Pizza with Radicchio, Pears, Gorgonzola, and Walnuts

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Recipe intro

This pizza recipe combines the unique flavors of radicchio, pears, gorgonzola cheese, and walnuts to create a delicious and gourmet twist on a classic dish. The bitterness of the radicchio is balanced by the sweetness of the pears, while the creamy gorgonzola adds a rich and tangy taste. Topped with crunchy walnuts, this pizza is a perfect blend of textures and flavors. Whether you're a fan of traditional pizza or looking to try something new, this recipe is sure to impress.

Keywords: pizza, radicchio, pears, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts.

Pizza with radicchio pears gorgonzola and walnuts recipe details

Pizza with radicchio pears gorgonzola and walnuts recipe, recipe Rating: 4.8
Number of votes:130

From Things Cooks Love by Sur La Table with Marie Simmons/Andrews McMeel Publishing. Pizza toppings can be classic, such as tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil (pizza Margherita), or ultramodern, like smoked trout, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes. This topping of torn radicchio leaves, thin pear slices, and a scattering of Gorgonzola falls somewhere in between. Here, four individual pizzas are made, but you can make one large or two medium-sized pizzas instead.

Ready in: 3 hours 8 mins

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• Pizza Dough:
• 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting ½ cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• Topping:
• 1 head radicchio, cored, leaves separated, and torn into 2- to 3-inch pieces
• 2 or 3 large, ripe Bosc or Bartlett pears, unpeeled, quartered, cored, and each quarter cut into 4 wedges
• 1 cup broken walnuts
• 10 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, coarsely crumbled (about 2 cups)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for grating

Preparation method

Prep: 30 mins | Cook: 8 mins | Extra time: 2 hours 30 mins, rising

1. Make the dough: Place the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle with the yeast. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy. Stir to dissolve, if necessary.
2. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt, and stir to mix. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.
3. Lightly dust a work surface with flour, and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough, sprinkling the dough or the work surface with extra flour as needed to prevent sticking, for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. The dough can also be kneaded in a heavy-duty food processor, or in a stand mixer with a dough hook.
4. Shape the dough into a smooth ball, place it on a floured surface, and cover with an inverted bowl. Let rise, at room temperature, for about 1½ hours, or until doubled in bulk.
5. About 45 minutes before baking the pizza, place a pizza stone, unglazed quarry tiles, or a baking sheet on the lowest rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 500°F.
6. When the dough is ready, use a large knife or a bench scraper to divide it into 4 equal pieces. With lightly floured hands, press out any bubbles that might have formed in the dough, and form each piece into a small smooth ball. Place about 4 inches apart on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
7. Generously dust a pizza peel or a rimless sheet pan (cookie sheet) with flour. On a lightly floured work surface, and with floured hands, pat out 1 ball of the dough, stretching gently and turning, into a round about 10 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick, leaving the edges of the round slightly thicker. Gently slide the peel under the round of dough.
8. Top the pizza: Arrange about 6 pieces of torn radicchio leaves on the dough round. Top with 8 pear slices, evenly spaced in a sunburst pattern. Sprinkle with about ¼ cup of the walnuts, and top with about ½ cup of the Gorgonzola, distributing them evenly over the surface. Add a grinding of pepper and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
9. Open the oven door. Guide the peel onto the pizza stone, tilting the peel and gently shaking it so the pizza slowly slides off the peel and onto the center of the preheated stone. Close the oven door and bake the pizza for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust is browned and crisp.
10. When the pizza is ready, open the oven door, carefully slide the peel under the pizza, retrieve the pizza from the oven, and slide it onto a cutting board. Using a cheese grater, grate about 1 tablespoon of Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top. Cut the pizza into wedges, using a pizza wheel or kitchen scissors, and serve.
11. Repeat steps 7, 8, 9, and 10 with the remaining dough and topping ingredients. Pizzas can be served as they are ready or all at once. If you have a second oven, you can keep the pizzas warm on baking sheets at 250°F until you are ready to serve them all at once.