Cherry Dessert Pizza

So, I can't remember the last time that I made pizza. But the frozen ball of whole wheat Trader Joe's pizza crust in the freezer has been tempting me for months and this weekend I just couldn't resist anymore. However, of course when I finally decided to make some pizza I concluded that the crust in there wasn't good enough and continued to ignore it so that I could make my own.

It didn't help that I just started checking out the blogging site http://www.ismyblogburning.com/ and one of the events for this month is related to pizza. So I thought, what the heck, I'll take the plunge into my first blogging event, make one savory and one sweet pizza, test them both out on my friends, and then enter one of them into 80 Breakfasts' event: http://80breakfasts.blogspot.com/2008/01/hhdd-17-pizza.html.

For dinner, we had a pesto, chicken, sun-dried tomato and mozzarella pizza along with a grapefruit, tangerine and parmesan salad. The pizza turned out well, but I made the mistake of putting all of the toppings on right away, even though the spelt crust recipe that I followed said that it took 20-25 minutes to cook up. This was a big mistake. By the time the crust was done the chicken was chewy, the mozarella was brown, and the tomatoes were burnt to a crisp. That said, it still tasted delicious after I picked off some of the tomato pieces and it got rave reviews from all of the diners.

For the dessert pizza I used the same spelt crust based off of a Vegetarian Times recipe. This time though, I cooked the crust for about 5-7 minutes alone before adding the topping and finishing off for another 7 or so minutes (it didn't seem to take the whole 20 in my oven but who knows in yours). The sweet topping was great and I ate more than my fair share of pieces that night plus a few more for breakfast the next day. This taste likes a twist on those Auntie Anne's Cinnamon Sugar pretzels with some sweet cherries and gooey cheese added...yum.

One thing to note, I would try a different twist on this crust next time, or you could feel free to use a different crust altogether - I'm on a spelt kick right now. Vegetartian Times suggest using 1/2 a cup of oat flour in place of a 1/2 cup of the spelt flour for a lighter crust. If that really works I think the lighter result would be a better compliment to this dessert pizza.

CHERRY DESSERT PIZZA

Makes 1 pizza (serves 6-8)

Spelt Crust: (Adapted from Vegetarian Times)

2/3 cup warm water
1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups spelt flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. olive oil

Topping:

6 oz. marscapone cheese (ricotta would probably work here too)
1 cup frozen sweet cherries
1/4 cup whole walnuts
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 Tbs. raw sugar

Stir together warm water and yeast in a bowl. Let dissolve about 5 minutes.

Combine spelt flour (and oat flour if you're using it) and salt in a food processor. Combine with a few brief pulses. Slowly add in water-yeast mixture through the hole in the lid while continuing to blend. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and combine until the dough becomes a large ball.

Place about 1/4 cup flour on a board (you may need less or more depending on the consistency of your mixture - mine was still pretty sticky). Need a few times and place in a large bowl covered with saran wrap. Let rise about 1 hour or more.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove risen dough and punch down and kneed a few times. Roll into a 12 inch circle (about 1/4 inch thick) and place on pizza pan.

Bake pizza dough in oven for 5-7 minutes, until just starting to firm up. Meanwhile, heat cherries in a small sauce pan to defrost. Also, combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

Remove from oven and add dollops of marscapone. Take cherries out of pan with a slotted soon, leaving the juice to continue reducing on the stove. Spread cherries and walnuts on crust with cheese. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top.

Put pizza back into oven and bake for 5-7 more minutes until edges are crisping. Remove and drizzle reduced cherry sauce over the top. Slice to serve.