Homemade Whole-Grain Olive Tapenade & Veggie Pizza Recipe

Last night, I was in the mood for a serious pizza. I am a huge pizza fan, but I didn’t want anything regular. I wanted something that was going to fill my gut and really satisfy. With this in mind, I fell back on all the knowledge I’ve picked up over the years and went at it. I made the two of us a huge veggie pizza that had some serious flavor. This thing was incredible.

The Recipe

The trick with making a pizza that fills you up is that you can’t rely on the dough alone to do that job. Dough is filling, but not that filling. To really get the job done, you’ll need to add some serious toppings to the pizza. Topping like potato, onion and carrots. If I had broccoli and mushrooms, I would have added them as well. Perhaps I’ll do that next time.

The key to the flavoring of this pizza is the tapenade. I used sun dried tomatoes, kalamta olives and green olives for that. If you’re into olives, you can probably imagine how that tastes. Also, I used ricotta and mozzarella cheese as well. I spread the mozzarella underneath and above the veggies so the cheesy goodness shined through. As I said, this was one legit pizza that’s versatile as well. All that needs to be dine to change the entire feel is to mix up those vegetables on top. You’ll have a completely different pizza.

Ingredients

Makes: 1 16-Inch Pizza

For the Dough

1 1/2 Pounds Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough (follow this recipe)

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for the dough:

1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Bread Flour
2 Teaspoons Honey
3/4 Teaspoon Instant Yeast
1 1/4 Cups Cold Water
2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 3/4 Teaspoons Salt

For the Pizza

1 Large Sweet Potato, Cut into 1-Inch Pieces
4 Carrots, Cut into 1-Inch Pieces
4 Small Russet Potatoes, Cut into 1-Inch Pieces
1 Large Sweet Onion, Cut into Eighths
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
Ground Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Garlic, Minced
1/3 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/3 Cup Kalamata Olives
1/3 Cup Green Olives
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1 Teaspoon Dried Rosemary Leaves
1 Teaspoon Dried Basil
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
8 Ounces Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
3 Tablespoons Fresh Basil, Chopped
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Seeds

Step-by-Step Instructions

I got the idea for this recipe from one I made a long time ago. I changed things up quite a bit for this one though, so it’s definitely worth it to try both this one and the previous one.

Make the Dough

Please use this recipe to prepare the dough. I know I said it’s experimental in the post I wrote, but I can now confirm that everything worked out and it’s a really great dough.

Pre-Heat Oven

Adjust your oven racks so one of them is in the middle position. Then, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Roast the Vegetables

Prep the sweet potato, russet potatoes, carrots, and onion and place everything into a large bowl. Then, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper to them and mix well until everything is coated with the oil. When finished, place them on a large baking sheet and put them into the oven for 45 minutes. You’ll need to flip them half way through so they don’t only brown on one side.

This is what the veggies should look like when they come out of the oven.

Increase the oven temperature to 475 degrees.

Prepare the Olive Tapenade

Add the garlic, both types of olives, sun dried tomatoes and one tablespoon of olive oil to a food processor. Then, pulse the processor to break these ingredients down. Don’t go too far here; you want things to still have some texture. You don’t want to pulverize the ingredients.

Prepare the Ricotta Cheese Mixture

Add the ricotta cheese to a medium size bowl. Then add the rosemary, dried basil and the oregano to it as well. Mix these ingredients well.

Build the Pizza

Add one teaspoon of olive oil to a pizza tray. Then, place the dough on the tray and use your fingers to gently push the dough all the way to the edges of the tray. Then, spread the olive tapenade out across the dough, almost to the edges.

After that, sprinkle half of the shredded mozzarella cheese out over the tapenade.

Next, add the vegetables to the pizza. Make sure they are even across the surface. You may have some leftovers that don’t fit on top.

And finally, distribute the ricotta cheese mixture across the pizza. I added seven blobs evenly spaced.

Then, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese over everything.

Bake the Pizza

Place the pizza in the oven and bake it for 25 minutes. The dough should be cooked after that and the cheese should all be melted in.

When finished, remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle the fresh basil over the top. Then, sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over the top as well.

Plate & Serve

Slice the pizza any way you would like to and serve. Enjoy!

The Final Veggie Pizza

I told you this was one legit pizza. It’s so awesome. I’m glad we have leftovers. If you give this one a try, please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!