Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza

Is there a sexier fruit than a fig?  My heart certainly beats a bit faster when I spot the new season in the grocery store.  I am known for stuffing bags full of the purple orbs into my basket as soon as they appear.  I love them. Would eat them every day if I could.  But my favourite, favourite way to devour their soft sweet flesh is on pizza. I can't remember where I saw the idea, but it is a seasonal staple in this household. 

I always start with a no-knead pizza dough.  The recipe came originally from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day, but over the years we have perfected it to:

3 cups of warm water

2T yeast

1/4 cup olive oil

4 1/2 cups of white flour

1 cup of corn meal

1 cup of whole wheat flour.  

The basic principle is that you stir everything together in that order, mix until all the flour is incorporated, then let it rise and fall (about 2 hours).  Sprinkle a bit of flour on the dough and pull of aprox 1lb of dough per small pizza.  Flatten on a cookie sheet that either has a bit of oil or corn meal on it and then drizzle the top with a bit more oil.

Then you are ready for the toppings.

Sauce:

1 red onion

1/2 cup of rose wine

1T honey

1T balsamic vinegar

a pinch of rosemary

The sauce is a simple carmelized onion and wine reduction.  No real amounts, just an onion, cooked on low for about 20mins in a bit of oil of butter.  Add the wine (I like the sweetness of rose in this) and a tablespoon  each of basalmic vinegar and honey and the rosemary. Cook for about 5 minute until the wine has reduced some.

Spread the sauce, then generous slabs of cut figs and goat's cheese.  A small pizza uses about 1.5 figs and about 75-100g of goat's cheese. I buy both the figs and the cheese from Lidls...the best place to buy anything continental where we live...

Bake at 180C/360F for about 20 minutes.