A couple of weeks ago, Sheena talked about her place. The place that made things make sense. The place that made your heart smile.
“Where is my place?” she asked. “That’s easy,” I answered—the mountains.
On our only free weekend in the whole of October, the Kiwi and I headed down to the Alps. This was the only chance we would have to see leaves in all their fall glory. This was the only chance we would have to breathe in the crisp mountain air and just wonder at the gorgeous mountains we were surrounded by. I was truly present for the first time in what felt like months, appreciating the beauty of this country, and so grateful for the chance to live here.
We came home, made our favorite pizza, alpine style, with lots of stinky cheese and thick slices of bacon, and talked about all of our travels this year. What a year it has been?!
What about you? Do you struggle with this as well? What are your tips?
Bacon, Gorgonzola, and Caramelized Onion Pizza
{Makes one 12 inch pizza. It’s usually enough for both of us for dinner and my lunch the next day.}
1 batch of pizza dough {My go-to recipe uses honey, yeast, flour–spelt and all purpose, and butter or olive oil and takes less than an hour.}
2 ounces thick cut bacon, sliced
1/2 of a large red onion {sweet onions, pictured, work great too}
1 tbsp butter
about 4 ounces {2 cups} of gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
extra melted butter for brushing on the crust
Preheat the oven on low {120°F/60°C for me} and start heating a pan on medium heat.
First thing I do is to proof the yeast for the pizza dough.
While it’s proofing, slice your bacon and onion. Once the pan is hot, pop your bacon in there and cook for a couple minutes, just long enough to render the fat. Transfer to a bowl and sit it to the side. Return the pan to the heat.
Drop a bit of butter in there and then toss in the onions. Stir well, then cover, and reduce the heat to medium low. Give them a stir every 10 minutes or so until you’re ready to put the toppings on the pizza. This usually ends up being about 30 minutes for me.
Once the onions are on, I make my pizza dough and pop it in the warmed oven to rise for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off after you put it in to rise.
{Really, this pizza dough is so simple, y’all. Promise me you’ll give it a try? You’ll never go back to the store bought, pre-baked stuff I swear! I’ve even been known to get it out after just 10 minutes because I was in a hurry, and you know what, it was still delicious.}
Once the dough is finished rising, flour your hands and push it out to the size you want your pizza to be. Now let’s, layer this baby up with the goods!
I do a layer of gorgonzola, the bacon, the onions {which can come off the stove now, by the way}, then another layer of gorgonzola. The cheese is the key here folks. Lots and lots of cheese. Brush the exposed crust with a little melted butter then pop it back in the oven on as high as your oven will go {for me that’s 475°F/240°C} and bake for 20 minutes.
Enjoy it y’all.
Kiwi + Peach 
I know what you mean – it’s great to be organised but so often it ends up being more stressful when things just don’t go ‘right’… the alps seem like a great cure though, as does that pizza!!
You know, while I completely understand that feeling too, it’s not that so much. I’m actually pretty flexible, and don’t mind changing switching to one of my {many} back-up plans or just making a new plan. It’s more when there is a deadline but things are completely out of my hands to make it happen that I start to worry. Clearly I just need to trust the process and let go–worrying will get me no where.