Fueled Friday - Pumpkin Pizza Pie

Now that we own a pizza shop its been a lot of fun trying out some new recipes for specials. Well if you know me you know I LOVE pumpkin...not pumpkin spice lattes...but the real deal pumpkin puree. At home I almost never use canned pumpkin, but for testing recipes in the shop I used canned pumpkin because its more consistent than homemade. If you use homemade pumpkin puree you just need to be sure that you're mixture is on the thicker side. If your puree has too much water the pizza crust will become soggy.

Pumpkin Pizza Pie
pizza dough
1 1/2 c mozarella
1/4 c whole milk ricotta
3 tbsp pesto
1/4 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c baby spinach
spicy sausage (optional)

-preheat oven to 425F
-roll out your pizza dough
-spread a thin layer of pesto on the pizza dough
-spread the pumpkin over the pesto
-layer on the mozzarella, spinach and sausage and dollup on the ricotta
-bake for about 15 min until cheese is bubbly and slightly brown and the crust has crisped up on the bottom

If you don't have time to make your own pizza dough pick some up from your local pizza shop! Most shops will sell it to you pretty cheap. Pizza dough will also handle and cook best if you allow it to come to room temperature before rolling it out and cooking it.

If you wanted a stronger pumpkin flavor leave off the pesto. You'll definitely get more pumpkin, but I really like the balance of the herbaceous pesto to offset the sweet of the pumpkin. The same with the sausage. You can leave the sausage off to keep it vegetarian, but the spicy sausage is a great balance to the sweet pumpkin.