Blue cheese. Yay or Nay?
It is one of those things that people usually love or hate. Its smell is often strong and very distinct in flavour with a sharp saltiness, if you’ve tried blue cheese you won’t forget it. But the intensity and texture can vary much between what type of blue cheese you eat. If you want to try blue cheese first time it could be a good idea to start off with a mild variety.
One of the best ways actually, serve blue cheese with sweet fruits, nuts, and dessert wine. This crusty-hot blue cheese pizza with juicy pears and caramel dates will be a super tasty winter wine snack.
Make your own pizza with this authentic Italian recipe – it uses ’00’ flour to give the base a lighter, crisper texture.
Ingredients
Two pizza 25 cmFor pizza dough:
- packed 1 1/2 cups 00 flour (really pack the measuring cup firmly with flour) + some for dusting
- 150 ml lukewarm water
- 1 heaped teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Toppings:
- 8 Medjool dates, pitted and sliced
- 4 medium-size Bosc pears, sliced
- fresh rosemary
- 120 g Gorgonzola cheese or Gorgonzola-style blue cheese
- extra virgin olive oil
Directions
-
Whisk yeast, sugar, and lukewarm water in a small bowl. Let stand in a warm place until yeast is foamy, about 10 minutes.
- Add salt, flour and olive oil, mixing well to form a soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. It will still be slightly sticky. Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl. Cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1–1,5 hours.
- Punch down dough to deflate and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface until 25cm in diameter and transfer to baking paper for little rest.
- Meanwhile, place pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven up to 220C.
- Bake pizza base for about 10 minutes until cooked and golden. Then top the pizza crust with pear slices evenly coated with olive oil, scatter the dates and blue cheese, sprinkle with fresh rosemary leaves. Bake for another 10 minutes or until pears are cooked and crust edges are brown.
- Finish the pizza with some olive oil and serve hot with a glass of dessert wine such as Port wine, Marsala or Madeira.
