Whole Wheat Spinach Pizza with White Sauce

I love to watch food network on Saturday mornings, and a few months ago I was inspired by Molly Yeh’s pizza episode. She used a big ass cast iron pan and I have a big ass cast-iron pan that I have been looking to use.

Ingredients:

• 9 oz fresh spinach
• Olive oil (at least 6 Tbsp)
• 28oz frozen whole wheat pizza dough
• 2 garlic cloves
• 8 oz part skim shredded mozzarella

White Sauce:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4-1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Prior to preheating or cooking anything, if you purchased store bought dough follow instructions to thaw or bring to room temp.

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit, I have a convection oven but I used regular bake 475
2. Place 14-15 inch cast iron pan in oven to pre-heat with oven
3. Melt butter in separate pan on stovetop with 1 tsp olive oil
4. Add garlic cloves until fragrant
5. Add milk
6. Mix in flour, pepper, oregano
7. Stir until thick, so all flour is incorporated, then place in container and set aside until ready to put on pizza dough
8. Roll out dough until 1/4 inch thick. For the pack of dough I purchased, I used about 2/3 for the pizza and had enough leftover for a calzone
9. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 crushed garlic cloves to the stove top pan. Add cleaned spinach and cook until completely wilted.
10. Once the oven is preheated, carefully take-out cast iron pan and carefully add 2 tbsp of olive oil. I like to brush mine around to make sure the inside has a good coat
11. Carefully lay rolled out dough inside the pan, if the circle of dough goes over the edges, bunch around inside edges of the pan to create a traditional crust.
12. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the middle of the dough and brush evenly across, and on the crust edge
13. Add all of the sauce on top of the pizza dough
14. Using tongs evenly place cooked spinach on top of the white sauce
15. Evenly distribute the bag of cheese
16. Bake for 14-16 minutes, I took mine out after the cheese bubbled and got slightly brown on top.
17. Rest for 3-5 minutes, cut and enjoy!

Let me know if you tried the recipe.