Friday Pizza Night: Pumpkin, Fennel and Endive Pizza

Hannah Sunderani
Dec 1, 2017
5 min read

This has got to be one of my favourites pizza recipes to date, because the crust and toppings are pure magic! Made with a homemade dough and topped with roasted pumpkin, fennel, fresh endive, pine nuts and sage. This pizza pulls out all the stops taking it from everyday to gourmet! It is certainly award winning in my books. Honestly, I can't think of a time that I ate a pizza so magnificent, let alone pulled it out of my own oven.

Last week I had my very talented blogger friend, Odile JP, come to visit me in Lille, and we baked this glorious pizza together. All we bloggers want to do when we get together is cook good food! And this pizza recipe was top of the list. We were looking to create a pizza that was rich and hearty for the cooler months, and this Pumpkin, Fennel and Endive Pizza proved just that. I am totally in love with the flavour combos in this recipe, which so perfectly bring out our favourite winter flavours. Typically, I like to do a tomato base for my pizza, but with these toppings all you need is a little olive oil to brush. It was divine. The oil offered such a crisp and savoury crunch to the outside of the pizza dough, while keeping a chewy and light interior. And with the pumpkin, fennel, endive and sage on top, there was no need to add any additional flavours to the mix.

As for the dough. We used Bo's Ultimate Pizza Dough recipe from her blog, Bo's Kitchen. Bo is one of our favourite food bloggers, who makes the most delicious and beautifully styled recipes. I've been dying to make her pizza dough recipe for ages because it looks so thick and bubbly! Every time I see it in her stories I'm lost for words. I know people love thin crust pizzas, but I'm a fan of the thick dough, especially especially e-s-p-e-c-i-a-l-l-y when it's homemade. When it's homemade there is nothing more heavenly than biting into a crisp thick dough with big pockets of air inside. It's a gift from the gods.

As you can see I'm a big believer that a good pizza is always determined by it's bread! The most memorable pizzas are a harmonious match of crisp and tender, chewy and bright. Bo's homemade dough is just that. Actually, her recipe is a lot like my own pizza dough recipe: a few simple ingredients of flour, water, salt and a bit of yeast. The magical ingredient, responsible for making this dough so tasty, is TIME! Yep, that's all that's needed to turn your dough from good to an act of grace. Bo recommends 6 hours for her dough to rise, (shorter than my recipe, which I leave for 18 hours!). And although you might be thinking that this is all too much effort, let me emphasize that the juice is worth the squeeze! (or, to keep on the pizza theme: the dough is worth the...knead?). If I can give any advice it's that this pizza dough is worth the extra time and effort. That's because the extra time gives the yeast an opportunity to activate with the flour, and really begin to ferment to give a deep flavour and slightly sour taste. It will blow you away just how tasty your pizza dough can be. Plus, the best things in life are always worth waiting for. Amiright?

The toppings of course are the hook line and sinker, making for an unforgettable experience in every bite. The roasted pumpkin offers a little sweetness, the roasted fennel deep and perfumey, the endive crunchy and tart, and the sage bright and earthy. The ingredients are deliciously warm, hearty, and complementary. They offer a perfect deep flavour profile that we so desperately crave during the cold winter months.

You can see now why Odile and I were so enamoured by this vegan pizza recipe. Because from beginning to end the ingredients are a knockout. Go ahead and give it a try for yourself. Turn your pizza night gourmet with this gorgeous Pumpkin, Fennel and Endive Pizza. As the saying goes, you don't need a silver spoon to eat good food. ;)

Happy Friday everyone!

Vegan Pumpkin Fennel and Endive Pizza

Makes: 6 individual pizzas| Prep Time: 6h + 30 mins (30 minutes active prep) | Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For No-Knead Dough:

Recipe from Bo's Kitchen:

1kg strong white bread flour
700g filtered water
15g salt
2g yeast

For the Toppings:

extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pumpkin (red kuri squash)
1 fennel bulb
1 purple endive
10-12 sage leaves, to sprinkle
pine nuts to sprinkle
salt and pepper

Directions:

To prepare the dough: whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Gradually add water while stirring with a wooden spoon. Stir until well incorporated. Knead dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. Transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature in a draft-free area for 6 hours.*
Transfer dough to a floured work surface and gently shape into a rough rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions and mold portions gently into a ball. Dust dough balls with flour, and cover with plastic wrap until ready to use. (Place in fridge if not using within the hour, or freezer if you're not planning to cook all 6 pizzas).
To cook the pumpkin and fennel: preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out seeds. Cut pumpkin and fennel into thin slices and paint each side with olive oil. Place on a tinfoil lined baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Cook pumpkin and fennel for 20 minutes, or until veg is golden and crispy. Then, remove from oven and place to the side.
Increase oven to 460F and place pizza stone inside. Line your work station with with parchment paper and dust with flour. Place a individual dough ball on top, and dust the ball generously with flour. Using your hands, or a rolling pin, work the dough into a round disk approx. 8-10 inches (1.5 cm thick).
When pizza stone is hot flip the pizza dough from parchment paper onto the stone, and paint with olive oil leaving approx. 1 inch for the crust.
Decorate pizza with your roasted pumpkin only, and place in the oven to cook until crust is crisp and puffed, approx. 8 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a cutting board and decorate with remaining veg: roasted fennel, and fresh endive. Sprinkle pizza with sage leaves and pine nuts and crack with salt and pepper. Cut into 4 slices and serve.
Continue Step 3-5 for remaining pizza dough balls.

*Note: Pizza dough can be made ahead. Slice dough into 6 separate dough balls and wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap. Chill in fridge for 24 hours, or in freezer for up to two weeks. When ready to use, let dough rest at room temperature covered with plastic wrap for 2–3 hours (4-5 hours if frozen) before using.

Approvals: