Apricot and Prosciutto Thin Crust Pizza

I’ve mentioned before that I was eagerly awaiting peaches and apricots, as I had a few recipes to try with those as the main ingredient. I started by making a lactose-free roasted apricot ice cream with almond praline ripple. As good as that sounds, the reality was disappointing. My peach and brown sugar ice cream was way better, and even the praline didn’t make nuts in ice cream enjoyable. So I didn’t keep that recipe (nor did I keep the latest olive oil cake I tried). This apricot pizza, however, is a keeper.



I got this recipe from a blog called Love & Olive Oil. Some would consider it more of a flatbread with toppings, since there’s no sauce, but it was really delicious. I did end up making a few changes (omitting the parsley and chives, forgetting the parmesan entirely, making a smaller pizza and baking at 500 °F instead of 550 °F because my oven doesn’t go that high), but this is highly adaptable. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that life is better when you have homemade pizza. This made two good servings for us.

½ cup warm water (100 °F to 110 °F)
½ tsp active dry yeast
8 ½ tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided (plus oil for coating the bowl)
½ tsp kosher salt, divided
6 oz bread flour (about 1 ¼ cups)
2 Tbsp yellow cornmeal
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
3-4 apricots, pitted and cut into wedges (I found that 2 was plenty)
2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
¾ cup (3 oz) crumbled lactose-free goat cheese (I used 4 oz)
1 ½ Tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbsp minced fresh chives
1 cup arugula
1 oz thinly sliced prosciutto (I had about 1.5 oz)
1 oz shaved fresh parmesan cheese

Combine the cup warm water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add 4 tsp oil and ¼ teaspoon salt to yeast mixture. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Sprinkle flour over yeast mixture; mix 2 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Place dough in a large bowl coated with oil; cover surface of dough with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate 24 hours.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, 1 hour or until dough comes to room temperature. Punch dough down. Roll dough out to a thin 12-inch circle on a lightly floured baking sheet, without raised edges, sprinkled with cornmeal. (I now always roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment paper.) Crimp edges to form a ½-inch border. Pierce dough several times with a fork. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap.

Position an oven rack in the lowest setting. Place a pizza stone on lowest rack. Preheat oven to 500 °F. Preheat the pizza stone for 30 minutes before baking dough.

Combine 1 Tbsp oil, thyme, pepper, apricots, shallots, and remaining ¼ tsp salt; toss gently. Remove plastic wrap from dough; slide dough onto preheated pizza stone, using a spatula as a guide. (I just transfer the parchment paper directly to the baking stone; it keeps things cleaner and easier.) Bake for 4 minutes. Top dough with goat cheese and apricot mixture. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cut pizza into 10 slices; sprinkle with parsley and chives. Toss arugula with remaining 1 ½ tsp oil; arrange arugula over apricot mixture. Top with prosciutto and parmesan cheese. Cut into 8 wedges (or 4, in my case).