You're going to love this brie and blackberry pizza. It's a perfect marriage of savoury and sweet that will have you reaching for another slice.
The dough is as simple as can be, made from just strong white bread flour, yeast, salt and water.
You'll spend less than 10 minutes kneading the ingredients together, then pop it somewhere warm to prove for an hour.
When it comes to the toppings, things get even easier! You'll whip up some ricotta with garlic, spread it onto the base, and then top with blackberries and brie before baking.
All in all, this recipe takes just about 20 minutes of hands-on prep and 15 minutes in the oven, so why not get the dough proving in the morning, and then whip the pizza up for lunch?
Here's how to make this mouthwatering brie and blackberry pizza. You're going to love it!
Ingredients
For the base
- 300 g (10.6 oz) strong bread flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt
For the sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 200 g (7.1 oz) ricotta cheese (vegetarian if required)
- salt and pepper
- 5 g (0.2 oz) fresh parsley stalks removed, finely chopped
For the toppings
- 10 blackberries halved
- 80 g (2.8 oz) brie sliced (vegetarian if required)
- 5 g (0.2 oz) fresh parsley stalks removed, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp runny honey
Equipment
Instructions
To make the dough
Add the flour, yeast and salt into bowl.
Mix together.
Make a well and add 200ml of lukewarm water.
Bring together in the bowl with a wooden spoon or by hand
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 8 minutes until smooth.
Return to the bowl, cover with a wet tea towel or cling film and pop somewhere warm for an hour until doubled in size.
To make the sauce
Warm the olive oil in a pan over a low heat. Add the garlic and fry until soft.
Add the ricotta and whisk until combined and smooth.
Stir in the chopped parsley.
Season to taste and set aside to cool.
To bring it all together
Preheat the oven to 220 C (200C fan).
Knead the proved dough back down and divide into two equal parts. These will be your two pizzas.
On a floured work surface roll each piece of dough out to a thin rectangle.
Transfer the pizza bases onto baking sheets.
Spread the ricotta pizza sauce onto the pizza.
Top with the blackberries and brie.
Season well with black pepper.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden.
Cut into thin wedges.
Scatter with fresh parsley.
Drizzle with honey.
Enjoy!
More tips for the perfect brie and blackberry pizza.
For advice on how to get an amazing pizza crust, how to get the perfect sauce and toppings, how to store and reheat your pizza, and plenty of other tips and tricks, read on!
Why do you knead dough?
Professional and amateur bakers all over the world have been kneading bread dough - folding it over and over on itself - for thousands of years because it stretches the gluten in the flour, which in turns introduces elasticity and strength to the dough.
Without kneading, the dough would be impossible to stretch out, and it wouldn't be able to trap the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast in those beautiful little pockets that result in a lovely light cooked structure.
While people may have been kneading dough since antiquity it’s only relatively recently that we have gained a clearer scientific understanding of what's really going on.
The proteins found in wheat are distributed throughout the flour, but when water is added, these amino acids start to link together into long chains. Kneading the dough help to accelerate this process of linking everything together.-
That's why no-knead bread usually needs a long time to sit, as leaving it to ferment for many hours will also allow those long chains to form.
How do I knead pizza dough?
It's really easy to knead pizza dough. Perhaps the most important thing is to prepare a clean working surface and wash your hands well before you start.
My preferred method of kneading is to use the flat of my hand to push some of the dough along the table to stretch it out just a few inches, before folding it back in on itself and starting again.
As with many things, practice makes perfect - the more you work with dough the more you'll get a feel for what works and what doesn’t.
Here's a great video from Bake With Jack that you can follow while you knead in real-time! It should really help you get the hang of it.
Can you knead pizza dough after it rises? Should you?
Most recipes - including this one - will call for you to briefly knead your dough after it has risen for the first time. This will add some uniformity to the dough as well as helping you to shape it.
However, you definitely don't want to be anywhere near as rough as the first time, nor knead for as long, or you’ll knock out all the tiny pockets of carbon dioxide, which will impact the texture.
What could you I differently with the flavours? What other toppings would work?
If you loved this brie and blackberry pizza and want to explore the fruit and cheese combo further, you could try these pizza topping ideas:
- A sharp cheddar with pineapple will give you a really powerful punch of sweetness and sharpness.
- Goat's cheese with pickled pears with add some creaminess, combined with a little tartness and acidity.
- A soft cheese like mascarpone with melon will give you a milder, more subdued taste.
If you have some cheese and fruit in the house, why not make yourself a small tasting board and see what you think works best?
It rather can be counterintuitive to start putting on flavours together, but being brave will be fun, pay off and often leads to some surprisingly delicious results.
What goes well with a brie and blackberry pizza?
Simple salads that don't have a lot of dressing work well with this pizza, especially with a sprinkling of nuts.
