Sheet Pan

Jim Lahey’s 5-Ingredient Summer Squash Pizza

July 12, 2021
4
27 Ratings
Photo by Ty Mecham
  • Prep time 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Cook time 25 minutes
  • Serves 4 to 8; makes 1 half-sheet or 2 quarter-sheet pizzas
Author Notes

Adapted from Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery. —Genius Recipes

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Jim Lahey’s 5-Ingredient Summer Squash Pizza
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for fingertips
  • 1 recipe Jim Lahey’s Basic Pizza Dough (below), or your favorite
  • 2 1/2 pounds (about 5 small-medium or 3 large) zucchini or other summer squash, trimmed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 2 cups (8oz) coarsely grated Gruyère cheese
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
  • Jim Lahey’s Basic Pizza Dough
  • 2 cups minus 1 tablespoon (250g) all-purpose or bread flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons (5g) instant or active dry yeast
  • 1/4 teaspoon (heaped) fine sea or table salt
  • 2/3 cup (150g) room-temperature water
Directions
  1. Heat your oven to 500°F with a rack in the center. Brush either one 13x18-inch rimmed half-sheet pan or two 9x13-inch quarter-sheet pans (as I do) with olive oil. Divide your dough in half and use oiled fingertips to pull, stretch, nudge and press the dough across the bottom of the pan. The dough will be thin and imperfect; just try to get it even. If holes form, just pinch them together.
  2. Use a food processor with a grater attachment or the large holes of a box grater to grate the zucchini. In a large bowl, toss together the zucchini and salt. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes (more, if you have the time), until the zucchini has wilted and released its water. Drain the zucchini in a colander and then use your hands to squeeze out as much water as possible, a fistful at a time.
  3. Back in the large bowl (wiped out if still wet), toss the zucchini with the gruyere shreds, being sure to break up any clumps of zucchini. Taste the mixture; it should be seasoned enough from the salt, but you can add more, plus ground pepper or pepper flakes if desired.
  4. Spread the zucchini mixture over the dough(s), going all the way to the edges of the pan and piling it a bit thicker at the edges, where it will brown first. Sprinkle messily with the bread crumbs.
  5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the topping is golden. Remove from oven, cut into squares and dig in.
  1. Jim Lahey’s Basic Pizza Dough
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast and salt. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until well blended, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has more than doubled in volume, about 2 hours. Continue using instructions above.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Recipe by: Genius Recipes

36 Reviews

Organizingdiva June 22, 2023
Love this recipe! Put the shredded zucchini in my salad spinner to salt and rest. Then used the spinner several times to remove the liquid. Worked really well. Trader Joe makes an already shredded Gruyere/Swiss mixture which makes the recipe even easier.
LisaV July 12, 2021
Didn't have enough zucchini so I added minced broccoli and diced red pepper. The cheese mix was gruyere and swiss.
It was still amazing. I will definitely make this one again.
Hmoshman July 28, 2020
I made this using my own pizza crust. Yes it's very simple. I strained out the liquid from the zucchini using a hanging nut milk bag over a wide bowl. Instead of gruyere, I used an organic Italian cheese blend.
Jan G. July 20, 2020
It was great! Husband had eaten all the gruyere, so put in mozzarella, pecorino, and cheddar. Added some garlic powder. Wonderful. Getting some gruyere to try it with that. A keeper.
juliemiya July 10, 2020
This recipe was shockingly good. The flavor and texture of the squash with the crispy cheese and crust is divine. Even if you sub ingredients, like I used yellow squash and added a bunch of green onion. I also didn't have gruyere and used mozzarella & parm. Still, it's perfection. The dough seemed like a mistake at first, it wouldn't spread out on the pan...but trust the recipe and just keep going and sloppily spread it out and fill in the holes like it's play doh.
Luna December 26, 2019
This pizza is awesome! We made it weekly during the summer. I use Smitten Kitchen's lazy pizza dough instead of this dough and I skip the bread crumbs; they don't add enough to be worthwhile. Use good gruyere.
Sylvia September 10, 2019
Dough very dry and needed more time to raise for me. I might just do the dough really early and let it sit. Put the salted zucchini in a colander and let it drain as the dough rose. Gave it a squeeze and all was well.
Cindy C. September 6, 2019
I've made double batches twice, this is awesome and easy. I didn't have gruyere so I used swiss and some smoked gouda. Tip: use the lovely sweet salty water leftover from squeezing the zucchini to boil pasta. So good and another dish by itself!
Cindy C. September 6, 2019
maybe I should mention I used by own sourdough pizza crust. This is a perfect foil for that.
Linda D. July 29, 2019
Yum! Thank you!
MCMignin July 19, 2019
Just made this for dinner with our first harvest of zucchini. Followed recipe, and it was incredible!
Maybe it's because I used a frozen cauliflower pizza crust, but this was way too bland for us. I like the idea though, so will try it again and amp up the flavor with a different cheese, add some herbs - maybe basil, add kalamata olives or something else.
Merry June 30, 2019
This was amazing! We had some beautiful tiny zucchini we threw into the food processor and when combined with with the Gruyere, pepper flakes and black pepper - just perfect. We live in DC and have access to a wonderful place that sells pizza dough; that 2 lbs of zucchini was the right amount for the recipe. Definitely doing this one again.
Margot M. June 30, 2019
Simply delicious! The crust was nice and thin and crispy, and the cheese-zucchini combo perfect. I made it for dinner tonight. I think this would also be great, cut into small squares, as an hors d'oeuvre. Thanks for yet another "keeper."
Naomi June 28, 2019
First of all we liked it. It was yummy. BUT, my dough was so wet and sloppy and sticky! I followed the recipe exactly but next time I will add more flour so it's less sticky and more workable. Also despite liberally oiling my pan, it stuck.
Smaug June 28, 2019
The dough recipe strikes me as a bit odd- the ingredients are typical of the sort of sandwich bread dough I first learned to make, though it lacks the "all you can stand" kneading that was usually advised in those days. If I was going to use it for a pizza, I'd at the least use AP flour. Lahey seems to have an exceptionally strong hand with a wooden spoon- I was unable to bring his popular (and considerably damper) no knead pizza dough together with a spoon, and this one would be a lot harder.
Little P. June 28, 2019
Just made this last night and my husband and I devoured it. I was skeptical about the stretching the dough to fit the pan. It didn't get ALL the way to the sides but like it says I the recipe, it's imperfect. It is VERy thin in the pan before cooking. I used my fingertips to push down on the dough and push it around the pan. I have a question: I didn't use all the zucchini b/c I thought it was just a TON. Did everyone use it all? Thanks!
Nancy T. June 28, 2019
Yes, I used all the zucchini. It was not too much. We liked the pizza too.
Liane June 28, 2019
I used it all and it was fine. Maybe a thicker layer requires a little more time in the oven is all.
Nancy T. June 27, 2019
I made this for dinner tonight. I had a sharp cheddar that worked well, but needed to amp it up with some red pepper flakes and black pepper. Also added a sprinkle of parmesan with the bread crumbs. Like others, I found the dough dry and needed to add some water, but did not have issues rolling it out. Could not have hand stretched it for half sheet pan. Great use of zukes. I'd made this again.
Liane June 27, 2019
I'll give my opinion on how it tastes after I eat it. I spent more time coercing the "no-knea" crust to stretch and fit the pan than I ever would to whiz it together in a food processor or with a mixer. My old standby NY Times pizza dough recipe has never failed me. This was a pain to convince to go where I wanted it to go.
Liane June 28, 2019
Suprisingly tasty -- at least when piping hot. Don't allow this pie to cool down before eating. Added a little soft sheep cheese near the end and it brightened the flavor considerable. I would probably do that again (or use some goat cheese). Do liberally add pepper to the zucchini is my advice. I used fontina as it was on hand. And I am still scrubbing that crust out of the pan the next morning. Next time, I'll make my usual crust and try with gruyere.
Tina W. June 27, 2019
What a delicious way to eat zucchini! I planned to use a pre-made crust (I am GF) and opened my freezer to find none. Used frozen shredded potatoes instead, and it was a big hit for my family. Will make again both ways.
Marcyfoods June 27, 2019
so easy and delicious - i was skeptical about the dough (no kneading, ready to bake in just 2 hours?) but it worked! and was so so good. will keep this on repeat, especially with the upcoming glut of summer zucchini (i have an OLD oven, so 450 is about as hot as it gets, but 25 minutes did the trick, rotating pan halfway).