Stuffed spinach pizza

For the first time in a long time I made stuffed spinach pizza for dinner.  Why had it been so long?  Well, because I had only one 14 inch deep dish pizza pan and one pizza, even really rich and filling pizza, doesn't serve 11 people.  In order to facilitate the homemade pizza making, J. found another pizza pan for me.  With two pans I can go back to stuffed pizza making.  I love this because these two pizzas filled everyone up at dinner and had enough left over to fill everyone up at lunch.  Did I mention it was rich and filling?

Would you like the recipe?  You will need a 14 inch deep dish pizza pan to make it.  And make no mistake, this is not deep dish pizza, it's real stuffed pizza with two crusts filled with lots of cheese and covered with tomato sauce.  I started with the recipe that came with my first pizza pan and kept experimenting and changing it until I came as close as I could to our favorite take-out stuffed pizza.

Stuffed Spinach Pizza - makes on 14" pizza and serves a lot

Dough (This doubles fine if you want to make two... be sure your mixer can handle that much flour if you're not doing it by hand.)

3 pkgs of regular yeast (or 6 3/4 tsp) or 2 tsp of instant yeast such as SAF
1 1/2 C very warm water (from tap)
6 3/4 C flour (I've used all whole wheat and it works fine)
1 1/2 C olive oil
2 1/4 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside.  (Do not do this step if using instant yeast!)  Combine the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl and add in yeast and water mixture.  Knead for 5 minutes.  (I did this in my mixer and it was fine.)  Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour.  If you are using instant yeast, mix the water with the rest of the ingredients and then add yeast to mixture, continue as written.

Filling
2 10-oz pkgs of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
16 oz mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil (I use fresh in the summer, dried in the winter)
a little salt

Mix all together and set aside until dough is ready.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  When dough is ready, lightly oil pizza pan, take a little more than half the dough and spread across the bottom and up the sides of the pizza pan.  Place filling inside dough.  Roll out the rest of the dough to the size of the pan and place on top of the filling.  Crimp the edges a bit to keep the dough together, much as you would make a pie, and prick the top of the dour all over with a fork.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes.  While it is baking, mix up the topping.

Topping
1 28-oz can tomato puree
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, drained!
pepper
salt
oregano
basil
(As much as you like, I never measure, I just put some in until it tastes right.)

When the pizza has baked for 30 minutes, take it out and spoon the topping on top of the pizza.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Cool slightly, and serve.

Comments

MRK said…
This looks delicious to me, but since not one of my four kids will eat frozen chopped spinach, I'm wondering if you've ever done a stuffed pizza with another filling and have any suggestions ? I'm sure just about anything could work but thought maybe you'd had success with something else turning out yummy.

Megan
thecurryseven said…
Megan-- You could fill it with anything... we just particularly like spinich. When I order stuffed pizza from the restaurant we also often get sausage or pepperoni. I would make the pizza the same way, but instead of add spinich to the cheese, I would add (cooked) Italian sausage or chopped pepperoni. You could also just leave it plain cheese and not add any extra ingredients... or sauteed vegetables... or mushrooms... really anything!

e
shortybear said…
appreciate your sharing.

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