Balsamic Basil Blackberry Pizza

You’ve heard of fruit pizzas right? They’re shaped liked pizzas, but that’s really where the similarities end. To the best of my knowledge, fruit pizzas are essentially entirely sweet, with a base more like cookie dough, topped with fruits and sugar. You eat them for dessert, not dinner. That is not what we’re doing here tonight. This blackberry pizza is mostly savory, with the addition of the sweet and tangy blackberries.

How did I come up with this crazy idea? I didn’t. This was a Pinterest find, from a blog called A Whisk and Two Wands. The pictures caught my eye – gorgeous contrast of the dark berries and white cheese! Furthermore, Selim loves pizza, we’re trying to eat more fruit, we had blackberries and basil in the fridge, and I had the time to make some dough today. All good reasons to give this unique idea a whirl tonight!

We really enjoyed this as an alternative to a “normal” pizza for dinner tonight. However, I think it would really be perfect as an appetizer in smaller portions for your next dinner party!

Balsamic Basil Blackberry Pizza

(Adapted from A Whisk and Two Wands blog)

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup hot water, divided
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• Olive oil
• 12oz blackberries
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 8 turns of fresh ground black pepper
• Just a pinch of salt
• 10 large leaves of fresh basil, roughly chopped, reserving 2-3 leaves
• 16oz log of mozzarella

Instructions: 

1. First, prepare the dough. (You also could skip this step entirely and buy prepared pizza dough.) In a small bowl, stir together the yeast, sugar, and 1/4 cup of warm water. Let sit for ~10 minutes until frothy.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Pour the yeast mixture over-top. Add the remaining water slowly, stopping and stirring frequently. Mix with a spoon in the bowl until you have a well-combined ball of dough. (You may need slightly more or slightly less water to form a nice ball of dough. If it ends up too wet – add additional flour.)
3. Then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured, clean, dry counter-top. Knead the dough for 10+ minutes. The dough should be firm and elastic.
4. Pour just a tiny bit of olive oil onto a paper towel and swipe around the bottom and side of a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp towel. Allow to sit for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the blackberry sauce. Pour blackberries into a saucepan over low-medium heat. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, pepper, and chopped fresh basil. Cover and cook for ~5 minutes so the berries soften.
6. Uncover and mash the blackberries with your stirring spoon or the back of a fork.
7. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. This should take ~10 minutes.
8. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
9. Once dough has risen, turn it out on a lightly flowered surface. Divide in half. Roll out the dough into two large circles.
10. Bake the pizza dough without topping for 5 minutes and then remove from the oven.
11. Spoon the blackberry sauce onto the dough as you would a normal pizza, leaving a bit of the edge uncovered for a crust.
12. Slice mozzarella and place chunks all over the pizza. (May not use the whole 16oz log of mozzarella.)
13. Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes, watching the edges of the crusts to make sure it’s not over-browning.
14. Top with the remaining fresh basil before serving.