Serves: 5 pizzas

Hemp Flour Pizza with Zucchini Blossoms, Walnuts & Mushrooms By Chef Roberto Sbragi

I chose these ingredients because I wanted to create a planet-friendly, sustainable dish without compromising the taste of it: hemp flour is next level, I love using it to make any sort of dough, bread, focaccia, pizza… not only it is a very tasty food, but hemp is also a very sustainable crop that renews very fast and doesn’t need any fertiliser or pesticide thanks to its
resilience; zucchini blossoms are a delicious and versatile ingredient that you can use for so many preparations and guess what, they’re incredibly tasty.

I paid particular attention in selecting the mozzarella cheese, choosing to source it from a local dairy farm that operates in a sustainable, ethical manner – if you want a vegan option you can try and swap it with some vegan mozzarella or why not, add some crumbled fresh tofu! As an Italian who is very passionate about food, I like to pay great attention to the provenience and seasonality of the ingredients I use and the overall nutritional value of the dishes that I make.

That is how I came up with this pizza recipe (as stereotypical as it can get, I really can’t live without pizza!) that features ingredients that are in large part -if not entirely- grown around the area where I live, in season around this time of year til the beginning of summer, sourced from local farmers whenever possible. Another great advantage of this recipe is that its nutritional values are way higher than the average pizza, with hemp flour’s high protein content, good fats from walnuts and a fair bit of micronutrients from the mushrooms and zucchini blossoms.

Ingredients:

  • For the dough: ½ litre water
  • 3g fresh brewer's yeast 2g dry yeast
  • 800g flour
  • 100g hemp flour
  • 30g salt
  • 50ml EVOO
  • 400g zucchini blossoms
  • 800g finely sliced mushrooms of season
  • 150g walnuts
  • 1 clove garlic, a sprig of thyme

Method:

  1. Dissolve the yeast in water, then add flour to the water and mix well

  2. Add hemp flour and mix until all ingredients are incorporated, add
    salt

  3. Mix well and transfer the dough to the table. Knead vigorously until
    the dough becomes uniform and elastic. This will take approximately
    15-20 minutes

  4. Form 5 balls of equal weight-each of them should weigh about 270g

  5. Transfer the balls in a floured plastic container / bowl that is at least
    double their size, cover with a lid or some wrap and refrigerate for at
    least 24 hours

  6. Take the balls out of the fridge, transfer them onto a board and
    flatten them by hand, starting from the middle going towards the
    edges, making a 25cm round disc and leaving a 2cm wide frame

  7. Add the mozzarella cheese and cook in a 200° preheated oven for
    approx 10 minutes

  8. Cook the mushrooms: add some EVOO to a pan on medium heat
    and when hot add a crushed clove of garlic and a sprig of thyme, then
    the chopped mushrooms; cook until the mushrooms’ liquid has
    evaporated-that will take approx 10-15 minutes

  9. Take the pizza out of the oven, add the zucchini blossoms,
    mushrooms and put backin the oven for another 5 minutes
    10. Take the pizza out of the oven, add a handful of coarsely crushed
    walnuts, a sprinkle of EVOO and serve

If you’re using cashew cheese, skip step 10 and add cashew
cheese together with other ingredients, then cook for about 15
minutes.

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