Blue cheese, bacon, arugula and cherry tomatoes go together about as perfect as butter and bread. Combine them on a flat bread pizza crust and you have a fresh tasting pizza that shines as bright the sun in the middle of summer but with a complex and rich flavor that only butcher cut bacon and blue cheese can provide.
Ingredients
- One Flat bread pizza dough, recipe in link
- 125 grams cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- Arugula (salad rocket)
- 3 strips butcher cut bacon or 6 strips of regular bacon
- 30g (1 ounce) crumbled blue cheese
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose white flour
- 112g (1/2 cup) of milk (milk alternatives will work)
Tools Used
- Digital food scale
- Dough docker
- Pizza stone
- Wood pizza peel
- Chef’s knife
- Balloon whisk
- Wooden rolling pin
- Silicone spatula
- Parchment Paper
- Large Cutting Board
Directions
- Make dough ahead of time and allow to proof (directions in link)
- Cook bacon to just before crispy as it will cook a bit more in the oven on the pizza. Allow to cool, chop up and set aside.
- Slice cherry tomatoes in half and set aside.
- Preheat oven and baking stone, on second from the bottom rack, to 550°F 20 minutes before starting next step.
- Create béchamel sauce with blue cheese (directions in link)
- Cut approximately a 14″ square piece of parchment paper and with a wooden rolling pin start rolling the dough into a thin flat circle on the parchment paper. You may need to use a bit of flour on the top to prevent sticking to the rolling pin.
- Using your dough docker, or fork, create a series of indentations on the dough. This prevents thin crust dough from from forming large air pockets.
- Place dough on pizza peel. You can keep it on the parchment paper if you like.
- Using a spatula evenly spread the bechamel cheese sauce over the pizza dough.
- Add cherry tomatoes on top of the sauce, flat side down.
- Evenly sprinkle chopped bacon over the pizza
- Using your pizza peel slide your pizza onto the preheated baking stone and allow to cook until you have a golden crust with no burning of the cheese sauce. Approximately 4-5 minutes. Watch it.
- Remove pizza from oven with pizza peel.
- Add a layer of arugula. If you prefer your arugula gently wilted place back in the oven for no more than 30 seconds. Otherwise allow the pizza to sit for a minute and the natural heat and moisture from the pizza will slightly soften the arugula. Cut and serve.
Directions in Photos
Prepare your ingredients so they are ready to add when you finish the bechamel sauce
Roll out the dough. Doing so creates a different texture to the crust than stretching it.
Rolled or sheeted dough should be ‘docked’ with a pizza/roller docker to prevent large bubbles when baked. You can use a fork as well.
Spread the bechamel cheese sauce evenly to prevent any area from burning.
Add cherry tomatoes with the cut side down and chopped bacon.
Bake pizza on preheated baking stone at 550°F for approximately 5 minutes.
Final pizza cut with arugula on top.
