Garlic Scape Pizza

I had a strange item in my CSA box this week. It looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Our CSA blog was late with their entry about our box contents, so I had no help there. So off to the internet I went with the knowledge that it was likely the greens of some kind of edible bulb. And so I became more intimately acquainted with garlic scapes.

Garlic scapes are the green tops of hard-necked garlic and have a taste quite similar to garlic. They have a crisp texture and I would think that they could be used any way that garlic could. I had a craving for pizza, so that's what I made with them.


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Garlic Scape Pizza with Portobello Mushrooms, Artichoke Hearts, Basil and Provolone on a Whole Wheat Crust

Yield: two 10-inch pizzas

approx 1 lb of whole wheat pizza dough (thin crust) or 2 lbs (thicker crust) *recipe below
1 bunch garlic scapes, roughly chopped
2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tablespoons butter
homemade or prepared tomato sauce or paste
1 can artichokes hearts, drained and quartered (frozen would work too)
1 small bunch basil leaves, roughly torn
6-8 slices mild provolone
1 oz aged provolone, shaved
olive oil
parmesan or grano padano


Preheat your oven (and pizza stone if you have one) to 425 or 450F. Make sure that the stone and oven are really well preheated, as this will help keep your pizza crust crisp on the bottom.

Garlic scapes, roughly chopped

Mise en place

Saute the garlic scapes and mushrooms with butter over medium heat just until fragrant and slightly softened, about 2 minutes.

mmm... mushrooms and garlic scapes cooking in butter!

Spread a generous amount of tomato paste over your prepared pizza dough and arrange your ingredients as you like.

Layer your cheeses on. I didn't add any to mine, but I think some grated Parmesan or other hard cheese would be nice to add at this point as well. Drizzle with olive oil.

Transfer to your well heated oven and bake until the cheeses are bubbling and starting to brown. Depending on how hot your oven is and how thickly you layered on your toppings this may be 20-30 minutes. You'll smell it when it's ready!

The house smelled so good!

I think this pizza would also be great made with garlic scape pesto (next experiment if we receive garlic scapes again!)  in place of tomato sauce. I opted for tomato sauce since I figured the kids would be more open to the traditional sweet red tang of tomatoes, especially since I was making a pizza with veggies that most kids wouldn't eat in non-pizza form :)


Here's how I made my Whole Wheat Pizza Crust:

I love the feel of dough.

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
scant tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting

In a small measuring cup or bowl, proof yeast with sugar and water until foamy, about 5-7 minutes.
Pour into the your mixing bowl. Add salt and olive oil.

Using a wooden spoon or a bread hook in a electric mixer, add the flour a half-cup at a time until the dough starts to come together and not stick to the sides.

Once the dough seems handleable, remove it from the bowl and start kneading it on a lightly floured work surface (adding only as much flour as is needed to keep it from sticking). Keep kneading until the dough becomes elastic and springs back into a ball shape when gently flattened out with the palm of your hand.

Lightly oil your mixing bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Roll the dough around in the oil a few times to make sure the surface is coated. Cover with a wet cloth and leave to rise in a warm area until doubled in size (about 1-2 hours, depending on the ambient temperature). Shape, top and bake as desired.

If you only wanted to make one pizza, you could easily freeze the other half of the dough. Wrap it tightly in plastic and freeze it in a zip top bag. Defrost in the fridge overnight before using.