Pizza with Sopressata, Gorgonzola and Grapes

Prep Methods/Techniques
Cuisine
Course ,
Servings 4
Description

Unusual, simple and really, really good. I love this pizza!

Noted on 3/20/2012
Ingredients
  • 1 lb prepared pizza dough, divided into quarters, shaped into balls and stretched or rolled out (see Cook's Notes)
  • Olive oil, for brushing
  • 4 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
  • 4 oz hot sopressata sausage, cut into small batons or cubes
  • 1 cup seedless green grapes, halved
  • Fresh coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
  • small handful chives, minced
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 525°F or as hot as it will go. Place a pizza stone in the oven if you have one and let it heat up for 15 minutes or more.
  2. Make the pizzas, one at a time, directly on a peel that has been generously sprinkled with flour or cornmeal. Alternatively the pizzas may be prepared on a baking sheet or pizza screens (spray the screens with cooking oil or lightly oil them before laying the pizza crust on top).
  3. Paint the uncooked crust with a light coating of olive oil. Sprinkle each pizza crust with 1/4 of the Gorgonzola and 1/4 of the sopressata sausage. Place the tip of the peel at the back of the pizza stone and using a series of small jerking motions, slide the pizza onto the stone.
  4. Bake the pizzas until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted, as little as 4 to 6 minutes or as long as 15 to 20 minutes depending on how hot your oven is. Remove from the oven and quickly arrange 1/4 of the grapes over each pizza. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper to taste and scatter some of the chives on top. Serve.
Cook's Notes
Yield
Makes 4 8-inch pizzas
Ingredient Notes

Pizza dough: I used to go to the trouble of making my own, but Whole Foods makes a lot more pizza than I do and they sell bags of ready-made pizza dough that is pretty great. There are also a lot of recipes on line, so find one that works for you and go from there.

Special Equipment
A pizza stone and a wooden peel for transferring the pizzas to the pizza stone.
Alternatively, pizza nets work really well. You will need 4 10-inch nets.