Fresh Fig, Bacon + Blue Cheese Pizza.
Here’s the plan.
You only have to get through a few hours of the day before you can go home and make pizza. I want pizza Mondays to be real in my house. I think I said that a few weeks ago about tacos… but I mean I’m incredibly fickle to begin with so how can you be surprised. Regardless, nearly my entire life revolves around pizza and tacos. This is so very true that I even dedicated a portion of my book to such delicacies.
Well, they are delicacies to me. I’m simple.
ANYhoo.
I was shocked to find fresh figs in my local grocery store because they are only available here for about 3.6 seconds every year. Luckily, I can get dried figs every day of my life and consume those suckers like candy, but the fresh ones?… what a treat. I bought 12 of them for … 12 freaking dollars. Yes, like $12. One, two, dollar sign. One dollar per fig. You people with a fig tree are probably laughing in my face right now. I can’t help it though. I love them so much.Â
The majority were sliced for this pizza (hi dinner) and I enjoyed the rest of them fresh and simple like a freak. That’s how it should be.
People always ask me how I come up with the flavor combinations that I do. Well, I don’t really know? I just put together flavors that I like. I’d love to say that I have a much more sophisticated palette and can taste undertones (are those a thing?) in certain foods and put things together because they universally belong and match, but that is not the case.
In fact, the way I combine flavors is exactly the way I obnoxiously sing Justin Timberlake’s Mirrors: skeptically and quite often – wrong.
Let me just get this out of the way: I have no idea what the heck the lyrics of that song are but I sure act like I do. And as a sidebar, I just googled the lyrics (which I probably haven’t done since my Napster days) and I still stand by my argument that those are TOUGH lines. How is anyone supposed to decipher those? I don’t care that JT’s voice is like angels singing in my ears. I’ll happily make up my own song.
So the moral of this story is that I just really adore figs, cheese and – obviously – bacon. And pizza. And even… arugula. If I love all of those things, how could they steer me in the wrong direction? Exactly.
That’s why I ate all this pizza by myself.
WORTH IT.
Fresh Fig, Bacon + Blue Cheese Pizza
Ingredients
dough
- 1 1/8 cups warm water
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
pizza
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 fresh figs, sliced
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until slightly crispy and fat is rendered
- 8 ounces fontina cheese, freshly grated
- 4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
- 2 cups fresh arugula
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- a pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
dough
- In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey and olive oil. Mix with a spoon, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add in 2 1/2 cups flour and salt, stirring with a spoon until the dough comes together but it still sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball and work in the additional 1/2 cup flour, kneading it on a floured surface for a few minutes. Rub the same bowl with olive oil then place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours.
- After the dough has risen, punch it down and place it back on the floured surface. Using a rolling pin or your hands, form it into your desired shape (sometimes I use baking sheets and do rectangles or free form pizzas – this specific dough will yield one pizza large enough to feed about 3-4 people) and place on a baking sheet or pizza peel. Place the towel back over the dough and let sit in the warm place for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (I actually used a pizza stone and heated my oven to 450 degrees, and baked for 15 minutes. If you’re just using a baking sheet, follow the directions below for baking and set to 375 degrees.)
- Assemble the dough on a peel or baking sheet. Cover with a drizzle of olive oil and the garlic cloves, then spread on half of the fontina cheese. Add figs and bacon all over the pizza, then top with remaining fontina and blue cheese. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cheese and crust is golden and bubbly. Remove and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Toss the arugula with olive oil, salt and pepper, then add on top of pizza. Serve!
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There’s a lot of green stuff on there, no?
84 Comments on “Fresh Fig, Bacon + Blue Cheese Pizza.”
Figs?! Bacon?! AND blue cheese?! I want to smother myself in this.
Your pizza looks so healthy and colorful and so pretty! I love figs and how creative to work them into pizza!
Wow, its like you are reading my mind. I just bought a whole bunch of figs , and was thinking… PIZZA!!!
Haha! I always sing songs in my head (and out loud) completely wrong. Sometimes intentional, but mostly because I strongly believe the way I am singing it is right! Oh and this pizza… I love everything about it! Pizza Mondays forever!
LOL about Mirrors – I NEVER get the words right! As for the figs, whenever they’re at my grocery store, you have to buy an enormous tray of them – they don’t let you just pick and choose, so I don’t bite the bullet and buy them very often. Your flavour combos always blow my mind – keep them coming! And when can we expect this book you speak of? I’m pretty sure my copy will get covered in drool if you’re taking the photos!
late late 2014!
Pizza is my favorite food. It’s just so damn good. I literally could eat it every day of my life.
Love these ingredients on this pizza.
Super yummy.
xo Quinn
Quinn Cooper Style
This looks SO good. I have never had figs, but I am always seeing them on pizzas. I love, love blue cheese so if I can find some stickin figs I have to try this!
I need this RIGHT NOW. Even though I just finished breakfast and it’s not even 8am. Looks amazing!
Do you think a pizza stone helps a lot compared to a baking sheet??
YES! so, so much – i personally think it kind of mimics the whole wood fire thing. however – the stone needs to go in the oven before heating, and many times i forget or pizza is like 4th on my list of a day of cooking and the oven is already on… so i still use baking sheets occasionally.
Pinning to my fig recipe board! Our fig bounty from our trees is going to be insane this year.
For the LONGEST time, I thought JT was singing “and a pocket full of soap” and I was like what the what?? I too had to Google the lyrics… it all makes so much more sense now.
Also, that pizza obviously looks amazing!
I swore he was singing “pocket full of salt packets.” ;)
That looks totally scrumptious!
This looks amazing! I saw fresh figs in my grocery on Saturday and almost bought them but they were 1.50/fig! You got off easy!!!
