Peach-za
Who doesn’t love pizza? One of my favorite things about making pizzas at home is that it can be catered to the season and there is an endless number of ingredient combinations you can use to make a tasty and healthier pie. I chose to make a peach pizza — or peach-za — because peaches are at the height of their season, and the first step in making a delicious recipe is using great ingredients.
To find the best quality and the largest variety of peaches, I recommend buying them at your local farmers market. It’s hard to find the perfect peach in the grocery store because they are usually harvested before they’re ripe in order to withstand shipping and storage conditions. Most farmers who are selling at markets will allow their peaches to mature on the tree, which lets them develop a high sugar content while keeping a firm texture. Farmers markets also offer a large variety of peaches that grow throughout the summer season, and it’s a treat to experience the different flavors and textures that each type of peach has to offer.
I made this pizza with my favorite West Coast peach variety, the O’Henry peach. I selected it for the following reasons: it is a freestone peach (which means the pit is easy to remove and it’s easy to slice), the slightly firm texture helps it hold up to cooking, and the acidity and intensely sweet flavor cut through the richness of the cheese. I recommend sampling ingredients to get a sense of how the flavors and textures will work together in a dish.
Enjoy this recipe or experiment with your favorite seasonal ingredients!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- Pizza dough (See linked recipe below or you can also purchase pre-made pizza dough from the store.)
- 2 medium sized tomatoes, grated and strained
- 1/2 garlic clove minced
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1/2 small purple onion, sliced into rings (using a mandolin or sharp chef’s knife)
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar of Modena
- 6 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn or cut into slices
- 1 peach, sliced into thin crescents (using a mandolin or sharp chef’s knife)
- 2 sprigs of basil, leaves torn
- Coarse sea salt and pepper
Directions
- Slice tomatoes in half and grate flesh side with large holes of a cheese grater.
- Strain extra liquid through a sieve.
- Add a teaspoon of olive oil, minced garlic, and a dash of salt to the tomato pulp. Mix ingredients together and set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the onion rings and balsamic vinegar and set aside.
- Spread tomato pulp over the partially baked dough (reserve extra tomato pulp for additional pizzas). Layer on the fresh mozzarella. Then arrange the vinegar-soaked onion rings over the cheese. Finish by decorating the pizza with peach crescents.
- Bake pizza. Pizzas may bake in as little as 8 minutes on a stone placed at the bottom of an oven or 12 to 14 minutes if baked on a pizza pan at the top of an oven. As a visual, the cheese should brown a little and the crust should be golden.
- Remove from oven and garnish with fresh basil, coarse sea salt and pepper, and a drizzle of fresh extra virgin olive oil.
- Serve!
Optional: Partially bake pizza dough
- After making your pizza dough and before topping your pizza, partially bake the pizza dough. Place the 12-inch flattened dough on a pizza stone or baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. I like to partially bake the dough beforehand because it’s easier to transfer the pizza to the oven later.
Nutrition information (per serving)
- Calories: 250
- Total fat: 13 g
- Saturated fat: 6 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
- Sodium: 590 mg
- Total carbohydrate: 24 g
- Dietary fiber: 3 g
- Total sugars: 6 g
- Protein: 11 g
Note: The pizza dough recipe makes five 12-inch pizza crusts. This recipe is for 1 pizza, which is enough for 4 servings.