2207. BACON PIZZA with GREEN GARLIC

yields two large pizzas


1 pound pizza dough (store-bought or homemade)
4 teaspoons olive oil
3 stalks green garlic, chopped
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degrees or its highest temperature. Put two sheet pans in the oven while it's heating up - you want the sheet pans good and hot before you put the pizza on them. This helps crisp the crust.On a piece of parchment paper, roll out half the pizza dough. You can flatten and stretch the dough by hand or roll it with a rolling pin - it doesn't really matter. Get it nice and thin. Spread 2 tsp of the olive oil on the dough with your fingers or the back of a spoon, leaving a small border around the edges. Lay half the mozzarella slices on the dough with a little room between them. You don't want a solid sheet of cheese, ideally, although this part is really to taste. If you like more cheese, use more.Sprinkle half the chopped green garlic and the bacon over the pizza, then drizzle it with the olive oil. Sprinkle the pizza with salt and pepper. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients for the second pizza. Carefully carry each pizza on the parchment paper and put the whole thing, paper and all, right on a hot sheet pan. (It may be easier to remove the sheet pans from the oven - use oven mitts! - and slide the parchment paper from the counter onto the pan.) Bake the pizzas about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned and the crust is golden and crisp. Cut and serve immediately.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Erika Penzer Kerekes, In Erika's Kitchen, May 21, 2011