These make for a lovely light lunch or supper with a salad on the side.  I got the idea for the topping after discovering some goat’s cheese, left over from a cheese course, in the fridge.  I also now have a lot of tomatoes ripening in the garden and spinach is a popular vegetable in my house and they partner each other perfectly.

Spinach & Goat’s Cheese Mini Pizzas

INGREDIENTS

For the dough

500g strong bread flour

8g easy blend yeast

10g salt

20ml olive oil

320ml tepid water

For the spinach topping

500g frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp olive oil

150g ricotta

1 tsp marjoram

½ tsp ground nutmeg

120g goat’s cheese, thinly sliced

12-16 cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

To finish

Semolina

METHOD

To make the dough put the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a food mixer with the dough hook attached.  Add the water and oil and knead for 5 – 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.  You can of course do this by hand. Cover the bowl with cling film or a plastic shower cap and leave to rest in a warm place until at least doubled in size.  This should take about 1 – 2 hours.

While the dough is resting, make the filling.  Heat the oil over a medium heat and fry the onion and garlic for 5 – 10 minutes until soft.  Add the spinach, marjoram and nutmeg and cook until the mixture is fairly dry.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool.  Put the ricotta in a small bowl and beat until soft and smooth.  Stir the ricotta into the spinach mixture and season to taste.

When the dough is well risen preheat the oven to 220C and grease two baking trays.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead briefly to knock out the air and divide into eight even pieces.  Roll out each piece, on a lightly floured surface dusted with a mix of flour and semolina, into 12 – 15cm circles.  Divide the spinach mixture between the circles and spread leaving a 1 ½ cm border.  Top each circle with goat’s cheese and tomatoes.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, until well risen and golden brown.  Serve hot.

Tip:

If you don’t like goat’s cheese you can substitute it with feta cheese.