This artichoke pizza combines the earthy taste of artichokes with gooey strong cheese and the sweetness of sundried tomatoes. The artichokes are fresh, cooked beforehand then roasted over the pizza.
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Why this pizza is the best artichoke pizza
While most artichoke pizzas are made with preserved artichokes, this pizza is made with fresh artichokes. Even if you buy the BEST quality of canned artichokes with the BEST extra virgin olive oil, they will have vinegar.
For me, vinegar and cheese don't go together, and if you read my articles on Pasta Caprese, you know that already...
I always use fresh artichokes, they are not difficult to clean, their flavour is so much better and you can find the instructions below.
There is no tomato sauce in this pizza because I like the gooey taste of the cheese around the artichokes. The juices from the tomato sauce will make it too wet. Many of my vegetable topped pizzas don't have tomato sauce for the same reason. Instead, I use sundried tomatoes.
For this pizza, I also use sundried tomatoes which are not preserved in oil. If I can, I never used preserved vegetables as the oil in which they are preserved can be "anything". As my grandma said: "oil made with umbrella handles".
I just boil them for few minutes to sterilize them and remove any salty residual. For the pizza, I make a sundried tomato paste mixing it with some extra virgin olive oil.
The Scamorza cheese
Since the artichoke has a strong flavour, I decided to use a strong cheese to contrast it. Scamorza is a semi-soft cheese made with cow milk. The consistency is firmer than mozzarella but stringy as the mozzarella. As the mozzarella, scamorza is originally from the South of Italy.
If you cannot find it you can replace with provola, provolone or a firm mozzarella. You can also try with a matured cheddar, but the gooeyness is not the same.
If you want to find out more about Italian gooey cheeses, you can read the article: The Best Italian Grilled Cheese.
How to clean an artichoke
Before you clean fresh artichokes wear a pair of gloves as artichokes stain:
- Remove the hard external leaves
- Cut the top spikes of the artichoke
- Peel the green part of the stem
- Immediately immerse them in water and lemon otherwise they will get dark
- Shorten the stem and even the bottom
- Cut the artichokes in quarters
- Remove the choke inside the artichoke
- Cut in slices
Precooking the artichokes
The artichokes need to be pre-cooked and to do that I use the pressure cooker. It takes only 5 minutes instead of 20 minutes for simple boiling.
How do you keep artichokes from turning brown?
The artichokes have a high content of iron, that is why they turn brown when cleaned and cooked. To avoid it you have to put them in water with lemon juice as soon as you remove the first leaves.
If you want to preserve the green of any vegetables with a high content of iron, you can boil them in a blanc of water.
Blanc of water
To 8 cups - 2 litres of water add:
- Lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon flour dissolved in cold water
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- Put the vegetables in the Blanc of water while still cold and gradually bring to boil.
- As soon as it starts boiling, skim the water and lower the flame.
- Cook with a lid for the time required.
Preparing the artichoke pizza
I make my own pizza dough in the bread machine. But if you do not have one, you can find the recipe on the article: How to Make Pizza Dough without a Bread Machine. Once the pizza dough has rested for at least 8 hours I am ready to make my pizza:
- Lay the pizza dough on the already hot pizza stone
- Add the scamorza cut in cubes
- Top with the boiled artichokes and sundried tomatoes
- Cook in 220 C - 430 F hot oven for 10 minutes
An original Italian pizza made with fresh artichokes, scamorza cheese and sundried tomatoes
Pizza recipes you might also like
For more pizza recipes, check out the category: Pizza
Also check the recipes below:
- Fried Pizza
- Pizza with Fresh Vegetables
- Traditional Italian White Pizza With Pesto
- Pissaladiere Nicoise
- Focaccia Pizza
- Pizza with Nutella
If you are making the Artichoke pizza with scamorza and sundried tomatoes, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.
📋Artichoke Pizza with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Scamorza Cheese
Ingredients (Commissions Earned)
For the pizza dough
- 3 cup Caputo flour 00 if you can find Manitoba, Type 55, All purpose, Plain, Type 0
- 1 cup fresh water
- 0.5 teaspoon caster sugar to activate the yeast
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 1 package yeast 2 tsp
For the topping
- 5 medium artichokes
- 1 lemon juice
- 6 slices sun dried tomatoes
- 1 natural scamorza
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Equipment (Commissions Earned)
Instructions
Making the pizza dough
- Pour the ingredients into the machine and set the program for fresh dough, number 13 on the Kenwood.NB: when using the bread machine the ingredients should be placed in the exact order as listed above, liquids first.3 cup Caputo flour 00, 1 cup fresh water, 0.5 teaspoon caster sugar, 1.5 teaspoon salt, 1 package yeast
- The dough will be ready in 1.5 hours
- For the best result, let the dough rest in the fridge overnight, well-floured and wrapped in a plastic bag, otherwise it will crawl all over the fridge.
Cleaning the Artichokes
- Remove the hard external leaves5 medium artichokes
- Cut the top spikes of the artichoke
- Peel the green part of the stem
- Immediately immerse them in water and lemon otherwise they will get dark1 lemon juice
- Shorten the stem and even the bottom
- Cut the artichokes in quarters
- Remove the choke inside the artichoke
- Cut in slices
- Boil the artichokes in blanc water for 20 minutes
- Otherwise, you can cook them in the pressure cooker with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of water for 5 minutes
Preparing the toppings
- Blend in a mixer the sundried tomatoes with the extra virgin olive oil to make a paste6 slices sun dried tomatoes, 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Cut the scamorza into cubes1 natural scamorza
Making the pizza
- Heat up the oven at 450 F - 220C with the pizza stone inside
- Lay the pizza dough, you can make 4 thin or 3 regulars and let it rise while the oven warms up
- Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, lay the pizza dough on the pizza stone
- Top first with the cheese, then the artichokes and the sundried tomato paste
- Cook in the hot oven for 10 minutes
Video
Notes
- I always use fresh artichokes, they are not difficult to clean, their flavour is so much better and you can find the instructions in the article.
- I use sundried tomatoes which are not preserved in oil. If I can, I never used preserved vegetables as I don't trust the quality of the oil used
- Boil the sundried tomatoes for few minutes to sterilize them and remove any salty residual
- If you cannot find scamorza cheese you can replace with provola, provolone or a firm mozzarella. You can also try with a matured cheddar, but the gooeyness is not the same.
- If you don't know how to clean fresh artichokes follow the instructions below.
- Before you clean fresh artichokes wear a pair of gloves as artichokes stain
- Immediately immerse the artichokes in water and lemon otherwise they will turn black
- Let the pizza dough rest for at least 8 hours
Nutrition
Tara
Thanks for all the great tips for making this pizza!
Laura
you are welcome
Linda
What a delicious looking recipe! I love artichokes on pizza and the idea of using a sun-dried tomato paste as the base is brilliant! I'd love to try a different Italian cheese as you suggested so a trip to one of the specialty markets may yield something interesting.
Laura
Thank you Lidia, I hope it will
Julia
I haven't seen scamorza cheese in our local store but will have a closer look the next time I do shopping as I love the sound of it.
Laura
Do have a look, it is very nice
Mary Bostow
This is by far my absolute favorite pizza recipe. It is unquestionably the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Laura
I am glad you like it
Jill
I love putting artichokes on my homemade pizza but I've never used fresh artichokes. I will try this. Loving that pizza knife too.