Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Parmesan Pizza
Brussels Sprouts Bacon Pizza Recipe
Update: Click here for more fabulous Brussels Sprouts Recipes.
Pizza. Ahh, beautiful pizza. With a thin, bubbly crust which is slightly charred, and topped with a perfect balance of sauce, toppings and cheese. It is something worth obsessing over, and boy do we obsess over pizza.
Pizza is often our source of exploration when we set out to explore a town. Just about anywhere we travel, we’ll attempt to hunt down the area’s best offerings in pizza with the wood-fired tokens of devotion that often satisfy our personal cravings the most. We have been lucky enough to experience extraordinary pizza all over the country and of course in pizza’s homeland of Italy.
Simple Pizza
Great pizza for us isn’t something just for travel, either. In an even greater stroke of luck, in southern California, we have some of the best pizza in the country, headlined by Nancy Silverton’s Mozza. So with such extraordinary inspiration between our travels and local offerings, the bar for great pizza just keeps getting raised higher and higher.
Speaking of bar, if you are ever at the LA or OC Mozza locations, make sure try and grab a seat at the pizza bar where you get to watch the masters delicately craft exceptional pizzas. You might even pick up a technique or two to take back home into your own kitchen. We sure have.
We’ve learned things like treating the dough gently and with finesse. It isn’t mashed, pressed, and forced into shape. The dough is billowy soft before even beginning to stretch, and then great care is taken not to ruin that state.
We’ve learned to create indentions with the fingertips to seal off the outer crust, which is then rarely touched again except by the soft brushing of olive oil. The center is gently pressed with the fingers to widen out, then the dough is rested over the backside of the hands to rotate and allow gravity and the dough’s own weight stretch the dough into shape. The process is quick but done with finesse.
Easy Pizza Techniques
These are some of the techniques that we’ve put into our pizza dough as we fine-tuned it for our cookbook, Bountiful. Take that dough and add whatever topping craving you desire. Lately with autumn filling our lives, a Brussels spouts and bacon pizza seemed just about perfect.
We cooked up the bacon until lightly browned and remembering it would cook more when baked with the pizza. Then added the thinly sliced the Brussels sprouts, then sautéed everything all together. Add a little Worcestershire sauce for a bit of punch and layer between sauce and cheese.
It came out great even with the ovens not firing quite as hot as normal. And it was only getting up to 475 degrees. The crust wasn’t quite as bubbly or charred as usual, but we aren’t complaining. Everything was quite delicious.
enjoy,
-Todd
after a light saute of the brussels sprouts and bacon, time to top the pizza
Enjoy a few slices for yourself…
Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Pizza
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) warm water
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 1/3 cups (415g) flour
Topping Ingredients
- 4-5 slices bacon , cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cloves garlic , minced or crushed
- 1 pound (455g) Brussels sprouts, sliced thin
- 1 cup tomato sauce , or amount to preference
- 1 cup grated Parmigiana Reggiano Cheese (or other preferred cheese)
- kosher salt , to taste
- fresh cracked black pepper , to taste
- cornmeal or flour for dusting peel
- extra-virgin olive oil , for brushing the crust
Instructions
- Make ahead (Dough): In a large bowl or resealable container, stir together the water, yeast, honey, and salt. Stir in the flour until no streaks of dry flour remains.
- Cover the dough and set aside in a warm area to proof for 1 to 2 hours, or until doubled in volume. Set aside in the refrigerator until chilled, or for up to 1 week (see Note 1).
- When you are ready to make pizzas, preheat the oven to 550°F, with a baking stone on the middle rack for at least 30 minutes. Have cornmeal and a pizza peel handy nearby for when you stretch the dough.
- Divide the dough in half and place the dough balls on a well-floured surface. Allow the dough to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. The dough should feel soft and pillowy.
- While the dough comes up to room temperature, make the brussels sprouts-bacon filling. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon pieces until lightly browned. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, garlic and brussels sprouts. Cook for about 1 minute or until brussels sprouts soften. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool while you finish the dough.
