Rosemary-Cherry Tomato Flatbread/Pizza

zucchini, tomato, gouda

Ingredients:
Pizza Dough (1 triple batch)

Toppings:
Good-quality Balsamic vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Approximately 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
3-4 cloves of garlic (minced or roasted to form a paste)
Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste

Start with the pizza dough recipe on this site.  My preference these days is for mixing the dough in the Kitchen Aid, letting the dough hook slap it around for about 5-7 minutes, until it’s nice and smooth and thready when you pull it.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top and run the spatula around the bowl to coat the dough with oil.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for a few hours, or store in the fridge to use within a week.

spinach, banana pepper, feta

Preheat oven to 450-475 and take dough out of the fridge at least 20 minutes before you plan to bake the flatbread.  If you’d like, you can toss a couple cloves of garlic (unpeeled).  Really, just toss them in on your pizza stone, or on a pan, or just throw the whole head in on the shelf.

Knead dough for a few minutes in a light dusting of flour. Shape into a ball, press lightly, and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes. You’ll skip this step the first time, I know I did.  But you’ll find that the dough resists being rolled out until it’s rested; it’ll keep shrinking back into a little ball, and you’ll curse and probably punch it.  So just go make a cocktail or something and let it have a rest. In the meantime, you can sprinkle a sheet pan with coarse cornmeal.

You can also prep your toppings! You can use whatever you have on hand, really.  Except… I suggest choosing just a few fresh, flavorful ingredients.  Don’t use grocery store tomatoes here, or canned mushrooms, or pre-grated parmesan cheese (those are all about equally heinous in my book).  Less is better. Better is better.  If it’s winter, pick something that travels well (like onions or shallots) or is well-preserved (like artichoke hearts or roasted red peppers) for your primary topping.  We make a lot of apple-gouda and walnut-gorgonzola pizzas in the winter. Red onion-mozzarella, or cheddar-jalapeno, or garlic-shallot-asiago if you want to keep it simple.

Ok, so you have your drink and you have a superfreakinghot oven, and you have a lovely ball of dough.  Roll it out to the size of your sheet pan (about 1/4″ thick, ideally), and carefully lay it on the pan or your pizza peel.

Drizzle or brush dough with olive oil.  Sprinkle your toppings (tomatoes, balsamic, garlic, salt and pepper) around the dough evenly, and grate a thin layer of hard cheese on top.  Bake until golden brown, slide onto a board and slice it up!  You’re aiming for just enough cheese so that it caramelizes in the oven.

jalapeno, veggie sausage, mozzarella