Squash Pizza Dough

Making your own pizza crust can be fun, healthy and a great way to spend time in the kitchen with your family!
This recipe for squash pizza dough came to life last summer after our neighbor brought over a whole bag full of yellow summer squash.
Yum! I perused recipes online and stumbled across a healthy concoction for pizza dough. For the life of me, I don't remember where I found it. Oops! I'm not taking credit for this recipe, someone else made it, posted it and I'm just re-posting it with pictures because I think it's excellent. A few things to know before starting the dough: it's a bit time consuming but the outcome is fabulous and healthy. Last year I did not have a food processor, so I shredded the squash by hand with a cheese grater. It. Took. Forever. Now, I have a handy Food Processor which cut down the time quite a bit. The second thing to know is that you have to wring out the squash. You can do this by sitting it in a colander with a heavy bowl on top of it to "push" the water out for an hour or two or grab it with your hands and squeeze, baby squeeze! If you're in a hurry, get squeezing! Lastly, if you salt the squash a little bit it will force the water to drain out, a process called "weeping." So salt it, but not too much!



Things you'll need:
Grater or Food Processor
4 medium Finely shredded squash
3/4 C All-Purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour this go-round)
3/4 C grated Parm Cheese
1/2 C Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 eggs beaten
1/2 tsp Pepper
Salt to taste
2 9 inch round cake pans
olive oil
garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Shred the squash with a grater or a food processor. The squash will be quite wet. Place in a colander, put a heavy bowl on top and put two large cans in the bowl to give it some weight. Let it sit for a few hours. Or, place in colander, have a bowl handy and squeeze the squash with your hands and stick the 'dry' squash in the bowl.
2. In a medium mixing bowl combine squash, flour, cheeses, eggs, pepper and salt.
3. Divide dough and work around two 9 inch sprayed and floured cake pans. You can make the dough as thin or as thick as you like.
4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes
5. Take the pans out of the oven, run a knife around the sides to loosen. Use a spatula to flip the dough. Baste the bottom part of the dough (that is now on top) with olive oil and sprinkle of garlic salt. Broil at 500 for 5 minutes or until desired crispyness.
6. Do the same to the other side.










K-baby and I like to make a high protein, high fiber pizza using minced garlic, shredded chicken, mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese. There is no sauce for this recipe. Just mix as much ricotta and garlic together to cover your pizza. Top with shredded chicken and mozzarella cheese. Delish and healthy.


Mangia! Mangia!
Mangia! Mangia!