Apple and Ham Pizza

This apple and ham pizza absolutely made my day.  The combination of the apple, ham, and Havarti cheese is the perfect combination of savory and sweet, and the apples hold up well during the hot bake.

We had this pizza for dinner with a salad, and I had the lone leftover piece for breakfast the next day. I immediately made it again. So good.

The crust for this pizza is really versatile and easy to work with. The dough is mixed a day in advance and magically rises overnight. The dough recipe yields five pizzas. You refrigerate the dough after shaping it into dough balls, and you can make pizza over two to three days. Woo hoo! I used the rest of the dough to work on my pizza skills, including baking pizza on the barbecue. It was awesome. (I'm pretty sure I drove my friends on Instagram crazy with all of the pizza posts).

The outer crust gets all airy and bubbly, and the pizza is crispy throughout.

Will I make this again? Oh yeah.

Apple and Ham Pizza

Overnight Pizza Dough

1000 grams (7 3/4 C) white flour

3 C water at 90 to 95 degrees F

20 g (1 T + 3/4 tsp) fine sea salt

.8 g (scant 1/4 tsp) instant yeast

1. Hydrate the yeast in a small amount of the measured and heated water in a small container. 
2. In a very large bowl or 12 quart dough rising bucket, combine the flour and the rest of the water. Mix by hand until all of the flour is wet, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes. 
3. Scatter the salt over the top of the dough, and add the yeast mixture. Wipe out the container with a piece of the dough to get all of the dissolved yeast. 
4. Mix the dough by hand by pinching it and folding it alternatively, until the salt and yeast is fully incorporated, about 3 to 5 minutes. 
5. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough twice during the first hour (once after 30 minutes, and once after 60 minutes). 
6. After the last fold, spray the top of the dough with spray oil, cover the dough, and let it rise for about 12 hours at room temperature. 
7. When the dough is ready, gently ease it onto a floured work surface. Cut it into 5 equal pieces, about 340 grams each. 
8. Shape the pieces into balls and place them onto a floured baking sheet. Spray the tops with spray oil, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 3 days. 

Apple and Ham Pizza

1 T olive oil plus more for the baking sheet

1/2 thinly sliced red onion

1 T fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

1 pizza dough ball

8 ounces grated Havarti cheese

1 thinly sliced crisp apple, peel on (I used Honeycrisp, but Braeburn would be great too)

4 ounces thinly sliced ham

1. Place a pizza stone in the middle of your oven and preheat it to its highest temperature.
2. Rub 1 T olive oil onto a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Toss the red onion with the thyme, 1 T olive oil, and salt and pepper. 
4. Place the pizza dough onto a floured work surface and press it down to form a disk. Flip it over, and continue to press it to stretch the dough. Pick it up, and stretch it with your hands. 
5. Place it over your hands, and work it around with your knuckles to continue to stretch the dough. 
6. Place the dough onto the oiled baking sheet. Press it into the oil to stretch to to about a 10 inch round. Take the cheese, and press it into the dough. As you add the cheese, the dough should eventually stretch into a 12 inch round. 
7. Add the onion mixture, top with the apples and the ham. 
8. Place the baking sheet on top of the baking stone and bake for about 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and continue baking for about 15 to 20 minutes more, until the crust is golden brown. 

The pizza dough recipe was adapted from Ken Forkish's book, Flour, Salt, Water, Yeast. The book is amazing. Trust me. You can also find the recipe here.