Beet Pizza Crust

Given our love for Beets and Pizzas, this recipe was long overdue! We’ve made lots of “funky” pizza crusts…tragically, none involved beets. Well, that has changed! This one adds all of the colour of red beets to give you a pinkish/reddish crust, and it also has a subtle beet flavour to it. Then again, what’s the point of using beets if you don’t get to enjoy their flavour?

We used our crust to make our Caramelized Leek and Brussels Sprouts Pizza with Camembert. However, it would be an excellent base for any pizza involving Goat Cheese or Gorgonzola. Some toppings that would complement this crust nicely would be crumbled bacon, or fried ground pork, sauteed kale, arugula, spinach, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, and even (dare I say) sliced beets! Some good sauces would include any Balsamic Glaze, a pureed caramelized onion mixed with honey, or a Broccoli Sauce.

Time: 90 Minutes (plus time to boil your beets…but you can do that ahead of time)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup of Liquid Component: (We used option B, and so that’s how the method section is written)
  • Option A: Beet Juice
  • Option B: Make your own Thick Beet Juice
    • A Medium Beet
    • Water (for boiling your beet)
• 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
• 2 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
• 1 Teaspoon of Sugar or Honey Crystals
• 1 Teaspoon of Salt

Method:

• Peel and cut your beet into small cubes. Then, boil the cubes in a pot until they are soft (about 30-40 minutes depending on the size of your cubes). Note: For this step, you will want to food grade vinyl gloves to avoid red stains on your hands.
• When your beets are ready, let the liquid cool a bit, and pour your beets and remaining boiling water into your blender/food processor/Ninja, and puree.
• Add your yeast and sugar/honey crystals to the bowl of your stand mixer.
• When your beet liquid is warm, but not hot (don’t want to kill your yeast!), pour it into a measuring cup until you have 3/4 of a cup measured. If you need more liquid, add some warm water. If you have leftover pureed beet, hang onto it in case you need to add a little more later. **If you’re using beet juice, pour 3/4 of a cup into your measuring cup, and heat slightly in a microwave so it is warm, but not hot.
• Pour your liquid beet component over your yeast/sugar, and whisk to combine. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes.
• Add your first cup of flour to your stand mixer bowl, and use your dough hook attachment to combine.
• Then, add your salt and your second cup of flour, and let the stand mixer do its thing for about 8-10 minutes to activate the gluten structures.
  • By the end of this, you should have a tacky dough ball that doesn’t stick to the mixer bowl, and has all of the flour incorporated. Add more liquid or flour as needed to achieve the right consistency.
• Give a quick oil spray to a large bowl, and drop your dough in. Cover with plastic cling wrap, and let sit for an hour to hydrate/rise.
• Towards the end of the rise time, put your pizza stone in the oven, and heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• When your pizza stone is hot, and your oven is ready, work the dough into your desired shape and thickness by hand stretching it, rolling it with a rolling pin, or tossing it like they do at pizza shops (I haven’t really figured out how to do this yet).
• When the dough is ready, pull the stone/pan out of the oven, and sprinkle a little cornmeal down (to prevent any chance of sticking later)
• Place the dough on the stone, and apply your toppings. The closer to the edge you get, the less the crust edge will rise, so use that to adjust your crust to your preferences.
• When the dough reaches desired crispiness (about 20 minutes), pull out!
• Plate, Devour, and Enjoy (or wait for later)