Description
This pizza is topped with fresh peaches, duck prosciutto, caramelized onions, creamy blue cheese, and shredded mozzarella for a combination that’s a little sweet, a little tangy and feels like summer.
Ingredients
For the pizza dough
- 1 3/4 cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tablespoons raw sugar
- 4 1/4 – 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
For the caramelized onions
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 2 generous cups)
- 4 sprigs thyme, leaves only
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1/4 cup white wine
For the additional pizza toppings
- 1/2 pound low-moisture mozzarella cheese, grated
- 3-4 ounces blue cheese (see Note 1)
- 2 ounces duck prosciutto
- 2-3 fresh, ripe peaches, thinly sliced
Instructions
For the pizza dough
- Proof yeast. In a small bowl, stir together water, yeast, and sugar until the yeast is dissolved. Let mixture stand at room temperature until foamy, about 3-5 minutes.
- Mix dough. In a large bowl whisk together 4 1/4 cups flour and salt. Stir in olive oil and yeast mixture with a spatula or wooden spoon (see Note 2). Continue stirring until the dough starts to come together.
- Knead dough. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes by hand until smooth. Add more flour if the dough gets too sticky but try to add the least amount of flour as possible.
- Rise. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Place each in a covered and lightly oiled quart-sized deli container, zipper freezer bag or bowl. Place dough containers in the refrigerator and let rise for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
For the caramelized onions
- Sweat onions. Heat olive oil in a medium sauté pan. Add onions and thyme leaves. Cook for 1-2 minutes until onions soften slightly.
- Season. Add sugar and salt to the onions and stir until dissolved.
- Caramelize onions. Cook the onions over medium-low heat until all the liquid is evaporated and the onions begin to brown and caramelize, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until the onions are a deep brown, scraping up any fond that forms on the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon or spatula. It can take up to 45 minutes until the onions are fully caramelized.
- Deglaze. Add wine to the pan. Allow the wine to cook off, using a spatula to scrape up any browned bits at bottom of the pan and stir into the onions.
To make the pizzas
- Prep dough. At least 2 hours before using the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature.
- Prep oven. Place a pizza stone on a rack in lower third of oven. Heat oven to 500 degrees F for about an hour.
- Stretch dough. Working with one dough ball at a time place dough on a large piece of parchment paper. Working from center, pat and flatten dough with fingertips until it is about 7 inches in diameter. Let rest for 2-3 minutes. Gently stretch dough from edges to about 8 inches in diameter. Let rest for 2-3 minutes. Continue patting and stretching the dough until it is 9-11 inches in diameter.
- Add toppings. Top dough with 1/3 of the mozzarella, 1/3 of the blue cheese, 1/3 of the caramelized onions, 1/3 of the prosciutto, and 1/3 of the peach slices.
- Adjust oven temp. Reduce oven temperature to 475 degrees F.
- Bake. Transfer pizza (on paper) to stone using a large cookie sheet or pizza peel; bake for 5 minutes then carefully pull out the parchment and finish baking the pizza directly on the stone (see Note 3) until the crust is golden brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Remove pizza from the oven with a cookie sheet or pizza peel. Repeat with remaining dough and toppings.
Notes
- I like Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese (either the wedge or the crumbles).
- Make sure the yeast mixture is slightly foamy which indicates that your yeast is active. If not, re-make the yeast mixture ensuring that the yeast isn’t expired and the water is the correct temperature.
- To remove the parchment paper, I slip a large oven safe spatula between the pizza crust and the parchment paper with one hand and then pull out the parchment paper using a pair of tongs with my other hand.
- Recipe adapted from Chef Dawn Burrell.