There used to be a pizza chain in the very-much-greater Chicago area (as in “into multiple states”) called Edwardo’s Natural Pizza. They still exist as of the end of 2023 — but they only have two locations left, neither of which is within convenient driving range of me any more. Their big unique item was their stuffed spinach pizza, which was really significantly different from anything you could get elsewhere. (The closest approach was the stuffed spinach pizza at Giordano’s, but even that wasn’t anywhere near as good.) A recipe for this pizza was once published, back in the 70s. I made it once but with a pizza dough kit I received as a gift, and it was decent — except that, thanks to the kit being too small, there wasn’t enough dough and it fell apart while being baked, so a lot of it wasn’t edible. I’m going to try another modified version for New Year’s (for one thing, I’m using store-bought premade pizza dough). If my version turns out to be even remotely acceptable, I’ll post a followup to this with my modifications. If not, well, here’s the original recipe, which I found online long ago, reformatted a bit for Tumblr:
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (16-ounce) cans tomatoes, drained
1 (14-ounce) can plum tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ pound fresh spinach leaves, thoroughly washed and stemmed
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Dissolve sugar and yeast in water and let stand for 5 minutes or until frothy.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook or in a food processor, combine flour and salt. Add oil and knead or process until smooth, about 4 minutes.
Remove and place dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.
Coarsely chop tomatoes and place in a large mixing bowl.
Add olive oil, oregano, basil and garlic.
Mix well to combine, cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour for flavors to develop.
Coarsely chop spinach and place in a large bowl along with
the shredded cheese. Mix to combine.
Preheat oven to 550 degrees.
Punch down dough and remove from bowl.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth ball.
Cut off about ⅓ of the dough and set aside.
Roll remaining dough into a 16-inch circle and place in a 14-inch deep-dish pizza pan. Dough should cover the bottom of the pan and come up and over the sides of the pan.
Place reserved filling into pan and spread out evenly over dough.
Roll remaining dough into a 14-inch circle and place over filling.
Roll edge of bottom dough back into pan to meet the top dough, pinch edges to seal and form the crust.
Spoon sauce over top crust and spread evenly over entire pizza.
Place pizza in a preheated 550-degree oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 500 degrees and continue to bake for another 15 minutes or until crust is golden-brown and crispy.