- Liberally sprinkle corn meal or flour on the pizza peel. Set nearby while you stretch the dough. When the dough is soft and pillowy, with floured hands, lightly flour the first dough ball. Using your fingertips, make indentations to form the outer crust rim (see photo in post). Using your hands, rotate and gently press out the dough, working from the center outward to stretch it, leaving the outer rim as untouched as possible. Press out to a circle 6 - 8 inches in diameter.
- Resting the dough on the tops of your hands, continue to rotate and circle the dough over your hands, gently stretching the dough to about 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. Make sure to keep the rim thicker than the center. (If the dough starts to toughen and spring back too much while you work on it, allow it to rest for a few minutes so it will relax and soften.) Lightly re-flour your hands, the work surface, and the dough as needed to keep the dough from sticking.
- Lay the stretched out dough on the prepared pizza peel. Give it a little shake to make sure the dough isn't sticking to the peel. Gently brush oil on the outer crust. Shake the peel again to make sure nothing is sticking.
- Gently ladle and spread 1/2 of the sauce on the dough. Spread 1/2 of the brussel sprouts/bacon mixture on the pizza, spread 1/2 of the cheese, and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden and slightly charred. While the first pizza is baking, repeat the stretching and topping instructions with the second pizza.
- Allow each pizza to cool for a few minutes, then slice and serve.
Even though I don’t eat bacon, I am inspired by this pizza! I LOVE the idea of brussels on pizza!!!!!!
Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe! The pizza looks delicious
Great combination of flavors. I was looking for a new way to use brussels sprouts, perfect
Perrrrrrrrfection. That was me, purring. Perring. Never mind.
As a kid, I hate Brussels sprouts because my mom always over boiled them. I finally broke down and tried Brussels sprouts as an adult. Now I can’t stop eating them. Usually I just roast them but looking for new ideas. Pinning this for pizza day!
I thought I’ve had Brussels sprouts every which way out there, just goes to show you, reading others blogs can always open up new possibilities. Your dough looks like it was handled with loving hands.
Great job!!
Such a gorgeous pizza! I love added brussels to pizza and cheesy things!
Looks heavenly! Brussels sprouts and bacon is one of my favorite combos in any form, but on pizza it definitely gets bonus points. 🙂
Your pizza sauce looks homemade and like it still has chunks of tomatoes in it? It’s gorgeous with the hints of red, yellow, and orange — did you use a mixture of tomatoes, or your cherry tomatoes? Do you add spices to your sauce? (I always add lots of oregano, some garlic, black pepper, and Tabasco, but I know some folks are purists.) Thanks for any tips on the sauce. The entire pizza looks amazing!
looks delicious!
xo, cheyenne
I just bought one of those tree-stalks of brussels sprouts over the weekend and have been going nuts on them lately. I just love them and great way to use them on pizza. The action shot with the cheese grating is awesome!
Did you know if you go to Mozza at lunch Mon-Thursday (maybe Friday too) and sit at the bar, you can get a glass of wine, a pizza, and a dessert for $20? It’s true and it’s awesome. I’ve tried using the dough from the Mozza cookbook, but as great as the flavor is, it’s a dough I really have to pre-plan. I’ll be giving this a shot as soon as I have a night at home…so Christmas.
I too can not get enough Brussels Sprouts this time of year. Who can resist those Brussels Sprouts stalks at the store. I have done the Brussels Sprouts bacon route, but putting it on top of pizza, great idea! Sunday pizza this weekend is your Brussels Sprouts pizza. Thanks.
Yumm! Now THAT”S a cool way to use Brussels sprouts. My hubby might even eat it :o)
Great tips for pizza. I am one of those people who can stuff up pizza even from a box. I never can get my pizzas right. I bet the topping you made for this screams american fall, those greens and herbs have got to be amazing
I love this combination for a homemade pizza… I am adding this to my food files and might be trying this for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with my famiglia 🙂
grazie tante,
annette