When we admit to people that we are food and travel writers, their eyes tend to get wide as they imagine that we sit down to multi-course gourmet meals every day on the road. But the truth is that we really like to find some local comestible that makes a handy light lunch or supper.

In Rome, that’s often a square of pan pizza (pizza al taglio) from one of the bakeries. We’ve read that more than 5,000 establishments in Rome offer pizza al taglio. Romans eat those slices for lunch and all through the afternoon as a pick-me-up snack.

The crust for Roman pizza more resembles focaccia bread than the thin bread of a Neapolitan pizza. The thick, usually crisp crust makes the pieces easy to eat on the go without wearing the toppings. The Roman pizza is cooked in a rimmed sheet pan. The dough is allowed to rise on the pan before it’s smeared with tomato sauce and sprinkled with stracciatella cheese (cream-soaked fresh mozzarella). Our favorite versions are also topped with delicious fresh vegetables. In fact, the Roman bakers aim for artistic arrangements with almost as much pride as Starbucks baristas invest in painting the top of a cappuccino with milk foam.

Fortunately for our garden, zucchini makes a perfect topping. This time of year we’re fans of almost anything that will gobble up the surplus of green summer squash that is proliferating in our garden. So zucchini pizza it is. Here’s the recipe we use for a 9″x13″ jelly roll pan (aka a quarter sheet pan). Loosely adapted from Food & Wine magazine, it serves two nicely. You can double it for a 13″x18″ rimmed sheet pan (half sheet) to serve four.

Roman zucchini pizza

Ingredients

• 200 grams (1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon) bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 142 milliliters (4.8 fluid ounces) cold water
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 1 young zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, divided
• 2 tablespoons marinara sauce
• 4 ounces shredded fresh mozzarella

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together flour, yeast, and sugar. Slowly add the cold water and mix until dough comes together in a ball. Remove dough from bowl and grease bowl lightly with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Return dough to bowl. Let rest 10 minutes. Then knead in 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roll into smooth ball. (These step can be done in a food processor as well.) Cover bowl and let dough rise until at least doubled in size (about 90 minutes).

Lay slices of zucchini out on a clean dish towel and sprinkle lightly with 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Let sit for 10 minutes to draw out moisture. Turn slices over and sprinkle with another 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Let drain while pizza dough rises.

Using a teaspoon of olive oil, grease a 9″x13″ jelly roll pan. Press the dough into the pan. Using your fingers, dimple it all over and brush with remaining olive oil. Let dough rise until it has puffed, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450⁰F. Spread marinara sauce thinly but evenly over dough. Top with shredded fresh mozzarella. Pat zucchini slices with their towel and top pizza in neat layers (photo at right). Bake until crust is lightly browned at edges and crisp on the bottom, about 25 minutes. Scatter chopped basil on top. Remove from pan and cut into squares.