I salvaged the last of my frozen, stewed garden tomatoes from last summer for this sauce and they were excellent, but canned would work as well. With the herbs, I almost always prefer fresh, but won’t buy them in little plastic containers for $3 dollars a pop. Better to use dried, until fresh local ones are available, preferably from your indoor herb garden.
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cups crushed/stewed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano or teaspoon dried oregano*
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups chard, rinsed
- 2 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, julienned
- 4 ounces of grated fontina cheese
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- salt and pepper
- 1½ cups lukewarm water, divided
- 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 cups wheat or unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 5 tablespoons light olive oil, divided
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
Preparation
For the sauce:
In small saucepan, sauté garlic over medium heat until aromatic. Add remainder of ingredients and simmer until thickened. Cool to room temperature before using.
For the toppings:
Remove stems from chard. Chop stems into ½-inch pieces and chop leaves roughly. In a large pan over medium heat, season with salt and sauté chopped stems, mushrooms and red pepper flakes until softened, about 5 minutes. Add leaves and cook for another 5 minutes. Add wine vinegar, basil and black olives; cool and set aside.
For the crust (adapted from Chez Panisse, Pizza and Calzone by Alice Waters)
In a large bowl, mix ½ cup water with yeast, ½ cup flour and milk. Let rise for 30 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients, keeping out 1 tablespoon olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt to dress crust edges before baking. Mix the dough (by hand or in a food processor) and turn it out onto a floured board. Knead for 10 minutes.
Place dough in an oiled bowl and oil the surface. Cover with damp cloth and let rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. Punch it down. Let rise again for 40 minutes. Divide in 2 evenly. Roll or stretch the dough into 2 (12- to 14-inch) circles, as needed. You can only cook 1 at a time, unless you have 2 stones.
Preheat pizza stone in 425° oven for 30 minutes.
Lightly sprinkle a large pizza paddle with cornmeal. Shape crust on paddle by stretching/rolling into a rustic circle. Cover crust with a thin layer of sauce, up to the edges. Important: Don’t over-sauce at this point or the pizza won’t slide well onto its stone. Sprinkle cheeses on top. Spread the chard toppings evenly. Brush edges of crust with oil and lightly salt. Slide pizza quickly and carefully onto the hot stone.
Bake on stone in oven for 15 minutes, or until pizza is nicely browned on bottom of crust. Serve.
