Woodfired Pizza with Shrimp and Savory Summer Squash

When our woodfired oven was new, we Bullhogs entertained every weekend and made a lot of pizzas. We experimented with ingredients for toppings, some of which worked and some – well, let’s just say they were interesting. The chicken and Italian dressing, for example. Or the blue cheese and potato. But sometimes, we stumbled upon really good toppings that only sounded unusual but tasted great on a pizza.

Like shrimp and yellow summer squash.

It’s so good we call it our house pizza. Cajun-style shrimp and savory summer squash sautéed with herbs de Province nestle on a pizza bianca. No red sauce, just good olive oil and slices of truffle cheese to make your nose go wild.

Now I should note that because there isn’t red sauce on it, this pizza will dry out if left to sit too long, so if you’re making a bunch of different pizzas, you’ll want to hold this one to the end or serve it early as an appetizer pizza. No worries though: whenever this pizza comes out steaming with fragrance, it will fly right off the pan. Let’s make pizza!

Shrimp and Savory Summer Squash Pizza

Ingredients for 2 – 14” pizzas

27 ounces pizza dough, divided (see recipe below)

2 ounces of good olive oil

8 ounces medium-sized cooked and peeled cocktail shrimp

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

¾ teaspoon Cajun spice (just a touch!)

2 yellow summer squash, 6-8 ounces apiece

1 teaspoon herbs de Provence

6 ounces Italian truffle cheese (available from Trader Joes)

-or-

6 ounces provolone cheese

A few pinches of oregano to top pizzas before baking

Note: If baking in a conventional oven on quarry tiles, your pizzas will need to be 12” diameter, so use 11 ounces of dough per pizza and reduce the other ingredients by 15%.

Make the dough: Mix 1 1/3 cup (8 ounces) Caputo flour, 1 1/3 cup (8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoon salt and ¾ teaspoon dry yeast together in a large bowl. Add 10 ounces water at 100º and blend together. Let sit 20-30 minutes and then knead for 5-10 minutes to make a soft dough. Let rise for at least 4 hours at room temperature before forming.

Prepare the shrimp: Squeeze the pieces of tail shells off the shrimp and spread the shrimp out on a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt, let them sit for 10 minutes, and then sprinkle the Cajun spice over them. Bring a tablespoon of oil to the smoking point in a 10” frying pan and toss in the shrimp. Sear them for 30 seconds and then flip them to cook for another minute. Set aside. (For convenience, I’ve used precooked shrimp, but by all means use fresh raw shrimp; it will need longer cooking.)

Cook the squash: Top and tail the squash, slice in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into ½ inch pieces. Put the pieces into a bowl, sprinkle with the herbs de Provence and a tablespoon of oil. Bring a 12” frying pan or sauté pan to medium heat and sauté the pieces of summer squash for 4-5 minutes, until they begin to brown but are not at all limp.

Thinly slice the cheese.

For baking in a woodfired oven: The fire should be 2 hours old, built at the center of your oven. In the last 30 minutes, move the fire side to side to heat the bottom tiles. Add 6 well-seasoned sticks about 1½” in diameter 10 minutes before firing the first pizza. When you are ready to bake, spread your mature fire into a horseshoe shape at the back of the oven, using the 6 sticks to maintain the fire. Add 4 more sticks at this point and brush the center of the oven well. The side walls of your oven should be turning white if your oven is up to temperature. If the flame goes out, put a wad of newspaper on a poker, light it, and ignite the fire around the horseshoe.

For baking in a conventional oven with quarry tiles: Put the quarry tiles in a 3×2 pattern on the center rack of your oven and preheat for 30 minutes at 450º.

Make the pizza: Form the dough, using 13.5 ounces for each 14” pizza or 11 ounces for 12” pizzas to be baked on quarry tiles. Put the pizza blanks onto wooden peels sprinkled with a little flour or semolina and make sure they can ‘slip’ on the peel. Swirl 3 tablespoons of olive oil onto each pizza, and then dot with the shrimp, summer squash and the cheese and top with the oregano. Before baking, make sure again that the pizza can ‘slip’ before proceeding. For more information on this, see ‘Pizza Time Pizza with long rise dough’ or ‘Ten Tips for Better Pizza.’

Bake: In the woodfired oven this pizza will take 4 or 5 minutes, and needs to be turned after 2 minutes. In a conventional oven, it will take 8 or 9 minutes, and needs to be turned after 4 minutes. Turn with a metal peel or 2 metal spatulas, remove when done to a round metal pan and slice immediately.

Final note: If you love truffles the way we do, you’ll want to have some on these pizzas. Either use the truffle cheese or sprinkle on some truffle oil after removing the pizzas from the oven. Enjoy!