Spicy Kale Pizza Dough with Mushrooms and Cheese

Sautéed mushrooms and kale with cottage cheese on a spicy kale pizza crust

Food takes time.

Food requires relationships.

Food requires connections.

When Sherry Chen of the BW Greenway said the above words at a recent local foods summit those words struck me.

Food takes time.

Feeding my family from our CSA farm share [yeah, I was part of the choir at that local foods summit. I don't have the raw data, but I know we're eating more than the 10% locally sourced food we were to pledge to eat.  100% of the beets, turnips, fresh figs and radishes for sure] means, for the most part, I am the one taking the time to make the food.  And when that food is not necessarily enjoyed by the entire household it can be hard to justify taking the time for just me.

But--I'm worth it.  And you are, too.

This is a convoluted way of saying that the pizza I'm sharing is more of a personal-sized pizza.  I did not consume the whole pie in one sitting, but if I'd been hungry enough I would have.  I made it knowing I'd be the only one to eat it, and that's fine by me.  It gave me a satisfactory answer to Sherry's question:

Who is fixing your dinner?  Someone has to grow, harvest, and prepare each meal.  

Even if it's not you.

Spicy Kale Pizza Dough (I like to make my dough at least a day or two before baking)

NOTE: This recipe is not gluten free as written, because I used bread flour. To adapt this recipe for a gluten free diet please substitute the gluten free flour blend of your choice, or make your own--here are some options:
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free-flour-mix-white/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free-flour-mix-whole-grain/
Check labels to confirm that your other ingredients are also gluten free. Good sources for determining gluten free products can be found here:
http://knowgluten.me/2012/03/31/other-names-for-gluten/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free/

http://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Gluten%252dFree-Food-List-%7B47%7D-Unsafe-Foods-%26amp%3B-Ingredients/ 

Please refer to my Basic Kale Pizza Dough post for detailed instructions on making dough with kale.

2 1/4 ounces (1/2 cup, packed) steamed chopped kale

4 1/4 ounces (1 cup) bread flour

1/2 Tablespoon olive oil

1/8 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/8 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or 1/2 clove fresh garlic, or roasted garlic would be great here)

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

2-6 Tablespoons water (start with the smallest amount, add more a Tablespoon at a time)

Place all ingredients into a bread machine and mix on the Pizza Dough or Dough setting. Alternatively, add yeast to water and kale in a mixing bowl, stir in flour, oil, and seasonings, and mix until a sticky dough forms.  Please refer to my Pizza Primer post for detailed directions on making pizza dough at home.  I feel like I'm sending you all over the place, and I don't mean to, I just don't want to make this post any longer than I need.  The idea for this combination of kale and cottage cheese came from a comment (thank you for comments!) by Tammy.  It sounded delicious and I ran with it.

On pizza day you'll need:

1 ball Spicy Kale Pizza Dough

olive oil for brushing the crust

1/3 cup chopped mushrooms

1 cup packed torn kale leaves

1/3 cup cottage cheese (I prefer small curd, full fat, and dry cottage cheese)

seasoned salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have a pizza stone, encourage it to live in your oven full-time.  If you don't, go ahead and use a cookie sheet.  On an oiled piece of parchment paper (NOW is the time to stock up on parchment paper coupons, with all the baking supply coupons) stretch out the dough into a 9-10 inch circle.  Brush dough with olive oil.  Set aside to rest.  In a small skillet over medium heat, sauté mushrooms until softened, about 5 minutes, and add kale leaves for another couple minutes until slightly wilted.  Set aside, and back to the pizza dough.  Spread cottage cheese over top of the dough, top with mushrooms and kale, and shake a bit of seasoned salt over the whole thing.  Bake on the parchment for 5 to 8 minutes, then shimmy the dough off and bake, naked on the pizza stone or cookie sheet, another 3 to 5 minutes until the top looks dry. Slice (Amazon link to my favorite pizza slicer) and serve.

the beer is clearly not locally sourced

This pizza joins the party at the From the Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, What's Cookin' Wednesday