Finnish new potato season during summer.  At their best Finnish new potatoes are so tasty and if anything I think it will enhance this dish.

On a note the recipe calls from Strong white bread flour, but I wasn’t able to find that in Helsinki.  You can easily substitute it with normal white flour (puolikarkea vehnäjauho)

Courgette and New Potato Pizza – makes 2 medium size pizzas

400 g strong White flour

100 g semolina flour

1/2 tsp salt

5 g dried yeast

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sugar

200 g new potatoes

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 green chilli, finely chopped

2 medium red onions, sliced thinly

fresh thyme

2 medium sized courgettes

olive oil

pine nuts, toasted, for serving

fresh basil for serving

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  My oven has a special pizza sitting so I used that, or you can use a pizza stone if you wish.  Start by making the pizza base.  Add the yeast, sugar and oil to 300 ml of lukewarm water.  Stir and leave for a couple of mins, until the yeast begins to react.  Sieve the flours and salt and add the yeast mixture, little by little, stirring to bring it together to form a smooth dough.  Knead for a few minutes then place in a floured bowl covered with a damp tea towel.  Leave to prove for about an hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

Meanwhile boil the potatoes in a large pan of salted water for 15 -20 mins until tender.  Strain and leave to dry.  Fry your onions, chilli, garlic and a few sprigs of thyme in a little oil over a medium to low heat.  Allow them to cook for a while until they begin to caramelise and turn soft and sweet.  Add the potatoes and mash a little to break them up and allow them to soak up the oniony flavour.  Season and add a little oil if the potatoes are very floury and dry.

Uncover your dough and divide into two.  Sprinkle a little semolina flour onto a surface and flatten your pizzas into a round shape roughly 0.5 cm thick.  Put your pizza base onto a baking tray and top with half the potato mix, spreading to the edges.  Using a peeler, peel thin strips of courgette to top the potato layer.  Season and drizzle with a little oil.

Cook for 7 – 10 mins until the base is crisp and the pizza golden brown.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with pine nuts and a little fresh basil.