Make your own pizza. Whether you make it for a Super Bowl party or on a busy weeknight, you can have it ready faster than the delivery guy will arrive. The longest this sweet and salty Bacon and Caramelized Pizza will take you to get on the table is about 35 minutes, but you can cut that to about 20 with this great trick. Whenever we caramelize onions, we make a double batch and freeze the extra. Caramelized onions are like butter and bacon– they just make everything else taste so much better. We freeze them in flat “sheets” inside freezer bags so they thaw in just 15 minutes.
Also, you don’t have to make your own dough to make a really good pizza. Buy a bag of dough at your supermarket (it is usually sold in the dairy section, next to all those tubes of biscuit dough, and is often available both as regular and whole wheat) or go to your local pizzeria and ask them to sell you one pound. They will, and it is very inexpensive and freshly made. Score.
Keep the dough refrigerated until you use it, or it will start to rise. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a pizza pan or a stone, you can make it in a sheet pan.
Last week when Farberware hired us to create a pizza for their pan, we experienced the advantage of having a crisper pan with holes in it: those holes let the steam escape as the pizza cooks, which leads to a crisp, but not burned, crust. As much as we love the crust we get by using a pizza stone, we don’t always want to lug it out and heat it up. (Yes, we pros get lazy, too.) The other night we got back late from a meeting, we were hungry, and we had some dough on hand. Ebo pulled out our new crisper pan and whipped together the pizza below.
| Servings 6 |
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- 7 slices center cut bacon
- 4 cups thinly sliced onion (about 3-4 medium onions)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
- 1 15-16-ounce pizza dough, regular or whole wheat
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella (reduced fat or regular)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
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- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Coat a large shallow baking sheet pan with cooking spray.
- Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to drain.
- Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the skillet; add the onion, salt, pepper and rosemary and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden and very soft, about 20 minutes.
- Roll and stretch out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it forms a rectangle that is about 11 inches wide and 13 inches long if you are making it on a sheet pan; into a 13-inch round if you have a pizza pan. Transfer to the pan and sprinkle with and even layer of the mozzarella. Top with the onions. Cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and scatter it over the onions. Top with the parmesan.
- Bake until the crust is golden, feels firm and makes a hollow knocking sound when tapped, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, wait 1-2 minutes and cut in rectangles.
Nutritional analysis for each serving: 372 calories, 21 g protein, 49 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 10 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 769 mg sodium
Click here for the recipe (shown below) of the Whole Wheat White Pizza with Skillet Melted Grape Tomatoes we created for Farberware.
i just read that there may be a bacon shortage. is there a substitute?
also, how long will the dough last in the refrigerator .
Ah, the Aporkalypse strikes again! Rest assured, there is no real bacon shortage. It was not exactly fake news, but along those lines: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/business/bacon-shortage.html
When you buy the dough at the local pizzeria, it will keep in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. When you buy the bagged dough in the supermarket, it has a use-by date on it– generally 1-2 weeks.
Hi Marge you won’t remember me it was so long ago I took a couple of classes with you at ICE. I’ve just settled in FLA and wanted to say hello. Good things happen to good people and you’re good people! Awesome website and sense of humor.
Been through alot the last few years, happening onto your site was great for me.
Fondly,
Robert Liquori
Thank you
I do remember you, Robert! I hope you are loving FLA, and that the sunshine is helping soothe whatever the last few years have brought. I am happy we have reconnected, and look forward to hearing more from you.
-Marge