BLT Pizza with Pesto Sauce
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 275kcal
This BLT Pizza with Pesto, Pancetta, Tomato & Arugula is an amazing BLT pizza. The homemade pesto puts this pizza over the top. Well, that, and the homemade crust and the other incredible components of this amazing pizza!
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Equipment
- Pizza stone, pizza oven, grill, or regular oven.
Ingredients
- 1 semolina pizza dough click for the full recipe or use store-bought
- Semolina or cornmeal (for dusting)
- 4 oz pancetta cut into cubes (can also use 3 slices of bacon, roughly chopped).
- 1 cup scallions roughly chopped
- ½ cup classic pesto sauce click for full recipe
- 1 cup tomatoes sliced, grape, cherry, or Roma - sliced or roughly chopped
- 4 oz Fontina cheese shredded
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- Pinch Kosher salt
- cups baby arugula
Instructions
- Place your pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 550°F. Allow the pizza stone to heat for 30 minutes.
- Prepare pizza dough (unless using store-bought).
- Prepare the easy pesto sauce.
- On a lightly floured surface, stretch pizza dough to medium thickness.
- Sprinkle your pizza paddle (or the back of a baking sheet) with a little semolina or cornmeal.
- In a large skillet, cook the pancetta (or bacon) over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings in the skillet.
- Cook scallion in the same skillet with rendered grease until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove from pan and set aside.
- Spread pesto over dough. Top with tomato pieces, pancetta, and scallions. Sprinkle with cheese. Brush olive oil over the edge of the pizza.
- Carefully transfer the pizza to the pizza stone and bake 8 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, pepper, and arugula, toss to coat.
- Top baked pizza with arugula mixture just before serving.
Video
Notes
We love using our homemade semolina pizza dough for this pizza, but pizza dough purchased from your local pizza shop or a restaurant is a great option, too. We don't recommend pizza dough in a tube, however.
The pizza dough and pesto sauce can be made up to several days in advance. Keep covered and in the fridge until ready to use.
Turn your oven on as high as it will go. Place your pizza stone in the oven and let it heat for 30 minutes before transferring the pizza to it.
If you don't have a pizza paddle, you can use the back of a baking sheet or a large cutting board liberally sprinkled with semolina or cornmeal. Give the pizza a shake every now and then to keep it loose on the surface, which will make transferring to the hot pizza stone easier.
Bacon is a fine substitute for cubed pancetta.
This pizza is best served right from the oven, although, leftovers (if there are any) are still pretty delicious the next day.
Nutrition
Calories: 275kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 421mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 818IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 178mg | Iron: 1mg