Tomato & Fennel Flatbread Pizza

You can never go wrong with a veggie pizza, and our in-house photographer, Megan of Megan Jeanne Photography, crafted this one specially for our lookbook (which she shot)! If you're lucky enough, you can pick the tomatoes right out of your summer garden.

Tomato, Fennel & Pine Nut Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients:
Pizza dough (I use this recipe from NY Times)
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (and extra for greasing baking sheet)
1 tsp tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
15 oz. mini heirloom tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, sliced thinly (about 25-30
mini tomatoes)
3/4 cup fresh shaved parmesan
2 tbsp. pine nuts
½ cup fennel fronds, chopped
1 tsp Kosher salt
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Follow instructions for the pizza dough above.

Preheat oven to 525 degrees.

Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil.

Stretch dough on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 9 inches by 13 inches.

Place the dough on the greased baking sheet and brush with 2 tbsp. of the olive oil and the tomato paste. Sprinkle garlic and thyme on top. Reserve the remaining 1 tbsp. of olive oil.

Begin layering the sliced tomatoes on the dough, starting at the bottom and working your way up in rows, allowing the tomatoes to slightly overlap and leaving a ½ inch border. Repeat until entire surface is covered.

Brush tomatoes with remaining 1 tbsp. of olive oil and top with the shaved Parmesan.

Leaving the flatbread on the baking sheet, place it in the preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Crust should be golden.

Remove flatbread from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Leave the oven on.

After flatbread has cooled, top with fennel fronds, pine nuts, salt, and pepper. Carefully lift it from the baking sheet and place directly on a rack in the center of the oven. Allow to bake an additional 2-3 minutes (until underside of crust has crisped and pine nuts are lightly toasted). The fennel and pine nuts can burn quickly so keep watch.

Remove the flatbread from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Slice into rectangles and serve warm.

-- Megan, Megan Jeanne Photography

Shop our summer lookbook, An Afternoon Alfresco and head over to Megan Jeanne Photography if you're looking for an amazing local photographer!

xo,
Ruche