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Artisan Pear & Prosciutto Pizza with a Balsamic Glaze

Artisan Pear & Prosciutto Pizza with a Balsamic Glaze

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5 from 8 reviews

A tender flatbread topped with herbed oil, salty prosciutto, shallots, pears, creamy brie, thyme and finished with balsamic glaze. It’s the perfect artisan pizza!

Ingredients

For the 5×15” flatbread pan

  • 1 Simple Pizza Dough ball mixed through the first rise *see below
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
  • 2 teaspoon canola oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, divided
  • 57 slices prosciutto
  • 1 medium shallot, sliced thin
  • 1 Asian Pear, cored and sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 34 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed, divided
  • 4 ounces of brie, roughly chopped
  • Balsamic oil (really good quality) for a drizzle

Simple Pizza Dough

  • 1 packet platinum instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoon or 1/3 of a 2-ounce block (so .66 ounces of cake yeast)
  • ~350 grams of water or 1 1/2 cups * if using the same day use warm water(105-115 degrees F/40-46 degrees C). If fermenting overnight in the fridge use cold water
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 1/8 cup olive oil (about 2 tablespoon)
  • ~475 grams or 3 – 3 1/2 cups 00 Pizza flour or any high gluten bread flour, plus extra as needed
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

Simple Pizza Dough

 

  1. Proof the yeast by pouring the yeast and sugar into the water in a bowl of your stand mixer and gently stir until the yeast dissolves. *Cake yeast you make have to break up with your fingers
  2. Let the yeast and water stand until foamy, about 5 minutes*. If using cold water, just mix and move to the next step as the yeast won’t quite bloom with cold water.
  3. Once the yeast has bloomed, add in the flour and fit your mixer with a dough hook. Mix on low just until loosely combined. Add in the salt while the mixer is running stopping if need be to scrape down the sides. After 3 minutes of mixing, drizzle in the oil.
  4. Mix until a soft, smooth elastic ball form; ~8-10 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl but still be wet/tacky to the touch. If needed,  add a tablespoon of flour or so to help combine. If it’s too dry, you may need to add a few tablespoon of water. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a very lightly floured surface. Give it a few kneads to form the dough into a smooth ball tucking the ‘ends’ underneath.
  5. Allow the dough to rest, covered for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, using very lightly floured hands, knead the dough gently by hand just to smooth it out and divide it into smaller portions.  If using the same day, divide the dough in half, shape as balls and put in 2 separate bowls (covered), and allow to rise until doubled in size; about 60-90 minutes. If you’re placing in the fridge, divide into 2 equal-sized balls, and place in 2 bowls covered with plastic wrap (just be sure it has enough room to rise) and refrigerate (covered) overnight. The slow cold rise will help build the flavors.

Make The Pizza

 

  1. Once the dough has doubled in size, pan the dough. *Bring the dough to room temperature if it was in the fridge before using.
  2. Add the canola oil to flat pizza pan and, using a pastry brush, brush the bottom and sides with the canola oil.
  3. Place the dough ball on a lightly floured board and stretch out to a 12-13″x3-5″ rectangle. it’s OK if it doesn’t stretch out first. You just want to stretch it out into a rectangle.
  4. Place the lightly stretched dough to the oiled pizza pan and gently press it out towards the edges as much as possible without ripping it. If the dough springs back it’s ok. Cover the pan and dough with sprayed plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes to an hour or until the dough has puffed and spread out more towards the edges.
  5. Preheat the oven to 550F placing the rack on the lower third of the oven with a pizza stone on it. Add one more rack to the upper third. As the oven is heating up, uncover the pizza, and gently push the dough out towards the edges of the flatbread pan.
  6. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil on top of the dough followed by half of the red pepper flakes and half of the thyme leaves. Place the prosciutto, shallots, and pears on the pizza. Add pieces of the brie around the pear, the black pepper, and the rest of the red pepper flakes. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
  7. Place the flatbread pan on the pizza stone  (lower third rack) and bake for 7-9 minutes or until the crust has turned golden brown. Move the pizza to the upper rack if the cheese has not melted and allow to bake for 1 minute more.
  8. Remove the pizza from the oven, carefully remove the pizza from the pan to a cutting board (or cooling rack if not serving immediately). Drizzle on balsamic oil and the rest of the thyme leaves. Cut with a Pizza Rocker (it’s the easiest) and serve.

Notes

*Prep time does not include making the pizza dough

Using a Standard Size 18×13” rimmed baking sheet

  • You have 2 choices, you can use a single dough ball and stretch the dough out to a 5×15” rectangle OR double the recipe (2 dough balls, 3 tablespoon oil, etc) and stretch the dough out to cover the whole pan.