An apple, pancetta and smoked cheddar white pizza topped with a generous drizzle of honey and lots of fresh arugula to serve. A great savoury apple pizza!
This pizza is a re-creation of one that I enjoyed at a restaurant recently. It was perfection! And since it’s apple season, it’s a great seasonal pizza to enjoy at home. I’ve included a quick homemade pizza dough recipe, but you can easily pick up store-bought pizza dough if you like, as well.
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Apple – A red apple that is not too sweet is the best choice for this pizza. McIntosh, Cosmic Crisp or Pink Lady would all be good choices.
Smoked white cheddar cheese – Look for Applewood Smoked White Cheddar or a similar smoked cheddar.
Pancetta – Any form of pancetta is fine for this pizza. You could also substitute Speck or bacon.
Honey – A nice neutral-tasting runny honey is best for this pizza.
Arugula – Nothing beats arugula for topping pizza in my books. I highly recommend it.
00 Flour (for the pizza dough) – 00 flour is an Italian specialty flour that is quite easy to find at grocery stores these days. It’s a nice addition to this dough, but if you can’t find it, simply replace it with all-purpose flour.
How to make apple cheddar pancetta pizza
This is a visual summary of the steps to make this recipe. Always refer to the complete instructions in the recipe card below when making the recipe.
- If you are making your own dough, mix it together in a stand mixer or by hand.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces.
- Form each piece of dough into a ball. (If you won’t be using all the dough, place extras into a plastic bag and freeze them.)
- Set the dough ball out to rise 3-4 hours at room temperature.
- When ready, form into a round about 10-inches in diameter and drizzle with some olive oil.
- Scatter the shredded smoked cheddar over the dough and top with thin apple slices and drizzle generously with honey.
- If using bacon or thicker-cut pancetta, place it on top of the pizza now. For super thin pancetta (prosciutto-like thin) hold it back and add half way through baking to avoid over-cooking it.
- I like to prepare the pizza on parchment paper. I trim it a bit after topping the pizza, then slide it onto the pizza peel on top of the parchment. Slide the parchment and the pizza directly onto the hot pizza stone in the oven.
- The finished pizza ready to be topped with a bit more honey and arugula to serve.
Recipe tips!
- You can make the quick homemade pizza dough (ready to use in about 4 hours) or opt for store-bought pizza dough.
- I’m using Roberta’s pizza dough recipe here, which is a great choice for a quicker, but still delicious, homemade pizza dough. I have doubled the dough recipe here. It will make four 10-inch pizzas. If you don’t need that many, the extra dough balls freeze beautifully!
- For the thinner pancetta (prosciutto thin), add to the top of the pizza halfway through cooking, to avoid over-cooking it. For thicker bacon or pancetta, you can add it from the start.
- If you don’t have a pizza stone, simply cook the pizza on top of a heavy baking sheet.
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Get the Recipe: Apple Pancetta Cheddar Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough (or use store-bought pizza dough):
- 2 1/3 cups (306 g) 00 pizza flour, SPOONED AND LEVELLED (or substitute more all-purpose flour)
- 2 1/3 cups (306 g) all-purpose flour, SPOONED AND LEVELLED
- 2 teaspoons fine salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
- 1 3/4 cups (440 g) lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
Pizza toppings for one 10-12 inch pizza (double/triple as needed):
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups smoked white cheddar, shredded
- 1/2-3/4 red apple, quartered, cored and thinly sliced *see Note 2 below for apple suggestions
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 2-3 slices pancetta or bacon, *see Note 1 below
For garnish:
- additional drizzling of honey
- baby arugula
Instructions
- Tip! If making the pizza dough, I highly recommend using a kitchen scale and the weight measurements for best results. As everyone measures flour differently, you can easily end up using too much flour. If you don't have a scale, be sure to stir the flour and then spoon it into the measuring cups. Level off with the back of a knife.
For the pizza dough:
- Add both flours and the salt to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the kneading hook. Stir together briefly.
- Add the yeast to the lukewarm water and let stand 5-10 minutes. Add the yeast mixture to the bowl with the flours, together with the olive oil. Begin mixing at speed 2 on a Kitchenaid mixer until the dough comes together. Mix for 3-4 minutes, then stop the mixer and cover the top of the mixer with a tea towel. Let it stand for 15 minutes. Remove the tea towel and knead again at Speed 2 for another 3-4 minutes. The dough will be quite moist, but it should clean the sides bowl. (If your dough seems too sticky, add a bit more flour, a Tablespoon at a time, until it cleans the bowl. See the step-by-step photos to see what the dough should look like at this point.)
- Remove the dough to a floured work surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Form each dough piece into a ball. *Add additional flour only if the dough is sticking to your hands or the work surface.
- Tip! If you won't use all of the dough balls, place into a plastic bag and freeze them for later use.
- Allow the dough ball or balls to rise covered with an inverted bowl (or greased plastic wrap) for 3-4 hours.
- If using a pizza stone, about 30-45 minutes before the pizza will be baked, place it into the cold oven, then preheat the oven to 550F (or the hottest setting on your oven). Otherwise, simply preheat the oven to 550F when the dough is near finished rising and bake the pizza on a large baking sheet.
To prepare the pizza:
- Sprinkle a sheet of parchment paper with flour or cornmeal. Take a dough ball and stretch it out with our fingertips to about a 10-inch circle. Drizzle the dough with olive oil. Scatter the shredded smoked cheddar evenly over the dough, then arrange the apple slices on top of the cheese. Drizzle generously with honey.
- If using thicker pancetta or bacon, add it on top of the pizza now. If using the thin pancetta (prosciutto-thin) wait and add it to the pizza halfway through cooking, to avoid over-cooking it.
- Slide the pizza on the parchment paper onto a pizza peel for transferring onto the hot pizza stone or place on the parchment on a baking sheet.
- Bake the pizza in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until the crust is golden.
- Remove from the oven. Drizzle with a bit more honey, then garnish with baby arugula to serve.
Notes
More pizza recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
