There are few truths in my daily life that are unshakeable: blue cheese is nasty, the ocean is terrifying, and Fridays are for homemade pizza. Everything else is negotiable, but on Fridays, from the time I wake up, I am thinking about what kind of pizza to make for dinner. Do I go a traditional route this week? Should I experiment with something new? Should I try to make this a healthier version, or am I just going for broke on calorie count? [hint: I am almost never making a healthier version]. It varies from week to week with my mood, but the outcome is always a comforting, delicious pizza of my own creation.
While I won’t share each weekly pizza with you [this is lolly cooks, not lolly makes pizza], last night’s was one of the best I’ve made in recent memory. And it was inspired by trying to hide the fact that the dough I made the week before was way too salty.
Most weeks I pull from a stock-pile of trader joe’s dough I keep in my freezer, but last week I felt like adding an extra challenge to my Friday night. I found this recipe and decided to go for it, using half last week and saving the other half for later. I absolutely loved the texture, how easy the dough was to work with, and the overall taste was great, but it was distractingly salty. I was disappointed, but I am also kind of lazy, so I knew I was going to use the other half this week instead of re-making another, better dough.
When I started thinking about using this dough, I channeled my teenage self and went into “how can I hide this” mode [my default adolescent state when it came to report cards, laundry, boyfriends…]. Since the problem was salt, I decided to bring in additional flavors to balance the taste, focusing on sweet, peppery, smokey and creamy. [I also used a little bacon even though it’s salty, because bacon]. The result? A perfectly balanced bite of pizza that would be delicious even with nothing to hide.
Bacon, Arugula and Caramelized Onion Pizza
Dough (Bobby Flay) Note: as I mentioned, this was way too salty, but I liked everything else about it. Here I have cut the salt amount.
- 3-1/2 cups of flour + more for rolling [I used all-purpose because that’s what I had]
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 envelope instant dry yeast
- 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Toppings
- 4 oz mascarpone
- 4 oz smoked mozzarella
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced into rings
- 2 cups loosely packed baby arugula
- 5 strips thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/4 inch lardons
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp microplaned parmesan
- black pepper to taste
Heat oven to 425. Place the bacon lardons in a cold pan [cast iron works best here] and sprinkle with freshly-ground black pepper. Heat over med-high and let the lardons crisp up, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes. Transfer lardons to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Discard all but 1 tbsp of the rendered bacon fat.
Toss red onion rings into the pan used to cook the bacon [+ 1 tbsp of bacon fat], and lower heat to medium-low. drizzle the honey on top of the onions and add a few cranks of black pepper. Sautee over medium-low heat until onions are deeply caramelized, about 20 min. If onions start to char before they are caramelized, add a few tbsp of water to the pan to keep them from burning. Set aside.
Roll out the dough to 1/8″ thickness, in whatever shape you choose. Ours was a rectangle, about 12″x18″. Place rolled dough on a cookie sheet. Spread mascarpone on top of dough. Grate smoked mozzarella on top of the mascarpone. Toss arugula with the olive oil and place in an even layer on top of the mozzarella. Top with caramelized onions and bacon, and finally, sprinkle with parmesan.
Place assembled pizza in the oven and cook, checking frequently, approximately 25 minutes or until the dough is cooked through and cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand approximately 5 minutes before serving. If you can wait that long.
