Christmas tree Pizza

Continuing with my Christmas bakes, yesterday I made a Christmas tree-themed pizza for dinner. It came out really well and I was happy for all the work that went into it 🙂 🙂

Do try this for Christmas this year, it is not really difficult, the process might look lengthy but I finished it in 30 minutes apart from the rising time. I am sure your friends or family would be thrilled on seeing this dish come out from your oven 😀 Give it a try !!!

You might want to check out my other pizza recipes – Cone-crust pizza, Deep-dish pizza, thin-crust pizza.

This recipe is going over to Hobby Chef’s Christmas Giveaway Contest !!!

Ingredients:

Pizza dough – enough to make one large pizza (Check my recipe here)

Spinach/palak leaves – 1 cup

Olives – 5, Halved vertically (For tree trunk)

Pineapple rounds – 3 (Cut into 3-stars for placing on tree)

Pineapple pieces – 2 tbsp (For lights across tree)

Basil/Spinach(Palak) leaves – ¼ cup (For tree branch-edges)

Tomato, olives – 2 tbsp (For decorating the tree)

Paneer/cottage cheese – 3 diced pieces (For the presents at the tree base)

Cheese – 1/2 cup (I used shredded mozzarella)

Salt – a pinch

Pepper – a pinch

Olive oil/vegetable oil – 1 tbsp

Pizza sauce – ½ cup (Check my recipe here)

Making the pizza dough:

1. Puree/blend the spinach (palak) leaves into a fine paste. Set aside.
2. While kneading the dough for the pizza base, mix this paste in the flour along with the yeast mixture and knead the dough. Add more water if needed.
3. This will render a green color to your pizza base.

Shaping the tree pizza:

1. Grease your baking tray with oil/butter and spread some semolina/ravva on it.
2. Divide the dough into 3 chunks – 3/5^th + 1/5^th + 1/5^th of the dough.
3. Take the largest chunk (3/5^th one) and place it on the baking tray. Shape it into a triangle or cone.
4. Starting from the corners of the base, mark a slanted line at an angle of 45 degrees towards the center of the dough. Check the image shown.
5. From the other end of these lines, mark a horizontal line towards the edge of the dough. This will form a small triangle-like area, discard it on either side.
6. Repeat the same process starting from the corners of this base. This will make a conical tree with 3 layers of branches/leaves. Take the other 2 chunks of dough – shape one into a rectangle for the tree trunk and another into a longer rectangle for the tree base.
7. Place the trunk interleaving the center of the base of the conical dough made earlier and the other one interleaving the trunk so that you have the entire shape ready.
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Coloring the tree pizza:

1. Spread the pizza sauce all over the dough.
2. Place the basil/spinach leaves on the conical-tree dough corners to resemble branches/leaves.
3. Spread the cheese all over the remaining part of the dough.
4. Place the star-shaped pineapples – one on the tree-top, other 2 at different tree corners, cover the tree trunk with olives, and spread the pineapple pieces at slant curves from one tree corner to another to resemble lights across the tree.
5. Place the tomato and other olives at different spots on the dough; place the paneer on the tree base. You may apply some sauce/pesto/ketchup over them to look colorful.
6. Sprinkle salt and pepper, drizzle some oil and bake in a pre-heated oven at 220°C for 12-15 minutes or until the edges turn slightly brown in color.
7. Remove from oven and you have your wonderfully created Christmas tree Pizza..!!!
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Note:

1. My oven has a maximum temperature of 220°C but if yours has anything more than this I recommend you to bake it at the highest temperature you have and adjust the time accordingly.
2. Use your creativity to make it more colorful depending on whatever vegetables and toppings that is available to you.

Related Images: