Anastasia Zolotarev's Herb-Roasted Cherry Tomato and Olive Pizza
A simple, flavor-packed pizza recipe starring roasted cherry tomatoes, olives, and a foolproof homemade dough.
Welcome to Put on a Spread, a recipe series that takes you inside the kitchens – and dining rooms – of some of our favorite home cooks. For this instalment, food writer, recipe developer and Masterchef Australia contestant Anastasia Zolotarev, shares her crowd-pleasing recipe for cherry tomato and olive pizza
If you’re craving something simple, satisfying, and packed with flavor, this cherry tomato and olive pizza ticks every box. The tomatoes are slow-roasted with garlic and fresh herbs, creating a rich, jammy topping that pairs beautifully with briny olives and melty cheese.
Finished with a drizzle of olive oil and a perfectly golden crust, it’s a crowd-pleasing recipe that’s easy to customize and even easier to devour. Serve with a crisp salad and your favorite wine for an effortless homemade pizza that’s as fun to make as it is to eat.
In this recipe, the cherry tomatoes are precooked in the oven with lots of fresh herbs, garlic and olive, which let out lots of flavor into the roasting pan. This makes for a very simple but delicious pizza topping with the added saltiness of the olives. Add another flavor topping or two to make a few variations of pizza!
Tips for making homemade pizzas
Pizza dough may be easily affected by the humidity, dryness and heat or cold in the environment. Because of this, the precise amount of flour and water might change from day to day. The type of flour that you use also will affect the dough.
We love to use flour that is a bit textured – something like plain spelt flour rather than simply plain flour or double zero. We also at times add in a mix of flours, so we might use majority plain flour but add in a 100g of rye flour or wholemeal. This just makes the dough texture and final taste more interesting.
You can easily halve the recipe to make half the amount of pizzas if you like. If at any point the dough is sticky and gets stuck on your hands – just dust your hands in some flour.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1kg spelt flour + extra for dusting
- 700ml water
- 8g yeast
- 3 pinches of fine sea salt
- Semolina or wholemeal/any grainy textured flour for dusting and cooking the pizza
Pizza Toppings
- 1 kg cherry tomatoes (red, yellow or a mix)
- 1 cup halved seedless olives
- 1 bunch fresh thyme
- 1 bunch fresh rosemary
- 8 garlic cloves (kept in skin)
- 700g tomato passata
- 1 tbsp dry oregano
- 600g grated cheese (dry mozzarella or light/medium cheddar).
- Olive oil for cooking and preparation
Method
For the dough
- Place half the flour into a large mixing bowl and pour in half of the water. Give it a brief mix then add in the rest of the flour and water.
- Mix together with a fork until roughly combined then using your hands, knead the dough until it comes together in the bowl. It will be a bit textured at this point.
- Cover it with cling wrap and set aside for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, mix the yeast and around 1 1/2 tbsp of tepid water (just enough water to make the yeast into a medium-thin paste).
- Transfer this onto the dough along with the salt.
- Dust your hands in flour then use your hands to lift, fold and knead the mixture directly in the bowl.
- After a minute transfer onto a floured board and knead for another 5 minutes. It might be quite sticky, so flour your hands to knead it easily.
Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or any material that is breathable. Place on the bench top away from direct sunlight or wind for 4 hours and let it rise.
Pizza toppings
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the herbs, garlic cloves (skin on) and tomatoes into a roasting tray. Sprinkle generously with salt. Drizzle with oil and roast for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, once slightly cooled remove the skin from the garlic and discard the skin. You can chop up the garlic and stir through the tomatoes or keep as is.
Pizza Sauce
Before you cook the pizza, combine the passata, dry oregano, a very generous drizzle of oil and a few pinches of salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
To cook the pizza
- Remove the kitchen towel off the bowl of dough and measure into 8 rounds balls approximately 200g each.
- Place into large containers with space in between each piece to let rise for 30-45 minutes before using to shape into pizza.
- Preheat your pizza oven on the highest heat for at least 15 minutes or however long is recommended by the pizza oven brand that you use.
- Lightly dust a large wooden board or any base with semolina or wholemeal flour. Dust your hands in some flour then take one piece of dough out and place it onto the board, dust the dough with a bit more flour.
- Gently press out the dough and very slightly pull the edges out whilst you press the dough out. Spread the dough out until it’s around 1.5 cm thick. It’s normal for the edges to be slightly higher.
- Dust your pizza paddle with the flour then gently transfer the raw pizza dough on top.
- Spread two heaped tablespoons of the pizza sauce over the surface.
- Drizzle over the top with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Spread 2 tablespoons of the roasted cherry tomatoes mixture over the surface and finish of with a tablespoon of olives.
- Gently slide and transfer the raw pizza into the centre of the pizza oven.
- Use your paddle to rotate the pizza if your oven doesn’t automatically rotate.
- Cook for approximately two minutes or until you see the edges rise and fluff up.
- Remove the pizza using the paddle and then transfer onto a flat board or plate. Slice using a pizza cutter or some kitchen scissors. Continue with the rest. Enjoy!
For more from Anastasia, follow her at @anastasiazolotarev.
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