Here’s the plan.
You only have to survive a few work hours before you can go home and make pizza. I want Pizza Mondays to be a real thing in my house. I know I said that recently about tacos, but I’m admittedly fickle — and pizza and tacos are constant obsessions. So much so that I devoted a portion of my book to them.
To me, they’re delicacies. I’m simple like that.
ANYhoo.
I was surprised to find fresh figs at my grocery store — they’re only around here for a few fleeting moments each year. I always have dried figs on hand and snack on them like candy, but fresh figs are a treat. I bought a dozen for about twelve dollars, which felt extravagant — one dollar per fig — and yes, those of you with fig trees might be laughing. Still, I adore them.
Most of the figs were sliced for this pizza, and I ate the rest simply and fresh. That’s how it should be.
People often ask how I come up with my flavor combinations. The short answer: by combining things I love. I wish I could claim a refined palate that detects subtle undertones and pairs ingredients perfectly every time, but honestly I mostly throw together flavors that make sense to me.
My approach is loud, a little offbeat, and sometimes wrong — much like how I sing along to Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors” with absolute confidence despite not always knowing the lyrics. I’ll happily invent my own words if it sounds good.
The point is: I love figs, cheese, bacon, pizza and even arugula. If I adore all those things, putting them together is unlikely to steer me wrong.
So I happily ate this entire pizza by myself.
WORTH IT.
Fresh Fig, Bacon + Blue Cheese Pizza
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Ingredients
dough
- 1 1/8 cups warm water
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
pizza
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 fresh figs, sliced
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until slightly crispy
- 8 ounces fontina cheese, freshly grated
- 4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
- 2 cups fresh arugula
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- a pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
dough
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In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast, honey and olive oil. Stir, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, stirring until the dough starts to come together but remains sticky. Form the dough into a ball and work in the remaining 1/2 cup flour on a floured surface, kneading for a few minutes. Rub the bowl with olive oil, place the dough inside, turn to coat, cover with a towel and let rise in a warm spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
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After the dough has risen, punch it down and return it to the floured surface. Shape it with a rolling pin or your hands into your preferred form — this dough makes one pizza large enough for about 3–4 people. Transfer to a baking sheet or pizza peel, cover with a towel and let rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.
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Preheat the oven to 375°F. (If using a pizza stone, heat the oven to 450°F and bake directly on the stone for about 15 minutes; for a baking sheet, follow the 375°F directions below.)
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Assemble the pizza on the peel or baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter the minced garlic, then spread half the fontina. Arrange the sliced figs and cooked bacon over the surface, then top with the remaining fontina and crumbled gorgonzola. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly. Remove, let cool 5–10 minutes. Toss the arugula with olive oil, salt and pepper, then pile it on the pizza before serving.
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I appreciate you so much!
There’s a lot of green stuff on there, no?