Green Pear Flatbread Pizza

Happy National Pi Day! Let’s celebrate with pie. Pizza’s a pie, right?

Fragrant pear slices + savory cilantro pesto + a toasty herb crust. I’ve been dreaming of this green pizza. When the idea for this recipe formed, I was feeling in between two things: inspired by the color green and craving a friend’s beloved apple pizza. Pesto-based pizzas may be above classic pizzas in my book of flavor cravings.

I’ve never used green peas in pesto before, but I wanted to see what I could do with them, seeing as Treehugger pinned “the humble pea” on their list of green food trends for 2015. I think the peas balanced the flavors and added to the spreadable texture of this pesto. So, here’s the recipe for this pear pizza’s pesto base!

Green Pea Cilantro Pesto

(makes a lot, enough for 2 pizzas)

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 handfuls fresh cilantro
2/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 T fresh lime juice
1/4 t sea salt
2/3 cup almonds
1 cup thawed green peas
1 T + 1 t water (add gradually to your preference)

Method: Blend all the pesto ingredients together, taste, and re-season to your taste with sea salt, lime juice or nutritional yeast. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

On my first attempt at making this pizza, I didn’t roll out the crust thinly enough. For this pear pizza’s delicate flavors to shine, a thinner crust works better than a thicker one, so the second time around, I made sure my dough was about 1/4 of an inch thick, and that yielded much better results.

Green Pear Flatbread Pizza
(makes 2 pizzas, about 10 slices total)
loosely inspired by Love & Lemons

Ingredients:

whole grain herb crust (see recipe below, or use this recipe for a gluten-free option)
green pea cilantro pesto (see recipe above, or use any pesto recipe)
2 medium-ripe pears* (I ended up using about 1 cup of sliced pears for each pizza.)
pure maple syrup
fresh little greens—I used baby kale, but arugula would also taste beautiful with this!

*A note on the pears–you want them to be fragrant and sweet, but not too soft, or else you won’t be able to slice them thinly. I sliced mine to be about 1/8 inch thick, with a mandolin slicer.

Whole Grain Herb Crust

(makes 2 crusts)

1/2 cup warm water (plus more, as needed)
1/2 packet rapid rise yeast
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 cup chopped herbs of your choice (I used cilantro and scallions)
1/4 avocado, about 1 tablespoon (optional)

Method

Mix the warm water and rapid rise yeast together in a bowl and set aside for a few minutes.
Whisk together all the dry ingredients (save the herbs and avocado for later) in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the water and yeast mixture into it. Mash the avocado into the mixture with a fork, and throw in the chopped herbs. Mix well with your hands.
Add more chickpea flour/water as needed. Knead for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and easy to work with. Divide the dough in half and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Lightly oil your baking surface with a bit of oil. In my case, I used a toaster oven tray lined with wax paper. Roll your dough out on your baking surface. I decided to make an oval shape.
Spread a layer of pesto on the dough. Place one layer of overlapping thin pear slices on top. Add a few dabs of pesto on the pear slices and add at least one more layer of pear slices. Sprinkle some garlic salt on top.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 for your second portion of dough.
Bake the pizzas at 450 degrees F for at least 15 minutes, or until the crust is browned and crisp.
Top the pizzas with a handful of fresh baby kale (or arugula) and serve with a drizzle of pure maple syrup. Yum!

Re: this post’s food photos–I was rushing to take these photos as best I could before the sun went down that day, so they may be a little crazy looking! I enjoyed these results, although I want to be more strategic in my styling next time (and I seriously need a tripod). I’m so used to white and bright dreamy backgrounds, so this was a fun, unexpected challenge in shooting with a dark background, for a moodier look! I was inspired by The Cashew Kitchen’s guide to food photography and styling. If any of you have any feedback/tips, please share–I have so much to learn!

If you get to make this pizza, please let me know your results in the comments; I would love to hear your feedback. 🙂 Have an amazing day!