Roast Garlic & Bacon Pizza

 Honest review: not really a fan. It wasn't terrible or anything, but for the work I had to go through to get the ingredients and make it? Not worth it. And I even cut corners by using pre-made pizza dough! Who knew there was a shortage of Canadian bacon too? I had to go to 3 stores to get some. And it's not cheap for the little bit you get, by the way. Fun fact: Canadians don't call it Canadian bacon. They call it "back bacon." 

Anyone else's pizza come
with a model?

• 1 large white onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ripe tomatoes
• 1 cup water
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• 4 rashers (slices) of bacon
• 1 pre-made pizza dough tube
• 3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. Sauté in the olive oil over low heat for about 10 minutes, or until they are transparent. Meanwhile, place a pizza brick, unglazed terracotta tile or baking sheet in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the onions. Add water. Cook the mixture over medium heat for 35-40 minutes, or until it begins to thicken. 

Wrap each head of garlic in foil. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until tender. Cool slightly, then cut each bulb in half horizontally and press out the pulp. Trim the bacon of all fat and cut into 3-4 inch pieces. 

On a floured surface, press out pizza dough with your fingertips into a 12-inch circle (always pressing from the inside of the dough to the outside). Place the pizza dough on the heated brick. Spread the garlic over the surface and top with about 3/4 cup of the tomato sauce. Arrange the bacon over the pizza and sprinkle with mozzarella. 

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and crisp. 

NOTES: I seeded my tomatoes and maybe that's where I went wrong. The recipe doesn't say to add water, but my sauce was not super liquidy when I was supposed to be letting it cook. It was almost burning and getting stuck to the pan. So I periodically added water to stir the ingredients around and then let it evaporate. This allowed the sauce to thicken.  

Garlic is sticky. Who knew? It took me longer than I thought it would to cut the roasted garlic and squish out the insides. It was hot and it's really hard to break apart something that is sort of mooshy. Maybe I should have split the heads into cloves and THEN wrapped it all in foil? Seems like it would be easier, but I don't know if it would cook the same. No matter what, by the end of one head of garlic, everything was sticking to my fingers. 

Serves 3

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Recipe from The Little Guides - Pizzas