Go Back
pizza with mozzarella, tomato sauce, pesto sauce, cherry tomatoes and basil leaves

Pesto Pizza

AuthorRita
This pesto pizza recipe is vibrant and super delicious! It is made with the best homemade basil pesto and tomato sauce. Batch cook this pizza dough recipe, freeze, and eat homemade pizza anytime you want!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time2 hours
Servings2 pizzas

Ingredients  

Tomato Sauce Ingredients

  • 1 onion chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cans peeled tomatoes 240 g
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 pinch black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste

Pesto Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 50 g
  • 1.40 oz cashews 40 g
  • 3.17 oz fresh basil 90 g
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 5.30 oz olive oil 150 g
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Pizza Dough Ingredients

  • 15.87 oz strong white flour 450 g
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 290 ml water
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 15 g fresh yeast 0.53 oz or 5g dry yeast (0.18 oz)

Pizza Ingredients

  • 2 pizza dough balls
  • 3 tbsp tomato sauce
  • 4 tbsp homemade pesto
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes
  • 1 buffalo mozzarella
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • fresh basil leaves optional

Instructions 

  1. Starting with the pizza dough, add the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
  2. Mix the lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar in another bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
  3. After 10 minutes, make a hole in the center of the flour. Gradually pour the water while mixing with your hands.
  4. When forming a ball, dust a countertop with flour and knead until you have a smooth dough. 
  5. Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Then, after 30 minutes, knead the dough around a little bit and let it rest for more 30 minutes until the dough has doubled in size. After that, is ready to be used.
  6. While the pizza dough is resting, make the pesto and tomato sauce. Add all the pesto ingredients into a food processor blend and set aside.
  7. To make the tomato sauce, heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat, and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion, garlic, and bay leaf and saute for 5 minutes or until soft.
  8. Next, add the tomatoes and let them cook for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
  9. Then, add the sugar, salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil, tomato paste, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
  10. Finally, remove the bay leaf and blend with a hand blender.
  11. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust with flour.
  12. Working on a surface that has been dusted with flour, roll out the pizza dough into your desired shape and transfer it to the prepared baking tray.
  13. Spread a bit of the tomato sauce on top of the dough, and then top with the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, and dried oregano.
  14. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh basil.

Notes

Add other ingredients: Feel free to add other ingredients to your pizza if you would like.
Yeast replacement: If you can't find fresh yeast, no worries, you can use active dry yeast! Instead of using 15g (0.53 oz) of fresh yeast, replace it with 5g (0.18 oz) of dry yeast.
Freeze remaining tomato sauce: You can add this tomato sauce recipe to about 10 pizzas. Make small portions, for example, in ice cube trays, and freeze. This way, you will have homemade tomato sauce anytime you want!
Use strong white flour: Make sure that you use strong white flour to make your pizza dough. Strong white flour is the best to add extra chew into the pizza crust.