Pizza with fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, shredded provolone, pepperoni, roasted red pepper and olives. 

Do you have a favorite pizza or do you love to change and taste new flavors? Today I offer you a vegetarian pizza with roasted peppers, olives and pepperoni. Have you ever tried pizza with grilled peppers? If the answer is no, you have to fix it immediately! 🙂 The pizza with peppers is really tasty. Usually, when I cook grilled peppers in the oven, I sketch with the doses and then keep some aside to prepare pizza for dinner the same day or the next day.

Today pizza is a food very present on the tables of all regions of Italy. From a nutritional point of view, pizza is to be considered a single dish (even if not perfectly balanced), since, as a definition wants, it contains all the macronutrients that should be taken at every meal according to a balanced diet: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, in addition to fiber. In addition, pizza knows countless variations, you can add cold cuts (source of iron) or fish such as tuna or anchovies (rich in omega three) and is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to consume more vegetables (rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals). Of course, pizza, like all other foods, should not be taken every day or even at all meals. A normal-sized pizza provides an average of 700 calories. 

From a nutritional point of view, pizza is a dish that is not too balanced: most of the energy comes from carbohydrates and fats (mozzarella and oil) but little from proteins. To ensure a correct intake of proteins and iron, in fact it would be good to integrate it or alternate it with ingredients of animal origin, such as meat, fish and eggs or even flavoring it with Grana Padano, which in addition to mozzarella increases the intake of proteins of high biological value. If you want to flavor and give character to a pizza it is always good to remember that it is a preparation already very rich in salt and therefore should be decorated by alternating a few and well-selected ingredients. In short, it is better to avoid very rich fillings such as spicy salami, sausages, fries, eggs, mayonnaise and other sauces. The wide customization of the pizza allows everyone to choose their favorite flavor, so even children can help their mother to season the pizza, choosing the ingredients they prefer, sharing a fun time with the family.

Ingredients (1 pizza with a diameter of 32 cm)

For the dough

flour g 180

lukewarm water, about 100 ml

extra virgin olive oil 

2 tablespoons yeast g 5

salt g 3

sugar g 2

For the pizza topping

peppers, 1 – 2

mozzarella, g 200

Provolone 100 g

pepperoni to taste

olives to taste

tomato pulp, g 300 (or tomato puree)

extra virgin olive oil, to taste

garlic, 1 clove

basil, some leaves

Preparation

To prepare the pizza with peppers, first grill the peppers in the oven: wash the peppers, dry them and place them in a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake them at high temperature (I baked them at 200 °C in the ventilated oven). Let them cook for about 30 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking. You will find that they are ready when they have sagged and the peel will be slightly burnt. Take them out of the oven and let them cool, then get rid of the peduncle (the seeds and vegetation liquid will also come out). Peel them, reduce them to strips and put them in a colander for about 30 minutes, to make them lose the vegetation liquid. After the necessary time, place the peppers in a bowl and season with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add salt, add 1/2 clove of garlic, a few basil leaves and mix gently. Crumble the yeast in a small bowl and dilute it with 3 tablespoons of warm water. Add the sugar and a little flour to obtain a fluid and homogeneous mixture. Cover the bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap and let the mixture rest for about 15 minutes (you will get a frothy mixture). Put the remaining flour in a bowl, make the fountain, put the oil, a little warm water and the leavened mixture in the center; Mix everything well then add salt. Knead for a few minutes, adding more water, little by little, then pour the dough on a floured pastry board and knead vigorously until the dough is smooth and homogeneous; Form a ball, put it in a large bowl greased with oil, cover it with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, put it in a place away from drafts (for example inside the oven off) and let it rise until it has doubled in volume. In a saucepan brown 1/2 clove of garlic with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add the tomato pulp, a few basil leaves and stretch with a little water; Add salt, then cook for about 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times. When the dough has risen, pour it on a floured pastry board, and roll it out giving it a round shape (you can do it with your hands or with the help of a rolling pin). Place the base of the pizza in a pizza pan, 32 cm in diameter, greased with oil, creating a little thickness in the edges. Cover with a cloth and let the base of the pizza rise for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, turn on the oven at 230°C. After the necessary time, spread the tomato pulp on the surface of the pizza, then bake it in the lower part of the oven already hot at 230 °C. Cut the mozzarella into slices or cubes and place it in a colander. Remove the pizza from the oven and spread the mozzarella plives, pepperoni and grilled peppers on the surface. Put it back in the oven and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, until the mozzarella has melted, then take it out of the oven. Serve your pizza!