Recipe: Green Garlic and Jalapeno Pizza with Sprouted Wheat Berry Crust

I often use the basic pizza dough recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. It’s really simple and reliable. But since I’ve been very curious about sprouted grains and beans these days, I thought I’d see how sprouted wheat berries would work here. I recently bought some Shiloh Farms organic sprouted whole wheat berries, which look a lot like coarse bulghur, and tossed them in with the flour. Fortunately, the experiment paid off – the crust had a pleasant, nubby texture and nutty flavor. Good thing. It would have been such a pity to spoil the topping with a bad crust.
 

Cooked green garlic has a sweet, garlicky flavor and are also a little reminiscent of leeks. They make a kind of monochromatic layer with the jalapenos under the smoked mozzarella, but the taste is packed with color.  I know that three jalapeno peppers sound like a lot. Once the seeds and ribs are removed though, and the peppers are further mellowed by cooking and the cream, they have a nice, not painful, amount of heat.

 

Makes one 16-inch pizza

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 2-hour rising time

 

For the crust:

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, more if needed

1 cup sprouted wheat berries

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon yeast

3 tablespoons olive oil

For the topping:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups chopped green garlic (clean and trim them as you would scallions or green onions)

3 jalapeno peppers, seeds and ribs removed and chopped

Kosher salt, to taste

¾ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon lime juice

8 ounces smoked mozzarella, shredded (about 1 ½ cups)

 

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, sprouted wheat berries, salt, and yeast together for about 1 minute, until wheat berries are coarsely ground.
   
   
2. With the food processor running continuously, pour olive oil and 1 ¼ cups warm water in a steady stream through the feed tube. Process until the mixture comes together into a ball. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and round, adding flour if the dough is very sticky.
   
   
3. Cover the dough with a warm, damp towel and allow it to rise for about 2 hours in a warm spot. It won’t quite double in size, but should puff up a bit.
    
4. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven on the middle shelf. Preheat oven to 525°F.
    
5. In a sauté pan over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic greens, peppers, and a dash of salt. Stir to combine. Cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, stir in lime juice and salt to taste.
   
   
6. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8-inch thick or so. If using pizza stone, remove from oven and transfer rolled out dough onto it. Or transfer dough onto a baking sheet. Spread the vegetable/cream mixture on pizza dough. Sprinkle smoked mozzarella evenly on top.
   
   
7. Bake until cheese is bubbling and crust is nicely browned, 8-10 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature. 
    
   

Comments

[Frances]

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous!!!