It takes a little extra work to layer the phyllo dough sheets for this pizza, but the final product is well worth it. With all the fresh ingredients atop the flaky base, we loved it so much I made it twice.
Mark Guydish | for Times Leader
A piece of fresh tomato and feta pizza on a phyllo crust.
Mark Guydish | for Times Leader
The ingredients for a phyllo dough pizza with tomatoes, mushrooms and feta cheese. The only thing I’ll change in the future is to use a block of feta and crumble it myself, rather than buying the stuff that’s already crumbled. The latter failed to melt at all.
Mark Guydish | for Times Leader
While I’m not quite yet a phyllo fanatic, I’ve gotten comfortable with it, thanks in part to a penchant for thawing too much of it for any given recipe. When I recently made the creamy chicken spanakopita to use leftover chicken, I thawed a full box of dough, which said it contained “approximately 36 sheets.” Yet I only used 10 (two more than that recipe called for).
What to do with the other 26 sheets? Ask the box. Seriously. Like so many food items you buy in a grocery store these days, the container for the Athens brand dough included a website for recipe ideas at athensfoods.com. Regular readers know my penchant for new pizza recipes (this is my 17th for the TL Test Kitchen), so it should be no surprise I opted for “Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Phyllo Pizza.”
“Heirloom” tomatoes are hard to come by any time of year, but particularly in winter. During growing season MT’s sister —an outstanding chef and gardener — grows some truly spectacular ones, but all I had available were a few decent “slicing’ tomatoes at the neighborhood store. They had more than enough flavor for our tastes, enhanced by the halved cherry tomatoes popping with juicy goodness.
Mix those with the mushrooms, onion, sweet peppers, and two cheeses (I skipped the Asiago and used Parmesan), and this becomes wonderfully delicious. Sure, layering the dough sheets can be tricky if you haven’t done it before, but the work is worth it. This time I layered it quickly enough that there was no need to cover the unused sheets waiting their turns.
We liked it so much, I made it again a day or two later, skipping the pre-crumbled cheese for a block of plain Feta, adding my own mix of herbs and crumbling it myself. The pre-crumbled stuff — predictably — didn’t melt, most likely because it had a coating of powdered cellulose or some such to prevent caking.
Dobru chut!
Tomato and goat cheese phyllo pizza (athensfoods.com)
10 sheets Phyllo dough (9″ x 14″), thawed
1 egg white
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1½ tablespoons water
¼ cup Asiago cheese, grated
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
8 ounces herbed goat cheese, crumbled
1-2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup small red and yellow sweet peppers, sliced
½ cup mushrooms, sliced
½ cup red onions, sliced
Thyme sprigs, for garnish
Thaw one roll of phyllo, following thawing instructions on package. Heat oven to 375º.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together egg white, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and water. Unroll and cover phyllo sheets and cover with plastic wrap and then a slightly damp towel to prevent drying out. Place one sheet of phyllo on work surface and lightly brush with egg white mixture. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of Asiago evenly on phyllo sheet. Repeat with nine more sheets of phyllo but do not brush top sheet. Place on a baking tray. Brush 1 tablespoon olive oil over the top and sprinkle with minced garlic. Reroll unused sheets and follow storing instructions on package. Bake for 8 minutes or just until the phyllo starts to brown. Remove from oven.
Sprinkle goat cheese over crust and then add all other ingredients. Top with any remaining Asiago cheese. Bake 10-12 minutes or until cheese starts to melt. Remove from oven and cut into pieces, serve.
