Stop everything you’re doing because this homemade spinach pizza with white sauce (aka an authentic Florentine pizza) deserves a moment of silence. It’s an Italian-inspired pizza completely from scratch, with a thin, crisp crust and an irresistible white sauce.
If you’re looking for a way to bump up the flavor profile of this spinach pizza, either top with basil chiffonade or dip in this garlic butter.
How to Make Homemade White Sauce for Pizza
The best time to prepare the homemade white sauce for your pizza is while you’re waiting for the pizza dough to rise:
- Make Sauce Base: Melt butter in a skillet, stir in flour, and cook for 30 seconds. Whisk in milk, then add salt and garlic powder.
- Simmer and Set Aside: Simmer until the sauce thickens, then remove from heat and set aside for pizza.
(You may also like: Lebanese Garlic Sauce)
How to Make a Homemade Spinach Pizza
You’ll start by preparing the homemade pizza dough using instant yeast and a few other simple ingredients:
- Make Dough: Combine yeast and warm water in a stand mixer, then add olive oil. Gradually add flour and salt, mixing on low for 5 minutes. Transfer dough to a greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
- Prep and Roll Dough: Preheat oven to 500℉, with a pizza stone inside. Punch down dough, roll it into a ¼-inch thick circle on a floured surface, and transfer to a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal.
- Assemble and Bake: Top dough with white sauce, then bake for 5 minutes. Add spinach, mozzarella, and eggs, then bake for another 10-12 minutes until eggs are set. Slice and serve warm.
(Also try: Pineapple Hawaiian Pizza)
3 Tips for Making Awesome Homemade Pizzas
Making homemade pizzas is a great way to enjoy a yummy pizza in a healthier way. With that in mind, here are 3 tips for making the best homemade pizzas:
- Make sure the oven is HOT. Make sure that you’re using a pizza stone and then crank the heat on your oven up to 500℉ for at least 30 minutes – but 60 is better.
- Pizza peels are a life saver. The best way to get your homemade pizza onto a piping hot pizza stone is to use a pizza peel. A little bit of cornmeal sprinkled over top of the pizza peel and your pizza will slide off onto the stone effortlessly.
- Go easy on the sauce. Go easy when spreading your pizza sauce – a thin layer is more than enough or else you might end up with a soggy pizza.
More Italian Spinach Recipe Ideas:
- Spinach Stuffed Shells with Ricotta
- Spinach Lasagna
- Spinach Pasta with Garlic and Parmesan
- Spinach Pesto
If you have a lot of extra fresh spinach, or just a spinach lover in general, also take a look at these super popular spinach recipes: https://nurturedhomes.com/spinach-recipes
White Sauce Spinach Pizza
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 ½ cups bread flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 2/3 cup warm water
For the sauce:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp salt
For the topping:
- 4 eggs
- 8 oz fresh spinach
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook combine the water and yeast.
- In another bowl combine the flour and salt.
- Add the olive oil to the bowl of stand mixer.
- While the mixer is running, add the flour mixture slowly.
- Beat on low speed for 5 minutes.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil.
- Transfer the dough into the bowl.
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven.
- Preheat the oven to 500°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.
- To make the sauce, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 30 seconds.
- Whisk in the milk.
- Add the salt and garlic powder and mix to combine.
- Simmer, whisking frequently, until thickened.
- Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Punch the dough.
- Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
- Roll the dough into a circle about ¼ inch thick.
- Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel with cornmeal.
- Transfer the dough to the pizza peel.
- Top with white sauce.
- Slide the pizza onto the baking stone in the oven.
- Bake for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven.
- Top with mozzarella and spinach.
- Crack the four eggs onto the pizza.
- Return the pizza to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the eggs are mostly set.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