Hahahaha that first Mirrors comment made me literally LOL. Love it, because I am the same way. “the way I obnoxiously sing Justin Timberlake’s Mirrors: skeptically and quite often – wrong.” Yes. Those lyrics really are so difficult to figure out. Something about ‘staring back at me….woah ohhh’…a promise? never make it? a reflection? I think those words are all in there. Anyway, this pizza looks amaze!
Caramelized figs baked in to a pizza, that’s all you had to say!
This is totally my kind of pizza. I loooooove figs, bacon and blue cheese together!
So excited to hear that you will be dedicating a whole part of the book towards tacos and pizza (that sounds amazing!)–and you seem to be a pro at both. I absolutely love this combination. Prosciutto would be amazing as well!
Text from my husband: We need to be the kind of people who make perfect pizza.
No joke. I’m trying this one next. Thanks! *drool*
Sounds like a winning combo to me! Hopefully I can find some fresh figs around here.
To me the song goes like this, “Nannwnwnwn MIRRORs..nana naaanananannana. Mirrors…hananannnanana.” Close enough.
Um, Pizza Mondays = DUH.
Pizza Mondays….yes, please!!
Hellooooo beautiful. Love the flavors combinations! “Pizza Monday” has totally always been a thing in this house!
I don’t think I’ve ever once spotted a fig in my grocery store. LAME. However, I once had a fig, bacon and goat cheese empanada that was once of the best things I’ve ever eaten so this pizza is really speaking to me.
Side note, I have no clue what those lyrics are either and I mostly just sing some words that I recognize and then just sorta make sounds in tune with the song the rest of the time.
I saw fresh figs at Whole Foods and about flipped. I love them! This pizza looks so delicious.
Oh. my. goodness!! So many favorite things in one place – can’t wait to try it! Have you ever made it on the grill? Yum! Thanks!
We made it on the grill last night and it turned out great! There is an awful lot of cheese on this bad boy, so don’t be confused that it’s undercooked pizza crust when you bring it off. Fortunately we didn’t over cook it, but I can definitely see that accidentally happening.
OMG! I want to eat this right now, and it is still breakfast time. I am obsessed with blue cheese right now, and adding figs and bacon = genious!! Can’t wit to try this!!
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a fig before. They look strange. That could be something I could put on my Bucket List. “Try a fig.” Or, “try a fig on this pizza.”
This looks amazing. Any suggestions for how to make this ahead of time and bake it later? Thanks!
LOVE this flavor combo! And it’s been far too long since I have had some pizza in my life – must remedy this!
Rich, salty and sweet. What a way to start the week!
Any time i see a pizza with figs on it, I order it! This looks like heaven in a pan!
This looks absolutely fabulous! I love a colorful pizza. I can only imagine how nicely the blue cheese complements the figs. I can’t wait to try this!!!
I have yet to find fresh figs in my grocery store, but when (and if) I do this will be the first thing I attempt with them. Love the combination of sweet figs, salty bacon and peppery arugula. Thanks for sharing your genius, Jessica!
Seriously, you are a woman after my own heart. I bet this would be just as delicious with the cast iron skillet/broiler method….mmm.
Ok I totally agree about the way JT sings! it’s full of groove and soul…and muddled words! I can’t decypher it! It’s all a mystery. And yes, it has me Googling lyrics, which I haven’t done in YEARS! Because I love when the song comes on, and I’m all into it…then I think “wait, what? what was that word?”
OMG this looks amazing!!! going to have to try this.. Im usually not a fig person.. but put it on pizza and im sold! Thanks for sharing
Sundays are homemade pizza night in our house…now it feels wrong to NOT eat pizza on Sundays. Must try this flavor combo next week!
Love this…I’m in a fruit frenzy. Salad dressings, bbq sauces and yes, pizza; my fave is pear with blue cheese but I could do figs and bacon; no problemo! YUM!
Oh wow that pizza looks good, just delicious and fabulous photographs too.
Wow…what an awesome combination! My mouth is watering and I could really go for some now. It truly looks amazing!
You know what’d be good with this? fig balsamic vinegar.
This pizza looks amazing! So making this next time I see fresh figs at the store! :)
Mmm, sounds yummy- love fig! I bet goat cheese would be great on it, too.
Oh I love love love this! My first romantic date with my boyfriend was over a glass of beer and a goat cheese, prosciutto, fig, and arugula pizza.
I remember before the date my mom and I were discussing how badly we hoped he wasn’t a “pepperoni” kind of pizza guy. I guessed he was since he was so all-American…
so you can imagine my surprise when that pizza followed “two beers and…”
Love this!
Sometimes your food looks so lovely I don’t know how you eat it…guessing the smell probably gets to you pretty face. This pizza looks fantastic. I am a strong believer in pizza once a week.
I LOVE figs on pizza!! If you’re ever in New Haven- you HAVE to get the “gettin figgy with it” pizza at Kitchen Zinc. it is the best thing in the world. can’t wait to try this one!
If you can’t find fresh figs, the Trader Joe’s Fig Butter works really well on pizza! It’s not the same, of course, but it works for my husband and I in CT. We usually do a fig butter base, prosciutto & goat cheese.
I fell in love with figs a few years ago… I just can’t figure out why haven’t I thought of putting them on pizza? Thankfully I have you to dream it up :) Xo
I. Love. Figs.
Love figs as well (have three fig trees!) You should come out to our Fig Fest A whole festival with the best restaurants in town celebrating the fig! Can’t wait for it every year. So much fun! A couple of years ago, they had a fig, stuffed with caramel, dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt. I called it fig crack. Ummm so good!
You need to go to Figs in Beacon Hill in Boston right away. Very similar, very amazing pizza! Yours looks divine!