Spinach and Ricotta Pizza
Last year I created a list of experimental pizzas that I eventually wanted to try. After looking back over the list the Spinach and Ricotta cheese pizza caught my eye. A few hours and a trip to the local market later and there I was prepping to create what is one of my most exotic pizzas yet.
Here are the toppings:
1 bag of fresh leaf spinach
1 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
1 T parmesean cheese
dash salt
1 egg
olive oil
tomato sliced
onion sliced
The dough was 36 hour boli dough which had a bench rise of about 30 minutes. I washed a bag of fresh spinach and steamed it for about 10 minutes. I also sliced some large tomatoes and an onion. Next, I mixed the ricotta, parmesean, egg and salt together in a bowl.
After stretching the pizza onto my 16 inch screen, I spread a thin layer of olive oil onto the blank. Next were tomatoes edge to edge, then spinach, onions and clumps of the ricotta mixture. The pie was then baked for about 9 minutes at 500 degrees.
I learned several lessons with this experiment right away. The first lesson was that I had used too much ricotta on the pizza. It had spread out and covered much of the spinach so it remained somewhat soggy. Next, I learned that tomatoes on olive oil don’t stay. Much of the topping slid off with a tomato after my first bite. Lastly, I have decided that it was way too early in the year for fresh tomatoes. They had a bitter flavor and it really didn’t compliment the spinach.
Despite all of that, I enjoyed the pizza and I can see it’s potential. I will definitely work on this recipe until it is a winner. Comments and family recipes are most welcome!
May 1st, 2005 at 9:32 pm
I like it with a thin smear of regular tomato sauce as the first layer, then the spinach & cheese (easy on the cheese/ricotta). For some reason, thinly sliced mushrooms or sliced cherry tomatoes go really well on top with the spinach. spinach/cheese/other 60/20/20. _b
July 10th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
Hello;
Your success with this “boli” dough looks to be exactly what I am trying to achieve. The rim crust appears to have large voids which is what I am having a hard time achieving. Is it possible for you to email me your boli recipe?
Thanks much…
whitemanfarms@cs.com
October 21st, 2006 at 4:11 pm
I have fallen in LOVE with the Sicilian pizza at Pizza Hut.Infact, I don’t ever order anything other than that since I have tried it. Last night my husband and I called to order one, they said it would be the last night. A limited edition! I was crushed! This morning I saw your recipe…I CAN’T WAIT to try it! It looks wonderful. Thank you,
Shauna
June 8th, 2008 at 5:50 am
I tried this recipe just then and it turned out surprisingly well. I substituted the tomatoes with tomato paste, and added pepper to the ricotta mixture. I think a whole bag of spinach was slightly too much, and i think i used slightly too little ricotta, but it was still a very enjoyable meal. Thanks
April 29th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Tonight I have ingredients to make spinach ricotta…after reading what PizzaBill wrote I plan on partially baking the crust with some pesto on it, then adding cheese/spinach to avoid soggy crust. I’ll let you know…but I’m hungry already!