Bacon, Spinach & Tomato Pizza is my latest pizza creation. I love pizza, and really, is there anyone who doesn't? It's gotta be one of my biggest weaknesses.
The carbs, the fat, the salt, the sauce, the cheese. All of the best, most delish things in one place, and, best of all, you can eat it with one hand. I make a lot of pizza myself from scratch; it's super easy and versatile, and of course, incredibly satisfying to eat. Living in a rural place where there's no delivery, I think I've pretty much perfected my from-scratch pizza skills.
In our travels, we have always sampled the pizza wherever we may be, and have consumed, enjoyed, and loved, many, amazing slices. And by the way, all of this pizza love does not mean that I would say no to Domino's if offered. I'm no pizza snob. I love it all, and if I'm somewhere and there's hot pizza being offered, I'm not judging, I'm just digging in.
BLT Inspiration
But in my kitchen, I'm always trying new toppings, combos and even bases for my pizzas, (Check out this Naan Pizza!). So, this bacon, spinach & tomato pizza recipe was inspired by a BLT, only on a pizza. Of course, the L (lettuce) won't work in the oven. Spinach is a hardy and delicious, and even better, more nutritious sub for the green component here. It stands up in the oven.
Pizza Dough is Easy to Make
A lot of people feel intimidated by anything involving yeast. You can do this pizza recipe using store-bought pizza crusts, or dough, and it'll work, of course, for sure. And be delicious, too. But, just so you know, making pizza dough is super easy and it only takes an hour to rise. The dough for this pizza is made in my stand mixer. You could also do it in a food processor if yours has a dough hook, or you could do it in a bread machine, and I have a recipe for that: Pizza Dough, Bread Machine Recipe, or you can use any dough recipe that you like. I happen to love this one. It makes an awesome pizza and it's super easy.
Recipe
Bacon, Spinach & Tomato Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 ½ - 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Pizza Topping
- 6 slices thick bacon
- ½ cup canned crushed tomatoes
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 medium ripe tomato sliced
- ½ cup spinach leaves stems removed
- ½ cup shredded or thinly sliced Monterrey jack or mozzarella cheese.
- Crushed chilli flakes for serving optional
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Warm your mixing bowl by filling with hot water, emptying and drying. Dissolve yeast with warm water in a bowl. Add salt, olive oil and 2 ½ cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to a stand mixer, turn to speed 2 and mix for about 1 minute.
- Continuing on speed 2, add ½ cup of remaining flour at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. ( I only needed a further ½ cup of flour). Knead on speed 2 about 2 minutes long.
- Grease a bowl with olive oil. Shape dough into a ball and put into the bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about one hour. Remove from bowl and punch dough down.
- Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet or a 14" pizza pan. Stretch the dough with your hands to roughly the size and shape of your pan. Press dough onto the parchment-lined pan, forming a ridge around the edges to hold the filling.
Pizza
- Cook bacon in a hot skillet until golden and not quite crisp. Set aside on a paper towel-lined plate, pressing with more paper towel to remove excess grease. Mix together crushed tomato, and tomato paste. Thinly spread this mixture over your prepared pizza dough. sprinkle dried basil evenly over the crust. Scatter spinach leaves over, then the bacon slices, then tomato slices, and finally the cheese.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with crushed chilli flakes for sprinkling.
Nutrition
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