If you're getting creative with your pizza toppings, don't forget you can also extend that to the dips! A thin peanut sauce or apple and pear pickle would be very tasty.
Can brie and blackberry pizza be prepared ahead of time?
You should only roll out your dough and top your pizza when you're ready to serve it.
The one thing you could prepare ahead of time is the dough, which can be made up to a day in advance if left in the fridge rather than a warm place to prove.
Yeast bacteria are thermophiles (heat-loving!), so they have far more energy to eat sugars and expel carbon dioxide when they’re warm. By putting the dough in the fridge, you can retard this process so that it happens much more slowly.
Take your dough out of the fridge at least an hour before you want to roll it out, otherwise, it will be too tight to work with.
How should I store apple and blackberry pizza? Should pizza be kept in the refrigerator?
As with most pizzas, this one contains dairy and other ingredients that shouldn't be left at room temperature for more than a couple of hours in total.
Yes, I know, lots of people leave their takeaways out on the counter overnight, then eat it the next day, but they really shouldn't - it's a health risk.
Put any leftover, cooled brie and blackberry pizza slices into a sealed container in the fridge as soon as possible.
Use greaseproof paper between layers if you need to stack them, so that the toppings don't make the base soggy.
How long will brie and blackberry pizza last?
Stored correctly in the fridge, this pizza should last for up to 2 days.
Can brie and blackberry pizza be frozen?
Yes, cooked pizzas freeze rather well.
Simply follow the storage instructions as you would if refrigerating, and once chilled, place them in the freezer.
You can reheat directly from the freezer to oven. Just place on a baking sheet and cook at 200C (180C fan) until fully heated through. You may wish to cover the pizza loosely with tin foil to avoid burning.
What’s the best way to reheat cold brie and blackberry pizza?
One of the best things about pizza is how delicious it fresh out of the oven - but if you have chilled leftover slices, they also warm up rather well.
There are lots of techniques out there for warming up cold pizza. Here are my favourites.
Warm up cold pizza in a frying pan with a lid
Heating pizza slices in a pan gives you the opportunity to apply heat perfectly to melt the top and crisp up the bottom.
Put the cold pizza in a nonstick pan, put the lid on and place it over a low-medium heat.
The direct heat will crisp up the base beautifully and as it begins to warm up, the steam will be trapped in the pan and gently warm the toppings while also melting the cheese.
If you find your base is crisping up before the ingredients on top have warmed through then you can also add a couple of drops of water to the pan before placing the lid back on. Try to avoid getting water on the pizza itself to avoid making it soggy.
Warm up cold pizza in the oven
While not quite as magical as the pan method, warming pizza in the oven always works well and is super easy.
Simply place your pizza on a baking tray, pop it in the oven at 200C (180C).
If your toppings start to burn before the centre of the pizza has come up to temperature, cover the pizza with tin foil halfway through cooking
Warm up cold pizza in a waffle iron
It sounds weird, but if you have a nonstick waffle iron, this really does work!
A fad started a few years ago of putting almost anything in a waffle iron - including old pizza, and it still rumbles on.
It may sound silly, and can certainly end up a little messy if your waffle iron isn’t as nonstick as it used to be, but the taste and texture are quite different from the other methods here, and it's surprisingly good.
Is brie and blackberry pizza vegetarian?
This pizza is indeed suitable for vegetarians. Just check the label on your cheeses to be sure.
Is brie and blackberry vegan?
This recipe contains dairy cheeses and honey, so is not suitable for vegans.
However, you could swap the cheeses out for vegan cheese alternatives and then either leave the honey out or replace it with agave. The recipe would then be vegan.
I recommend using a much smaller quantity of agave than honey as it's much sweeter.
Is brie and blackberry pizza healthy?
Like most pizzas, this dish has quite a bit of fat, so it's best enjoyed in moderation.
However, it also packs a powerful punch of flavour so you can turn this into a more rounded meal by reducing the number of slices you eat per person and increasing the amount of salad you serve with it - it goes especially well with leafy greens.
Can I use a pizza stone to make brie and blackberry pizza? Are pizza stones worth it?
I've used pizza stones in my work but I don't have one at home and our family pizza nights are legendary, so you don't strictly need one and it's definitely not essential for this recipe.
But why might you want a pizza stone? Well, one of the most crucial elements to a decent pizza, and indeed most types of bread, is high heat.
A pizza stone that has been warming up in the oven for a decent chunk of time will retain plenty of heat and therefore be able to transfer it to the pizza crust quickly, which should give a nice crisp base and a good rise.
However, as a home oven will never be able to compare to a pizza oven when it comes to temperature, don't expect it to work miracles.
Why didn't my pizza dough rise?
If you find that your dough didn't rise during the proving stage, here are some quick tips.
