Homemade pizza dough with a light olive oil base, fresh figs, pears, caramelized onions, brie and goat cheese. Baked until the crust is golden and cheese is melted. Then topped with arugula, and walnut crumbles, followed by a drizzle of honey and fig balsamic reduction vinegar glaze. The combination of flavors in this pizza is unbelievably good. A perfect summer pizza.
I'll admit I've always been a fan of the classic extra cheesy plain cheese pizza, but this pizza blows plain cheese pizza out of the water. The combination of figs and pears with the caramelized onions is just so incredibly tasty together. The caramelized flavor of the onions really pairs well with the slight sweetness of the figs and pears. Next, the brie and goat cheese, which again are not even necessarily two cheeses you'd expect to go together, let alone on pizza, but the melted mix they create is just divine.
The arugula, added for a little bit of greens, is always a fancy pizza classic. But what completely pulls this all together is the walnut topping and combination of sweet honey drizzle and fig balsamic reduction glaze. Without the fig balsamic glaze, this pizza may fall too much on the sweet side for my liking. But the sourness balances out the flavors in this pizza to perfection.
The first time I made this I ate the whole thing myself. And I did the same thing the next 1000+ times too.
Ingredients
As with any pizza, homemade dough is the best – but if you are in a rush, you can use store bought. Any type of homemade dough recipe will work, it just depends on your preference. I love this pizza with a thin crust pizza dough.
Figs have two seasons – a mini season lasting a couple weeks in June and a longer, second season from August through October. Use only fresh figs for this pizza. It reallllly makes a difference in the flavor. So make good use of fig season and make this pizza as many times as you can in that time (you will miss it in winter).
For the pears, I prefer Bosc pears, but again, use whichever is available to you. Apple could be a good substitute in a pinch, if needed.
The goat and brie cheeses are absolutely essential to this pizza. Don't substitute them for any other type of cheese, the pizza won't be the same! Make sure you use a good quality brie cheese (some types are not as good as others). The goat cheese should just be plain goat cheese, not herb-ed.
I use a fig flavored balsamic vinegar to make the glaze added on the pizza, however, if you can't find a balsamic vinegar that is fig flavored, regular balsamic vinegar will work here too.
Instructions
First, start by making your favorite dough (as this may take several hours depending on the recipe you are using).
Once your dough is ready, move on to the caramelized onions to be as efficient as possible. These will take the most time to cook, and you can assemble the rest of the pizza as they caramelize on the side.
To caramelize the onions, slice the onions and cook them in about a teaspoon of olive oil on low heat until they turn a golden brown caramel colour. This takes approximately 30 minutes to an hour. Caramelized onions take patience. Don't try to crank up the heat to speed up the process. You will just end up burning the onions and turning them black, which does not taste great. The caramel flavor is critical here! You'll only get the golden caramel color with low heat over time. Stir them occasionally as you are putting together the rest of the pizza.
Roll out your dough, start with the light olive oil base, then add the cheeses, evenly spread out. Slice the figs in wide slices and dice the pear into small chunks. Spread these toppings over the pizza. Add in the caramelized onions.
Bake the pizza at 450F until the crust is golden. Meanwhile, make the fig balsamic reduction glaze. Bring the fig balsamic vinegar to a slight simmer over the stove, and continue to simmer until it reduces to about ⅓ of its quantity. It should be a thicker glaze-like consistency. Don't over simmer it, or simmer at too high a heat or you will end up with a gooey, sticky mess.
Remove the pizza from the oven when ready, after about 10-15 minutes. Top with fresh arugula, and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Then add a drizzle of honey followed by a drizzle of your fig balsamic glaze and serve.
Other pizza recipes to try:
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Fig, Pear, Walnut, Brie, Honey and Goat Cheese Pizza
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Fresh fig, pear, caramelized onions, brie and goat cheese. Topped with arugula and walnut crumbles. Followed by a drizzle of honey and fig balsamic glaze.
Ingredients
- ½ pound pizza dough
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ onion, sliced in long strips
- ⅓ to ½ cup goat cheese, crumbled
- 70g brie cheese, sliced into thin strips
- 5 to 6 small figs, sliced
- ¼ cup pear, diced
- ¼ cup fig balsamic vinegar
- a handful of arugula
- a small handful of walnuts
- drizzle of honey
Instructions
- If making homemade dough, prepare the dough according to the recipe. If using store bought dough, defrost to room temperature.
- Start by beginning to caramelize the onions on a pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil over low to medium heat. Stir occasionally, and cook until the onions are a golden brown color (about 30 minutes to 1 hour).
- When the onions are about halfway done, set oven to 450F.
- Roll out your pizza dough to about a 10-12 inch circle.
- Spread 1 tablespoon of olive oil evenly over the pizza dough, leaving an edge around the circle for the crust.
- Spread out the slices of brie cheese evenly. Sprinkle the goat cheese crumbles over the pizza, trying to fill in the gaps between the brie cheese slices.
- Place the fig slices evenly across the pizza. Sprinkle the diced pear over the pizza.
- Bake until the crust is golden, about 10-15 minutes.
- While the pizza is in the oven. Heat the balsamic vinegar on the stove until it comes to a low simmer. Continue to simmer the vinegar until it thickens up to a glaze consistency and reduces to about ⅓ of its original volume, about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven. Spread a handful of arugula over the pizza. Top with a handful of small walnuts. Add a small honey drizzle over the pizza, followed by a light drizzle of your reduced balsamic glaze sauce. Serve.
Notes
- Don't rush the caramelized onions. You won't be able to make them caramelize faster. If you cook them on too high heat, you will end up with black, burnt onions.
- You can caramelize a large bunch of onion slices at once and store the extra in the fridge for up to a week to use later.
- Make sure to heat up the vinegar slowly and only simmer on low heat. Remove from the heat as soon as it thickens up. If you heat it on too high heat or for too long, it will turn into a sticky, thick gooey mess.
- You can also make extra balsamic reduction glaze and store it in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Dinner, Pizza
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 slices
- Calories: 377
- Sugar: 17.9g
- Sodium: 784mg
- Fat: 18.8g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10.9g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 41.9g
- Fiber: 3.8g
- Protein: 11.7g
- Cholesterol: 26.3mg
Keywords: Summer, vegan, pizza, fig season
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