October 3, 2020

Plum Tomato and Pesto Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella

Plum Tomato and Pesto Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella is a really fresh tasting pizza with homemade dough topped with a fresh tomato Pomodoro sauce, fresh mozzarella, and fresh plum tomatoes. Then, it’s drizzled with homemade pesto sauce. This recipe makes two pizzas, and should feed six people.

The Equipment You’ll Need

A Bread Machine- You’ll need this for making the bread dough.
Two Pizza Stones- You’ll need this for baking your pizzas. If you only have one pizza stone, you could just bake one pizza at a time.
A Pizza Peel- This is how you’ll slide your pizza in and out of the oven. If you don’t have one, just remove your pizza stones from the oven, when you need to access them.
A Food Processor- You’ll need this to make your pesto.

The Ingredients You’ll Need for Plum Tomato and Pesto Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh Plum Tomatoes- This recipe just won’t be the same with canned tomatoes.
Pine Nuts- If you don’t have any, you can substitute walnuts.
Chicken Stock- I always make my own. You can find my recipe in my post for Matzo Ball Soup.

How I Made my Pizzas

First, I made my dough in the bread machine. When the dough was done, I put it in the refrigerator, in an oiled bowl, and covered it with plastic wrap. I did this because I had to run some errands.
When I came home, I took the dough out to come to room temperature.
Luckily, I had leftover Pomodoro sauce leftover from the night before. Otherwise, I would have made it at this point.
Then, I made the pesto. And, I sliced the tomatoes and shredded the fresh mozzarella cheese.
Also, I preheated the oven and the pizza stones. I like my pizza stones to heat at 425 degrees for a full thirty minutes.
Finally, I baked the pizzas, drizzled them with pesto, and served them.
We only ate one pizza, and the next day I reheated the other pizza at the same temperature for 20 minutes and it tasted perfectly fresh!

I know there are a lot of steps to this recipe, but if you can make some of these elements ahead of time, these pizzas can be made very quickly. I already had Pomodoro sauce leftover from last night’s chicken. And, pesto keeps great in the freezer, so it’s great to make a double batch. If you’re looking for a fresh, new pizza recipe, I hope you’ll try this Plum Tomato and Pesto Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella!

Plum Tomato and Pesto Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella

Homemade pizza crust topped with a fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, plum tomatoes, and basil pesto.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Rising Time 2 20

Total Time 3 10

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings people

Equipment

Bread Machine
Food processor
2 Pizza Stones
A Pizza Peel

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 cups all purpose flour (360g)
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. active dry yeast
6 plum tomatoes, with the stems cut out
1 tbsp. each butter and extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup minced onion
2 tbsp. red wine
1 bay leaf
½ cup chicken stock
3 basil leaves
½ tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. kosher salt
4 cups shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
3 cups sliced plum tomatoes
2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 tbsp. pine nuts
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ tsp. each black pepper and kosher salt
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Begin by making the pizza dough: Add the water, one tablespoon of oil, flour, honey, salt, and yeast in the order suggested by your bread machine. Select the dough cycle, and press start.
While the dough rises, make the pomodoro and pesto sauces. For the pomodoro sauce: In a three quart saucepan, half filled with boiling water, simmer the tomatoes for three minutes, or until their skins have loosened. Drain and peel the tomatoes, and chop them up.
In a large Dutch oven, heat the butter and oil and cook the onion and garlic until they're soft. Add the tomatoes, wine, bay leaf, chicken stock, basil, sugar, and a half teaspoon of kosher salt.
For the Pesto Sauce: In a food processor, place the basil, garlic, Parmesan, pine nuts, and a quarter teaspoon each of kosher salt and black pepper. Process until they're all ground up. Then, with the motor running, drizzle in a third a cup of oil.
Preheat the oven at 425 degrees, and heat the pizza stones for thirty minutes.
Place parchment paper on the pizza peels, and using your fingers press each ball of dough into a twelve inch circle. Brush each circle with olive oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise for thirty minutes. Then bake for 15 minutes.
Remove the pizza from the oven, and spread the pomodoro sauce on each pizza. Add the cheese and then the sliced tomatoes. Bake for five more minutes, or until the cheese melts, and then drizzle with pesto.