We have pizza every Friday, and it’s always a slight (enjoyable) challenge to come up with seasonal variations. In high summer, of course, we have a lot of pesto pizza. There’s a great spring pizza on page 53 of my book. During the colder months, this winter pizza is a treat.
Topped with a herb-filled tomato sauce (made from canned tomatoes), slightly sweet caramelised onions and fresh apples, and meaty mushrooms, it’s a fantastic cold weather dinner. Finish it off with some garlic and kale and you have something really excellent, and made with ingredients that can all be found locally at this time of year.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Spelt sourdough crust: another pizza dough can be used if preferred. Use yeast-based spelt pizza dough for a faster option.
- Tomato sauce: we make a slight variation on this spicy marinara, but Graham makes his own special pizza sauce we always use.
- Caramelised onions: if you don’t want to take the extra time to make them, you can use raw onion (see below) but please take the time. It’s so much better.
- Mushrooms: thinly sliced. Cremini are pictured but any mushroom you like can be used. We often use oyster mushrooms.
Step by Step
Step 1: roll out the dough, then add a layer of tomato sauce followed by an even layer of onions.
Step 2: top with a layer of sliced apples.
Step 3: add the mushrooms, trying to cover any onions that are exposed. Bake the pizza.
Step 4: while the pizza is in the oven, cook the kale and garlic.
Step 5: bake the pizza until golden and crisp around the edges.
Step 6: top with the kale and serve hot.
Recipe Notes
The order of ingredients is important. Caramelised onions burn if exposed directly to heat, so they need to go under everything else. Mushrooms need more heat to reduce the water effectively, so they need to be at the top, and topped with a little olive oil and salt.
The onions are key to this recipe, and I do encourage you to take the time to make them. Think of it as an addition to weekly batch cooking, if you do that, or something you can make on the weekend while doing something else (they need time, but very little supervision). If you absolutely can’t, very thinly sliced raw onion can be substituted.
I have tried topping the pizza with kale, for a crisp kale-chip kind of topping. It just burns, so it’s better to cook separately. If you don’t want this extra step, use a different green like chard, and layer it under the onions.
If you don’t feel comfortable making your own bread but still want to try this pizza, use a store-bought crust instead. We make pizza once a week and I find the sourdough to be handy as half the dough is frozen for the following week.
Top with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if you like a bit of acidity (that’s what I always do). Of course you could add cheese if you don’t need the pizza to be vegan, but it is very good without, and vegan cheese is a compromise at best.
How to Store
Storage: keep leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature for up to one day.
Freezing: transfer cooled pizza into an airtight container and freeze for up to a month. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating in the oven.
Newsletter
More Winter Dinners
Chickpea Soup
Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff
Hearty Lentil Chili
Mushroom Pot Pie
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Winter Pizza
Ingredients
- ½ batch spelt sourdough pizza dough
- 100 ml tomato sauce
- 100 grams caramelised onions
- 1 large apple cored and thinly sliced
- 70 grams mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon olive oil for topping
- Sea salt for topping
- 120 grams fresh kale
- 3 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Prepare the pizza dough in advance so that it's shaped and already had the second prove before beginning. Make sure the onions and tomato sauce are ready.100 ml tomato sauce, 100 grams caramelised onions, 1/2 batch spelt sourdough pizza dough
- Preheat the oven to 240°C (460°F).
- Top the dough with tomato sauce, followed by caramelised onions in an even layer. Add the apple, followed by the mushrooms, covering as evenly as possible.1 large apple, 70 grams mushrooms, 100 grams caramelised onions
- Drizzle the top of the pizza with olive oil and add a sprinkle of salt.1 teaspoon olive oil, Sea salt
- Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
- While the pizza is in the oven, cook the kale. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and de-stem the kale, tearing it into small pieces. Mince the garlic.120 grams fresh kale, 3 cloves garlic
- Once the pan is hot, add a drizzle of olive oil, followed by the kale and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the kale has wilted. If you want to, deglaze with some balsamic vinegar.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and top with the garlic kale.
- Slice into triangles and serve immediately. Leftovers will keep well for a day or two in a sealed container (I always simply store on the baking sheet, in the oven). To reheat, use the oven rather than the microwave.
Notes
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
This post was first published in January 2018. It has been updated with some improvements to the recipe as of January 2022.
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