Balsamic Onion, Bacon, and Goat Cheese Pizza

Anyone that loves to cook will tell you that they will never forget their first kitchen nightmare.  My aunt experimented with a low fat cake that was a complete bust.  No one has ever let her forget it, and this was over a decade ago.  Last year, I made a roasted vegetable soup.  It tasted like nothing, but looked like a certain bodily fluid.  Sorry for that visual.  It is my low fat cake and I will never be able to live it down.

You also never forget the first time that you come up with a recipe that is all your own and it is a huge success.  The first recipe that I created on my own was this pizza topped with balsamic roasted onions, bacon, and goat cheese.  It is my idea of the perfect pizza.  The crust is crispy, the balsamic onions are sweet, the bacon is salty, and the goat cheese adds a little something creamy.  Like any good pizza, this one is slathered with a good amount of marinara sauce.  I can’t begin to tell you how good the kitchen smells when you put this pizza into the oven.

These days, you can buy pretty good pre-made pizza dough or pre-baked flatbreads at the grocery store.  But I have a recipe that is so simple, it doesn’t take much longer than 30 minutes to prepare.  Check out the recipe below.

Balsamic Onion, Bacon, and Goat Cheese Pizza

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Yield	4
Meal type	Pizza & Bread

Ingredients

• 2 small red onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2lb thick-cut bacon, diced
• 1 (10 ounce) ball pizza dough, recipe follows
• All purpose flour, for rolling
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4oz goat cheese

Directions

1.	Preheat the broiler. Toss together the onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper on a large rimmed baking sheet. Broil the onions for 6 to 8 minutes, until soft and slightly caramelized.
2.	Meanwhile, place a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
3.	Preheat the oven to 500°F, or as high as your oven will go. Drizzle a large heavy baking sheet with some olive oil, just enough to lightly cover. Transfer the pizza dough to a well-floured work surface and roll out to a thin 15-inch circle. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Spread the marinara sauce over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Spread the onions evenly over the dough. Crumble the goat cheese and bacon on top. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving

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Homemade Pizza Dough

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Yield	Makes 2 (12 ounce) crusts
Meal type	Miscellaneous, Pizza & Bread

Ingredients

• 1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1.	Dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water in a small bowl. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes, until foamy.
2.	Place the flour, salt, and remaining teaspoon of sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. With the machine running, add the yeast mixture and olive oil through the feed tube. Gradually add enough of the remaining warm water and process until the dough forms a smooth ball that rides around the sides of the food processor.
3.	Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a dishtowel and let rise in a warm, draft-free area for 30 to 45 minutes, until almost doubled in volume. At this point, the dough is ready to roll out and bake. If you are not using the dough right away, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using.

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I have spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to get a crispy, golden crust on pizza when cooking it in your own oven.  First of all, crank you oven up as high as it will go.  The hotter your oven, the quicker the crust will crisp up.  Second, a drizzle of olive oil under your crust before you bake it will ensure that it does not get soggy.

Hopefully this pizza is good enough to make up for my failure of a soup!

Tagged as: bacon, balsamic onions, dough, goat cheese, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, pizza, recipe