Bacon and Artichoke Pizza

This started out as a pizza with mustard as the sauce, to use some of my home-canned wholegrain mustard. Then I bought rye flour for the sauerkraut bread, and pantry-challenged myself to find another use for it.  Things kind of escalated from there.

This recipe from Park Farm Winery is very close to what I originally had in mind.  Then my arugula decided to take it's sweet time to grow and I had to rethink the toppings.  I was buying frozen artichokes anyway to have on hand until my own bud in the spring, and there were bacon ends in the freezer.  Add to that a rather impressive collection of half-used cheeses in the fridge, and this almost qualifies as pure pantry.

For those of you who got stuck on the mustard sauce part of this intro, feel free to use alfredo or pesto.  You're only putting on a tablespoon per pizza, similar to what would go on a sandwich.  I just didn't see the point in opening a jar to use half a cup when there was open mustard in the fridge that could be thinned into a sauce.  Granted, the tang of the mustard would have paired better with arugula.  I'm working with what I've got this month.

Dough

1-1/4 C 100º water
*2-1/2 tsp (one packet) yeast
*1 Tb honey
2 tsp olive oil
*1-1/2 C rye flour
about 1-1/2 C AP flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Topping

*3 Tb grainy or Dijon mustard
1 Tb olive oil
1 C frozen artichokes, thawed or canned in water and drained
*1/2 lb bacon
*1-1/2 C shredded mozzarella
*1/2 C parmesan or Romano cheese, grated
*1 Tb pine nuts, optional
*Corn meal, for dusting the baking sheets

1.  Stir together warm water, yeast, honey, and olive oil.  Allow to sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2.  In mixer with the paddle, stir together water mixture and rye flour.  Increase speed and beat into a batter, about 2 minutes.  Add 1/2 C AP flour and the salt and beat into a light dough, another 2 minutes.

3.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface.  Knead until smooth, adding as little A.P. flour as necessary to achieve an elastic texture.  I'm learning that rye flour sucks up a lot more water than wheat flour does, and this ended up about 2/3 rye.  Shape into a ball.  Turn dough over in a lightly oiled bowl to coat all sides.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.

4.  While the dough is rising, prepare the sauce and topping.  For the sauce, whisk together mustard and olive oil.  At the last second, I decided to do 2 Tb wholegrain mustard and 1 Tb fig mustard.  Cook the bacon, either in a 400º oven or in a skillet, until mostly done but not overly crispy.  Remember, it's going back in the oven for 20 minutes.  Chop into 1" pieces and set aside.  Chop the defrosted or drained artichokes into bite-sized pieces.

5.  When dough has risen, punch down and divide into four portions by weight.  Round each piece into a ball and allow to rest 10 minutes.

6.  Scatter cornmeal on two baking sheets.  This will prevent your pizzas from sticking to the trays.  Roll each ball into a circle 6" diameter for thick crust, 8" for thin.  Place circles on baking sheets.  Thinly spread mustard sauce on each round, leaving a clean edge for holding.  Top with both cheeses, then distribute toppings.  Sprinkle each pizza with a bit of pine nuts, if desired.  Set in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.

7.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Bake pizzas for 20 minutes, or until crust is set and toppings have all melted into each other.  Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing and serving.  I know people think they want a pizza right out of the oven, but they're better when they don't burn your mouth.

Makes 4 personal pizzas

Difficulty rating  :-0