Two homemade pizzas with an elegant twist
You may think that these two pizzas are slightly unusual or at least not the ‘traditional’ tomato sauce pizzas, but the flavour pairings are something special. Impress your guests with homemade pizzas with an elegant twist – perfect to serve as a snack with an ice-cold drink or even as a starter before a meal. Pizzas without a tomato sauce on the base, are often called ‘blanco pizzas’ and these are a perfect example of that.
Use this basic white bread recipe and see the tip at the bottom of the recipe, to shape it into pizzas. You will need four pizza bases for each of the two topping ideas in this blog post below.
This bread dough recipe makes 8 pizza bases in total, so prepare half a bread dough recipe or shape four pizzas and freeze the rest of the dough for another time, before it rises again.
Prepare the dough up to step 6 in the original recipe. Once the dough has risen the first time, knock it down and divide it into balls. Roll each ball on a lightly floured surface into a thin pizza base, prick all over with a fork and lightly brush with olive oil. The pizzas don’t have to be perfectly round, a rustic look works well.
Bake at 200 °C for 5-8 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Prepare one of the toppings below and arrange on the warm or room temperature bases.
Recipes
Pear, blue cheese, nuts & warm honey topping
Makes 4 pizzas
Pear and blue cheese is a well-known combination, but have you tried it on a pizza before? The warm honey, ginger and nut mixture is really good with it.
Ingredients
2-3 ripe pears in the skin, thinly sliced
100 g blue cheese, coarsely crumbled or sliced
60 ml (¼ cup) honey
10 ml (2 tsp) coarsely grated fresh ginger
60 ml (¼ cup) coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
handful of rocket leaves, for garnish
Method
- Arrange pear slices in small fans on the baked bases. Sprinkle with the blue cheese and bake for another 5 minutes at 200 °C or until the pears just start to soften and the cheese melts.
- Meanwhile, place the honey and ginger in a small saucepan and heat over a low temperature. Simmer gently for 2-3 minutes until aromatic and stir in the nuts. Do not simmer for too long as the mixture will become very thick and sticky.
- Drizzle spoonfuls of the warm honey over the cheese and bases, garnish pizzas with rocket and serve immediately.
Smoked trout & sour cream topping
Makes 4 pizzas
Salmon and cream cheese is a well-known combination, try my spin with smoked trout and sour cream.
Ingredients
125-180 ml sour cream or plain smooth cottage cheese or cream cheese
100 g smoked trout or salmon, cut in thin strips
shop-bought or homemade pickled red onions or capers
1 ripe avocado (when in season)
micro herbs, pea shoots or fresh dill
thin slices lemon and lemon rind
pepper to taste
Method
- For the pizza dough, shape the dough into interesting shapes. Long, oblong (imperfect) shapes are ideal for this pizza. Brush each base with some olive oil, bake for only 5-8 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack.
- Spread a thin layer of sour cream, cottage cheese or cream cheese on each base. Round it off by arranging in small bundles of smoked fish, pickled onions, avocado and herbs on the pizza.
- Garnish with lemon and a good grind of pepper, slice and serve. These pizzas can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature.
Tip
- Tinned tuna would also be delicious as an alternative to the trout or salmon.
This recipe was developed for the Spring issue of LiG Tydskrif, 2024.
Images by Adel Ferreira Photography.
Ek hou hiervan ook. Mis net altyd die ansjovis.