Enough warmth to prove your dough
First up, make sure your rising environment is warm enough.
Remember that yeast gets energy heat and will produce those all-important bubbles of carbon dioxide more readily when its warm. That's why bread recipes will usually tell you to put your bread dough "somewhere warm" to prove.
If it's the middle of winter where you are, then room temp will probably not be warm enough. Try on top of your boiler, in the airing cupboard, or anywhere near hot pipes.
You could also put your bowl of dough in the middle of a cold oven, pop a tray of boiling water in the bottom of the oven, and close the door. The heat will be trapped inside and increase the temperature in the oven just enough.
Note: some fancy ovens will even have a dough proving setting - check your manual to see if yours does.
Active yeast
Yeast - whether dried or fresh - is a living organism and over time, it can begin to die off.
Check the date on the packaging to make sure it's still in date, and always try to use a fresh packet of yeast if possible because once opened and exposed to air, the life of yeast can be considerably reduced.
Strong bread flour
Make sure you're using the correct type of flour called for in the recipe. Other types will have different amounts of gluten, which can change how the dough rises.
Don't expect the same results if a recipe calls for strong white bread flour and you chickpea flour!
Do not disturb!
When you put your bread dough away to prove, leave it alone. No jiggling it around or poking it as this can cause it to collapse.
Avoid excess salt
It's important that you don't use too much salt and it's not just about taste.
A small amount of salt will help to develop a more elastic dough as well as help with flavour, but using more than necessary will have a big impact on how much rise you get as salt can actually kill yeast cells.
Why won't my pizza dough stretch?
Underkneading
If you didn't knead your dough for very long, it might be that you didn't give the gluten enough chance to develop. Aim to knead for about 8 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
Overkneading
You might assume that the more you knead, the better, but it is possible to overknead your dough.
If you have overworked your dough, you will know as it will become tight and more difficult to work with. Set yourself an 8-minute timer and aim to stop when your dough is elastic and smooth or when your timer goes off, whichever comes first.
Lack of moisture
If you didn’t use enough water in your dough, then it may seem tough and hard to work with. As a rule, pizza dough tends to contain more water than bread dough.
Too cold
If you refrigerate your dough then make sure you give it long enough to come up to room temperature before working with it as cold dough will be very tight
Why is my pizza dough too sticky?
Bread doughs can feel sticky when you first take them from the bowl, so give it a minute or so of kneading before you decide if it's a problem.
If your dough still seems sticky, this is almost always because it it a little too wet i.e. too much water has been adding.
You can sort this during the first kneading stage by adding a little more flour to your surface, kneading it in until it feels less sticky.
Where does pizza originate from? What's the history?
When people think of pizza, it's safe to say that they generally imagine something with flat, leavened bread, tomato sauce and cheese. And for that magical combination, we owe a great debt to Italian peasants, whose history with pizza stretches back hundreds of years.
However, flatbreads with different toppings have been a part of many cultures throughout the world for a very long time.
This particular type of pizza, combining cheese and fruits, is arguably closer to something that Persian soldiers ate in the 6th century BC! Back then they were enjoying flatbreads with cheese and dates on top - yum.
So to really answer the question of where does pizza come from you first have to ask 'what is a pizza?'.
Brie and blackberry pizza
Ingredients
For the base
- 300 g (10.6 oz) strong bread flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt
For the sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 200 g (7.1 oz) ricotta cheese (vegetarian if required)
- salt and pepper
- 5 g (0.2 oz) fresh parsley stalks removed, finely chopped
For the toppings
- 10 blackberries halved
- 80 g (2.8 oz) brie sliced (vegetarian if required)
- 5 g (0.2 oz) fresh parsley stalks removed, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp runny honey
Instructions
To make the dough
- Add the flour, yeast and salt into bowl.
- Mix together.
- Make a well and add 200ml of lukewarm water.
- Bring together in the bowl with a wooden spoon or by hand
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 8 minutes until smooth.
- Return to the bowl, cover with a wet tea towel or cling film and pop somewhere warm for an hour until doubled in size.
To make the sauce
- Warm the olive oil in a pan over a low heat. Add the garlic and fry until soft.
- Add the ricotta and whisk until combined and smooth.
- Stir in the chopped parsley.
- Season to taste and set aside to cool.
To bring it all together
- Preheat the oven to 220 C (200C fan).
- Knead the proved dough back down and divide into two equal parts. These will be your two pizzas.
- On a floured work surface, roll each piece of dough out to a thin rectangle.
- Transfer the pizza bases onto baking sheets.
- Spread the ricotta pizza sauce onto the pizza.
- Top with the blackberries and brie.
- Season well with black pepper.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden.
- Cut into thin wedges.
- Scatter with fresh parsley and drizzle with honey.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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