I've been on a hunt for a good pizza dough recipe recently, specifically a thin crust dough. My last attempt at a pizza dough came out good, but it was fairly thick, almost like a focaccia bread. I read about the use of different flours and it seems cake flour is a good addition for baking pizzas in a standard oven, especially when you want to achieve a thin crisp crust. And that it does. I'm really happy with this recipe and it's officially a keeper!

But what got me motivated to make a pizza dough was the stuff on top. The other day we had a fig and prosciutto pizza at a place called Elephants Deli here in Portland. It was so absolutely delicious I wanted to recreate it. They listed pretty much all of the ingredients in the description, so the recipe below came out very close to what we had. There are 3 kinds of cheese on this pizza and it delivers a lot of flavor with the salty prosciutto and sweet fig. I love this combination. I think you will too! Oh, and definitely use arugula, I tried making this with spinach, due to an impromptu arugula shortage (?) and it just wasn't the same, so second time around I found arugula and it really adds a nice peppery taste you will not want to miss.

Now that I've taken a break from my fall themed recipes with this pizza I shall return with some autumnal treats as I have a few pounds of apples that want to be devoured!

Fig + Prosciutto Pizza
(inspired from Elephants Deli, dough recipe from Williams-Sonoma)

Thin-Crust Pizza Dough

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water (about 105°F)
1 cup cake flour
1 cup plus 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar and warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the cake flour, all-purpose flour and salt and mix for about a minute.

Whisk 1 Tbs. of the olive oil into the yeast mixture. With the motor running, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding more. Mix for a few minutes to knead the dough, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary. The dough will be slightly sticky when done.

Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Dust your hands with flour and remove the dough from the mixer. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Divide the dough in half and roll out as directed in the pizza recipe. Makes two 10-inch thin-crust pizzas. (or four 5" individual pizzas)

To make one 10" pizza

2 fresh mission figs
1 cup arugula
3 slices of prosciutto
1 tablespoon Mascarpone
3 ounces Mozzarella
1 ounce Blue Cheese

Slice the figs and place into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and set aside.

Place pizza stone in oven and then preheat to 500°. On a large sheet of parchment roll out the dough about an 1/8" thin, brush with olive oil, then with a fork pierce the dough to prevent air bubbles. Place the dough with the parchment on the pizza stone and bake for 3 minutes. Remove from oven and discard paper. Puncture any air bubbles to flatten. Spread mascarpone on pizza, top with blue cheese and arugula, arrange mozzarella, fig and prosciutto slices.

Return to pizza stone in oven and bake for 7 minutes or until crust is golden brown.