This summer I’ve been experimenting with home-made Neapolitan pizza. Unfortunately, the dogs haven’t been able to partake in my trials since they don’t need all that pizza in their diets (and Riker is a big farter when it comes to too much cheese.) But necessity is the mother of invention!
I decided to go with a more dog biscuit like crust and load it up dog-friendly items. Instead of tomato sauce I went with beets. According to Google, ripe tomatoes are ok for dogs (unripe tomatoes and the green plant should never be eaten by a dog) but I figured I might as well make this even more healthy given that it’s going to have cheese and hot dogs on it…But feel free to go cheese-less if you’d like. And mix up the toppings! I went basic with hot dogs and green beans but I’m sure my dogs would have loved it with blueberries or sweet potato.
All in all it was a success. The dogs absolutely loved it. Usually they sniff things a bit before partaking but both dogs inhaled their slices. My husband tried a bite too and gave it high marks: “It’s not the worst pizza I’ve ever eaten.”
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Ingredients
1-2 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
One egg
2/3 cup yogurt
1/2 tsp kosher salt – if using table salt, use a little less
One medium to large beet
1/8 to 1/4 cup low fat mozarella
Toppings of your choice
Directions
- Prep: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Fill a small pot halfway with water and heat to medium high on the stove until boiling. Coat a 9″ round cake pan (8″ will work if you don’t have a 9″) with olive oil until fully covered.
- With a fork, mix together egg, yogurt, and salt.
- A little at a time, mix in the flour until fully combined.
- With your hands floured, stretch the dough in your hands, rotating as you go until it’s formed into a rough circle at least six inches across and place in oiled pan. Stretch until it reaches the sides.
- With floured fingers, make indents to form a crust around the perimeter.
- Bake in oven for 12 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut up the beet into inch-sized chunks and put in the boiling water. Reduce heat to medium high and cook until tender, around 15 minutes.
- Puree the beet in a blender, adding the beet liquid as necessary to get it to blend into the puree.
- When the dough is baked, remove from the oven and top with the beet puree.
- Sprinkle cheese on top (be sparing–it spreads) and add additional toppings of your choice.
- Bake an additional 12 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and a little browned and then remove pan from oven and let cool on counter.
- Once cool, slide a thin spatula under the pizza, tilt the pan, and slide the pizza onto a cutting board. Cut into small pieces (I did 8, but 16 is even better to help prevent choking).