Fruit pizza - attempt one
With a box of peaches in the fridge, and a little extra time on my hands, I decided to attempt a fruit pizza today. And for a first attempt, it turned out pretty good. Nick actually decided to try a slice after it was done. I have some things to work on before posting the recipe, so this is just the overview.
Crust - I wanted something kinda light, sweet and with a hint of spice. A normal bread dough wouldn't work for what I was looking for. After looking thru my cookbooks, I decided to try a scone recipe for the crust. Sweetened with honey and applesauce, it would take the extra spices well. But the basic recipe yielded dough that was much too thin. I had to add extra flour to achieve a dough I could roll out, which lost some of the light and airy texture and the flavor I was looking for. Next time, I am going to try a different scone recipe or modify before I start. I need an easily handled dough, but can't overwork it. Rolling the dough out will also help - I hand patted the dough to a roundish shape, but didn't get it even - so there are sections that are thicker then others. I baked the crust for ten minutes prior to topping, which worked well. I still had a nice texture, but it wasn't overly brown or crunchy.
Sauce - yes, I did a red sauce for this pizza. I made the sauce with frozen strawberries and lemonade - a nice balance of sweet and tart. I simmered the strawberries and lemonade until the berries were soft enough to mash into a sauce. It was really liquidy though, so again an area for improvement. I think adding either some cornstarch or tapioca will give the strawberries a better consistency. Cornstarch wouldn't add any flavor, but the creaminess of tapioca might be more attractive.
Putting all together - after baking the crust, I spread on a thin layer of cream cheese and sprinkled it with sugar. Creme frachie would be better, but I was just looking for some creamy texture. Then the strawberry sauce. I drained as much liquid as I could off before spreading it on the crust. Some more of the liquid would evaporate with baking. Finally, I arraigned sliced peaches on the crust. I thought about blackberries too, but decided to stay with just the peaches for a first try. Then back to the oven for another 10 minutes to finish the crust and bake the peaches a little. I don't think I'd change anything in that step.
I'll try another pizza here in a few weeks. Maybe then I'll have a recipe worthy of posting!
Crust - I wanted something kinda light, sweet and with a hint of spice. A normal bread dough wouldn't work for what I was looking for. After looking thru my cookbooks, I decided to try a scone recipe for the crust. Sweetened with honey and applesauce, it would take the extra spices well. But the basic recipe yielded dough that was much too thin. I had to add extra flour to achieve a dough I could roll out, which lost some of the light and airy texture and the flavor I was looking for. Next time, I am going to try a different scone recipe or modify before I start. I need an easily handled dough, but can't overwork it. Rolling the dough out will also help - I hand patted the dough to a roundish shape, but didn't get it even - so there are sections that are thicker then others. I baked the crust for ten minutes prior to topping, which worked well. I still had a nice texture, but it wasn't overly brown or crunchy.
Sauce - yes, I did a red sauce for this pizza. I made the sauce with frozen strawberries and lemonade - a nice balance of sweet and tart. I simmered the strawberries and lemonade until the berries were soft enough to mash into a sauce. It was really liquidy though, so again an area for improvement. I think adding either some cornstarch or tapioca will give the strawberries a better consistency. Cornstarch wouldn't add any flavor, but the creaminess of tapioca might be more attractive.
Putting all together - after baking the crust, I spread on a thin layer of cream cheese and sprinkled it with sugar. Creme frachie would be better, but I was just looking for some creamy texture. Then the strawberry sauce. I drained as much liquid as I could off before spreading it on the crust. Some more of the liquid would evaporate with baking. Finally, I arraigned sliced peaches on the crust. I thought about blackberries too, but decided to stay with just the peaches for a first try. Then back to the oven for another 10 minutes to finish the crust and bake the peaches a little. I don't think I'd change anything in that step.
I'll try another pizza here in a few weeks. Maybe then I'll have a recipe worthy of posting!
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