A gourmet quality flatbread pizza with the delicious fresh taste of basil pesto.
I love pizza! Experimenting with different types of pizza may be my favorite thing to do now that my mom taught me how to make the pizza dough she always uses.
Homemade Pizza Dough
I prefer the homemade pizza dough I make in the bread machine. The recipe for Homemade Pizza Dough is here. If you want to make your own dough, I recommend that you check out that recipe because it’s in the bread machine and SO EASY!
Use my pizza dough instructions or your own or even the pre-packaged completed dough, if you prefer. If you’re using homemade pizza dough, try to refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or overnight.
This recipe calls for one-half the pizza dough so you’ll be able to use the other half for another pizza.
Mezzetta Basil Pesto
I absolutely love pesto and this pizza is going to the top of my list of favorites. It’s an incredible combination!
The pizza can get a little messy because of all the oil in the jar of basil pesto. A bit of the extra virgin olive oil accumulates at the top and requires stirring before use. If you like, carefully spoon off the top layer of oil to use later for dipping or the base of a dressing.
Pesto Ham and Black Olives Pizza
Ingredients
- 1/2 recipe pizza dough
- cooking spray
- 6.25 ounces Mezzetta basil pesto
- 4 ounces John Morrell diced ham
- 2.25 ounces sliced black olives drained
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- If you are using homemade pizza dough, begin at least 3 hours before you plan to prepare the pizza to complete the kneading and rising process. It's better to refrigerate for 3 or more hours after that, but it's not entirely necessary, if you're in a time crunch. Halve the dough equally and roll out on a lightly floured surface.
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Spray pizza pan with cooking spray. Place crust on pan and pinch the edges a little, if you like. This helps to catch the sauce from spilling over.
- When you open the jar of pesto, there will be oil accumulated at the top. You can either stir it up and use all of it or you can carefully spoon off some of the oil into a separate bowl and then spread it over the pizza dough. Taking off the excess oil at the top will reduce the calories and will make the pizza less messy, if you prefer that. Don't throw out the oil, though! Use it for dipping or a base for salad dressing later. Evenly spread the pesto on pizza dough with the back of a spoon.
- Evenly distribute ham and olives. Top with mozzarella.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until done. Cool slightly and cut into 8 pieces.
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