As with most situations in life, just about anything gets better with practice. And that definitely rings true with pizza. Even after your first try you’ll learn a lot about making pizza in your own kitchen and what works for you. With a few shortcuts, this is a great weeknight pizza. I buy pizza dough from the freezer section of my grocery store (thaw it in the refrigerator overnight) or fresh from a local pizzeria. You only need 1 pound for this recipe. And once you’ve got some Simple Tomato Sauce, just prep the toppings and get the pizza baking!
I skip pizza stones and use a good quality rimmed baking or half sheet pan, which is my everyday baking sheet. The sides on the sheet pan help me to stretch the dough to a perfect size, which is especially useful if you are cooking with kids. While sometimes frustrating, I cannot get my little apartment oven to go much above 450 F but find that temperature works perfectly as long as I cook the pizza on the very top rack in the oven.
Both the bacon and red onion require cooking before going on the pizza dough. Thick cut bacon is my favorite for a topping since it doesn’t get too crispy or dark while the pizza bakes. Save the delicious bacon fat to caramelize the onion! You can use yellow onion but the sweetness from the red really makes this pizza special.
Despite its amazing taste, high-quality fresh mozzarella contains a lot of liquid and makes for a watery topping and soggy pizza crust. You want mozzarella sold wrapped in plastic, not in a container with water. The drier the mozzarella, the better. I prefer the flavor of smoked mozzarella over the part-skim or fresh varieties. It pairs deliciously with the salty bacon and sweet onions. If you have trouble finding smoked mozzarella you can always use shredded part-skim mozzarella.
Pizza with Bacon, Smoked Mozzarella and Red Onion
serves 4
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces thick sliced bacon, cut into 3- to 4-inch lengths
1 medium red onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
Kosher salt
1 pound pizza dough
1/2 cup Simple Tomato Sauce
8 ounces smoked mozzarella, sliced 1/4 inch thick
Preheat oven to 450 F. Adjust an oven rack to the highest shelf position.
Heat 1 olive oil in a large 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook bacon, in batches if necessary, until golden, about 7 to 9 minutes (if the bacon is undercooked the pizza will get greasy as it bakes in the oven). Remove bacon with tongs and set aside on paper towels to drain.
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat and return pan to medium heat (or add enough olive oil to make a total 2 tablespoons fat/oil in the pan). Once hot, add onion and 2 large pinches salt to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft and golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Turn heat down if onion browns too quickly. Remove onion from skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Meanwhile, stretch pizza dough to fit inside a rimmed baking or half sheet pan (18″ X 13″). Cover dough with Simple Tomato Sauce, leaving a border for crust, then top with small dollops of the red onion. Top pizza with bacon, then cover with cheese, tearing into smaller pieces if desired. Sprinkle pizza with a little salt.
Place sheet pan on top rack of the oven and bake until the crust is golden and cheese is well melted, about 13 to 17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
Let cool for 5 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.