Florentine Pizza with a Basil Pesto Crust

I absolutely love pizza nights and look forward to them as much as I look forward to the weekend. When I make my pizzas my goal is to always use fresh ingredients. And this Tomato Florentine Pizza is made with just that — fresh mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, and fresh spinach. Simple, but delicious!

This pizza is full of fresh veggies with a buttery crust that adds a nice finishing touch to each bite. The additional butter and basil pesto mix that spans the crust will have you singing “That’s Amore!”. Although very simple to prepare, it has a very authentic taste.

How to Make Tomato Florentine Pizza:

• Begin your pizza-making experience with the foundation of every pizza — the dough.
• Chop your tomatoes into slices and cut your mozzarella cheese blocks.
• Spread your pizza sauce evenly over the top of the dough leaving the edges uncovered.
• Layer your ingredients over the top and bake for 18 minutes at 400 degrees.
• Once your pizza is almost on its way out of the oven start working on your pesto mixture.
• Once you remove your pizza from the oven, spread your pesto mixture over the edge. 

I am typically a meat and cheese kind of guy when it comes to pizza nights but this Tomato Florentine Pizza has upgraded my pizza palate. I think any food that contains the name “Florentine” is probably something that is going to be pretty tasty. No?

Looking for more pizza ideas? Check out these recipes:

• Mexican Taco Pizza
• Cajun Chicken Sausage Deep Dish Pizza Pie
• Roasted Garlic and Spinach Parmesan Pizza
• Italian Beef and Pepperoni Stromboli
• Cheeseburger Pizza

Tomato Florentine Pizza

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• Author: Eric Jones
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 8 1x

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Description

Tomato Florentine Pizza made with fresh mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, and fresh spinach will leave you with an empty pizza rack at the end of the night!

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 lb. fresh pizza dough
• 5 oz. fresh leaf spinach
• 1 lb. fresh moist mozzarella cheese log
• 1 lb. fontina cheese block, shredded
• 2 whole tomatoes, sliced
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

For the pesto pizza sauce: 

• 2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup cashews, salted
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3 whole garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

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Instructions

1. Spread flour over kitchen counter top. Place the fresh dough onto flour and begin to shape dough into a circle using hands. Finish shaping and flattening with roller.
2. Remove leaves from the basil stem and place them in a food processor (paid link) along with the garlic cloves and cashews. Pour half of the olive oil into the food processor (paid link) and blend ingredients. Slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil and blend until smooth. Add blended pesto into a bowl and stir in grated parmesan cheese, black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. 
3. Spread pesto sauce evenly over pizza dough.
4. Shred the fontina cheese block with shredder then set to side.
5. Cut your mozzarella cheese into thick slices and spread evenly over the pizza sauce. Add your sliced tomatoes and fresh spinach over the top of the cheese. Top off with shredded fontina cheese and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 18 – 20 minutes.
6. Serve immediately. 

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Oven Baked
• Cuisine: Italian

Nutrition

• Calories: 319
• Sugar: 0.6g
• Sodium: 389mg
• Fat: 1.5g
• Carbohydrates: 29g
• Fiber: 3g
• Protein: 5.9g
• Cholesterol: 7mg