Rosie Makes A Fig Pizza.

Rosie's fig trees are producing prolifically these days

and I've been coming up with all sorts of fig dishes.

Today, I'm making a fig pizza.
I'm combining the flavors of figs,
rosemary, bleu cheese, chèvre cheese,
 and caramelized Vidalia onions.

Here's my fig pizza,

although Mr. Hawthorne would never call it a pizza.

A pie, maybe.

He eyed the final product suspiciously,

actually walking around to examine it.

He has a preconception that he's not going to like it,

then he eats it because he trusts me, and then he likes it.

That's when he describes a dish as "interesting."
He doesn't want to like it, but he does.

I started out with the dough.

Mix 1/2 cup water and a packet of yeast with a teaspoon of sugar. 

Wait for it to "proof."

That means the yeast has to "prove" it's alive.

Yeast is hungry and needs to eat.

When it does, it gives off carbon dioxide bubbles.

Your mixture should get nice and bubbly.

When the yeast "proofs,"

fork in 1/4 cup of flour at a time

along with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

until you get a dough that you can turn out

onto a lightly floured board and knead.

It'll be about a cup of flour.

Knead dough for 5 minutes,

adding a sprinkling of flour as needed for stickiness.

Roll dough around in an oiled bowl, 

cover, and let rise until doubled. 

The beauty of making your own dough

is that you can make your pizzas whatever size you want.

Since it's just the two of us Hawthornes here,

I'm making a small pizza.

I ended up halving this dough.

Stash the remaining dough in a large storage bag

and refrigerate.

It will continue to rise in the fridge.

I'll let you know later what I do with this half.

Haven't cogitated on it yet.

Place ball of dough on oiled baking pan
and start spreading it out.
I always take my time spreading out the dough.
I spread a little, then let it rest, drink some wine,
then come back and spread it out a little more,
let it rest, drink some more wine.
You get the picture.

This made a 9-inch diameter pizza.
Sprinkle with an extra virgin olive oil,
place somewhere warm and let rise a bit.

I lightly browned the crust in a 350° oven.

About 12 minutes.

Here are my caramelized Vidalia onion slices.

Cut onion into rings, add about a teaspoon of sugar,

and cook over low heat

 in one tablespoon each unsalted butter and oil

for about 30 minutes - until golden.

Start building the pizza.

Cheese Mixture

 1 ounce bleu cheese

1 ounce chèvre cheese

2 tsp half and half

Mix all together with a fork until somewhat spreadable.

Spread cheese mixture on pizza.

Add sliced figs.

Top with caramelized onions and rosemary.

Bake in 350° oven about 5 minutes,

until cheese mixture melts.

I love all these flavors together.
They're ... interesting.