Spinach & Broccoli Stuffed Pizza (Sbarro copycat recipe)

 I worked in a pizza place my freshman year of college.  I started out as a cashier but I soon convinced them to let me make pizzas, which was much more fun than dealing with customers.  My favorite pizza there was their spinach and broccoli stuffed pizza.  By the time I had my own kitchen to experiment in I had forgotten the recipe.  After several years of experimentation, this is as close as I could come to the original recipe (and personally I think my version tastes superior).

1 recipe for Basic Pizza Dough

SPINACH MIXTURE
1/2 lb fresh or frozen thawed spinach
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt

BROCCOLI MIXTURE
2 heads broccoli, roughly chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 
1/2 tsp. salt

RICOTTA MIXTURE
1 cup ricotta cheese
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups grated Mozzarella cheese (an 8-oz package if you're in a hurry)

water

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly steam the broccoli and spinach.  The broccoli should still be firm and the spinach should be just wilted (it will cook more than enough later in the oven).  Prepare the three mixtures listed above.  Set aside.

Lightly oil a (preferably nonstick) pizza pan with olive oil..  Divide dough in half and shape into balls.  Roll the first ball of dough out to roughly the diameter of the pizza pan.  This will require some manipulation of the dough, as it is elastic and will shrink.  Spread a thin layer of mozzarella cheese atop the dough, leaving an inch or so of dough around the circumference bare.  Next, arrange the spinach and the broccoli mixtures evenly across the dough.  Finally, dollop the ricotta cheese mixture evenly across the pizza and sprinkle the remainder of the mozzarella cheese on top.


With a pastry brush (or your fingers), wet the exposed edge of the bottom crust with water.  Roll/stretch out the second ball of dough and carefully cover the pizza.  (If the dough tears in the middle for the top crust, it's not a big deal-you'll need a vent anyway.)  Pinch the two layers of dough along the circumference of the pizza and roll the edges under.  Brush the top with olive oil or egg wash, if you're feeling fancy.  Slash a few vents in the top of the pizza.  Bake at 400 degrees until top of pizza is browned and cheese begins to ooze through the slashes in the top crust.