Originally I got the idea for pizza salad from CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) which we used to go to in the B.C. era (Before Children) for their "Tricolore Pizza Salad." When the economy started going downhill, restaurants started cutting costs and skimping on portion sizes and ingredients. CPK started omitting the good Parmesan cheese they used on the pizza salad, and also started charging more, which ticked me off. I started trying to recreate the dish at home, where I can put on as much Parmesan cheese as I like.
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 package or 2¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1½ to 2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp honey, plus additional 1 Tbsp for brushing pizza dough
Salad
- 1 package prewashed salad mix, preferably field greens with radicchio
- 1/2 package prewashed arugula, or rocket
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
- Grated or shredded parmesan cheese
Salad Dressing
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Making the Pizza Dough:
- Dissolve dry yeast and honey in 1 cup warm water.
- Add whole wheat flour, 1½ cups of the all-purpose or bread flour and olive oil. Mix well to form a sticky dough. Knead for 5 min or process for 2 minutes in the food processor, adding up to 1/2 cup flour as needed to keep dough from being too sticky.
- Set dough aside in an oiled large bowl at room temperature and let rise for 1 hour, covered with a towel. Dough should be doubled in size.
- After 1 hour, punch dough down and remove from the bowl.
- Divide into 4 equal parts. Roll each part into a ball, then place 4 balls back into the bowl. Cover again and let rise for 15-20 mins. Dough is ready to be used.
Cooking and assembly:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Line baking pan with foil and coat with cooking spray.
- Mix 1 tbsp honey with 1 tbsp water until honey is dissolved.
- Form pizza crust about 10-12 in diameter on prepared pan. Bake for 8 mins.
- Remove, brush top of crust with honey/water mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Replace in oven and bake an additional 3-5 mins, or until crust is lightly browned on the edges. You want it thin and crispy.
- Bake remaining 3 crusts in the same way. You can also put the pizza crust in a 425°F grill and cook with the cover down for 6-8 minutes.
- Remove baked crusts and let cool.
- Cut each crust into quarters and arrange on plates.
- Whisk all salad dressing ingredients together until emulsified. Toss packaged salad greens, 1/2 package arugula and tomatoes together with dressing and scoop a heaping serving onto each pizza crust. Garnish with Parmesan.
