Apricot, Thyme, and Gouda Pizza

Apricot, Thyme, and Gouda Pizza

Pizza is our ABSOLUTE favourite food for entertaining guests.  It’s such a casual, social food when made at home.  We usually prepare a number of different toppings and everyone takes their turn creating their own unique pizza for the group to share (and vote for of course)!   Over the years we have found some amazing combinations (and some terrible ones, I’ll admit), and have recently started experimenting with unusual pizza ingredients like peaches and plums.  And why not?  Living in the Okanagan gives us unlimited access to fresh stone fruit!  This pizza makes a terrific appetizer with a glass of white wine or an interesting dessert for those that don’t have a big sweet tooth.

You don’t have to make your own pizza dough, but I highly recommend it!  There are some good store-made options out there if you aren’t up to the task of course.  Note, the pizza dough makes enough for 8-10 pizzas, so you can multiply the toppings if you are making a ton of them, use the dough for other types of pizza, freeze it, or simply cut the recipe in half!

A couple of tips: try to resist the temptation to pile too many toppings on, as a thin crust pizza really does best with a light hand, and make sure that your pizza stone is as hot as you can get it!

Pizza Crust Directions:

1. Place your flours and sea salt in a large bowl and whisk together. Create a well in the centre.
2. In a large measuring cup, mix together lukewarm water and sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the yeast and let it sit for approximately 5 minutes, until the yeast starts to ferment.
3. Pour the yeast mixture and olive oil into the well, and stirring together with a fork or large spoon until it is well mixed. Once it becomes too difficult to mix together with your fork or spoon, sprinkle extra flour on the dough and your hands and mix with your hands until the dough comes together into a ball.
4. Place the dough on a well-floured flat surface and knead, pushing the dough using the palms of your hands, for approximately 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stretchy. You may need to add more flour as you knead, being careful not to add too much to keep the dough from being too stiff.
5. Place the ball of dough in a large bowl coated with olive oil, dust the top of the dough with flour, cover with a clean dish towel, and place in a warm draft-free area for about an hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down. Refrigerate the dough overnight (or for up to 2 days, covered with plastic wrap and occasionally punched down). or divide the dough into 4-6 portions (depending on how big you want your pizzas).  Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature (about 1-2 hours before you are ready to cook).
6. Preheat your oven to the highest heat setting (500°F for most ovens).Heat your pizza stone in the oven for at least 20 minutes.
7. Portion the dough into 8-10 balls and place on a well-floured surface. Dust your hands and work surface with semolina flour, and using your hand and knuckles, stretch the dough into a nice, thin pizza base it doesn’t have to be round or perfect!). Let the crust sit 15-20 minutes before cooking your pizza.
8. Remove the pizza stone from the oven, lay your pizza base on the stone, and add your toppings, leaving a ½” margin along the edge: about 10 slices of plum, the leaves from 1 sprig of thyme, and top with ½ cup shredded gouda cheese. Bake until the pizza is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Garnish with extra sprigs of thyme and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of honey. Slice and serve immediately.

Pizza Building Directions:

1. Place ½ of the apricots evenly over a pizza crust leaving a 1/2” margin along the edge.
2. Remove the leaves from one sprig of thyme and spread it evenly over the pizza; sprinkle ½ c. of the gouda over the pizza and bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Drizzle with the honey and garnish with the extra sprigs of thyme.

Tori is a Registered Dietitian and self-proclaimed foodie. Her nutrition philosophy embraces moderation and quality without deprivation. She started up Fraîche Nutrition on a whim in August 2014, inspired to help share her love of food and educate others on simple healthy eating at the same time. Tori believes that food and nutrition has become overly complicated, and hopes to help others live healthier lives one wholesome recipe at a time.