PEAR, PECAN, GOAT CHEESE PIZZA

October's Daring Bakers Challenge - PIZZA. It was hosted by Rosa and what a fun challenge it was. The basic pizza dough recipe was taken from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart. Part of our assignment was to have a picture taken of us tossing the pizza. My pizza creation consisted of a bechemel sauce, caramelized onions, candied pecans, goat cheese, & poached pears. I also sprinkled it with a little finishing salt (fleur de sel) and red chilli peppers. It was so good you just have to try this recipe!!!

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH

Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches)

Ingredients:

4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached High-Gluten (%14) Bread Flour or All Purpose Flour, chilled

3/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Instant yeast

(2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or Vegetable Oil (both optional, but it’s better with)

1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C

1 Tablespoon Sugar

SAUCE & TOPPINGS

Bechamel Sauce

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Flour

1 Cup Milk

Salt & Pepper to taste

Toppings

1 Sweet Onion (1 cup thinly sliced)

1 1/2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 Tablespoon Butter

1/4 Cup Pecan Halves

1 1/2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 Tablespoon Butter

2 Poached Pears or Canned Pears

Goat Cheese

Bechamel Sauce

Fleur de Sel

Red Chilli Peppers

DAY ONE

Method For the Pizza Dough:

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to three days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C). NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.*

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

*To Make the Sauce & Toppings

For the Bechamel Sauce

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan. As soon as the butter is melted whisk in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in milk, and cook until sauce thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat. This will make about 1 cup of sauce and you will not need it all. Just use the amount you want and refrigerate the remaining for another use.

For the Toppings

In a 6" saute pan melt one tablespoon of the butter over medium heat and add the onions. Cook until translucent brown, stirring occasionally. Add 1 1/2 Tablespoon brown sugar and continue to cook and stir occasionally until the onions are a deep brown. Remove from heat and transfer the onions to a plate and set aside.

In the same saute pan melt the other one tablespoon of butter and add the pecans. Stir about 3 minutes then add the other 1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar. Cook another 3 minutes then transfer to a plate and seperate the pecans so they are not touching each other. You will see that the pecans have a hard candy outer shell when they are cool

To assemble the toppings on the pizza:

Roll out the pizza dough as stated above and spread with a small amount of bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the caramelized onions over the sauce, then some of the goat cheese, all the sliced pears, pecans then more goat cheese.

Bake as directed above. Mine took about 10 minutes at 500 degrees on a pizza stone.