Bing-Cherry Pizza

[kirra]

Bing-Cherry Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough: (Also available at local pizzerias.)

1 packet dry yeast
1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
Salt
1⁄4 cup canola oil

Cherry Topping:

3 pints Bing cherries, halved and pitted
1⁄2 cup light brown sugar
Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1⁄8 teaspoon ground white pepper
Canola oil
2 tablespoons white chocolate, shaved into large curls
Fresh mint leaves

Preparation:

Pizza Dough:
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in 3⁄4 cup warm water. Place the flour in the bowl of a food mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the yeast mixture, and mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and the canola oil, and continue mixing on low speed until a nice, supple dough forms, about 3 to 5 minutes. If the dough looks too wet, sprinkle in 1 more teaspoon of flour, and continue mixing. Cover the bowl with a damp towel, and allow to rise on the countertop until it has doubled in size, approximately 2 hours.

Cherry Topping:
In a medium bowl, toss together the cherries, sugar, vanilla seeds, lemon zest, and white pepper. Make a double-layer tinfoil pouch, and place the cherry mixture inside, folding over the edges to form a seal.

Set the pouch on a grill over medium heat, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the cherries are soft.

Assembly:
Cut the dough in half, and roll out each half on a flat, floured surface to form a 12-inch-diameter round about 1⁄4 inch thick. Brush both sides with oil. Move the coals to one side of the grill, and when the fire is medium hot, place the rounds over the coals. When the rounds start to puff up and take on a little color, turn them over, and place on the coolest part of the grill. Ladle half the cherry mixture onto each pizza, and return to medium heat until the underside is cooked but does not burn. Remove from the grill, sprinkle white-chocolate shavings over each pizza, and top with scissor-snipped fresh mint leaves.