Oh this is so intimidating. Writing an entry for an entry. My nerves are shot!

Not really, I am just being overly dramatic due to a terrible lack of sleep. I decided to take the day off to recuperate, but instead I am writing. No big surprises there really. Goodness, how I digress.

This here spanako-pizza is my entry for this month’s Hay Hay it’s Donna Day food blogging event. Joey over at 80 Breakfasts, one of my neighbors here in South East Asia (she lives in the Philippines), is hosting this month’s event and the super-theme she chose was pizza. Mmm, pizza.

Why did I name this pizza a spanako-pizza? Continue reading and find out.

I followed the Donna Hay recipe, available here on Joey’s blog. It’s real simple and renders a superb and wholesome thin-crusted pizza base.

Here’s what you need to collect for the pizza dough:

1 teaspoon dry yeast

a pinch of sugar (I use about a 1/4 teaspoon)

2/3 cup warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Make:

Place yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl and let it stand until it becomes bubbly. Be patient as this takes a while, but it looks great fun once it really starts bubbling! Meanwhile, sift together the flour and salt. When the liquid mixture is all bubbly, add it to the dry mixture and combine and kneed it into a smooth dough. This should take about 10 minutes of elbow grease. Put it into a large, oiled bowl, cover and allow to stand until it has doubled in size. This takes another while so just leave it be while you enjoy a bit of reading or begin preparing the topping.

And here follows the topping. I love spanakopitas. Those fabulous greek filo pastries filled with spinach and dill goodness, so I decided to top a pizza with it.

For spanakopita filling/topping you need:

about two cups fresh spinach, well packed

5 chopped green onions

2 tablespoons fresh dill

4 tablespoons crumbled feta

olive oil

salt

fresh pepper

Make:

Place washed spinach in a little boiling water and cook for about three minutes. Rinse and squeeze out excess water. Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the onions, spinach and dill for about another three minutes, until the onion is soft. Remove from heat and let it cool for a minute, then mix in the crumbled feta and add some salt and ground pepper to taste.

And now for the pizza:

Preheat your oven to 220C and place a flat baking tray in the oven to heat. Lightly dust a cookie sheet with some flour or semolina and roll out half of the pizza dough until it is about 3mm thick. Brush a little olive oil onto the pizza and top it with the spanakopita filling. Lift the cookie sheet onto the preheated tray and bake it for about 15 minutes or until the pizza is golden and crisp.

Slice it up and serve. Watch your guests take a bite and see the appreciative smiles forming on their faces. Delightful!