Sweet Corn-Bacon-Goat Cheese Pizza with No-Rise Crust

Tim and I recently saw an ad on TV for some really awful-sounding bacon-topped pizza.  I can't remember the details of the ad, but it did inspire a conversation about what a really delicious bacon pizza would taste like!  I eventually came up with this combination - extra crispy bacon, sweet corn cut right off the cob, creamy goat cheese, and thinly sliced scallions for a little kick.  There are a couple of tips here that will make this pizza as good as possible.  First, you definitely want to buy thin-cut bacon so that it will get crisp and easy to crumble.  Make sure to blot off excess fat with a paper towel before crumbling the bacon so that it doesn't make the pizza greasy.  Second, this is definitely not a time to pull out the frozen or canned corn.  There are many recipes where less-than-fresh corn will be perfectly fine, but the corn here is really the star of the pizza, so make this one during sweet corn season.

Of course, you can use any pizza crust recipe you like here - including the pre-mixed dough in the refrigerator section - but this crust is so easy that you might as well make it yourself!  When I saw that Biz from Bizzy in the Kitchen had posted a recipe for no-rise pizza dough, I knew I wanted to try it out.  The dough comes together really easily, and is wet enough that I think you could easily mix it with your hands if you don't have a stand mixer.  Then, you just let it sit while prepping your toppings, pat it out on a baking sheet, and pre-bake for a few minutes to make sure the crust gets fully cooked by the time the toppings are done.  Simple and delicious!

Edited to Add: I've made this pizza quite a few times since this post, and am totally in love with it.  It's also terrific with pesto, chopped bell peppers, and/or prosciutto in place of the bacon.

Sweet Corn-Bacon-Goat Cheese Pizza with No-Rise Crust (crust adapted from My Bizzy Kitchen, original recipe here)

Serves 2

For the crust:

2 cups flour

1 cup water

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp kosher salt

For the toppings:

Olive oil

Kosher salt

1 large ear sweet corn, kernels cut off

4 slices thin-cut bacon, cooked until crispy, drained on paper towels, and crumbled

4 ounces creamy goat cheese with herbs (or use plain goat cheese and sprinkle on some dried herbs)

2-3 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven as hot as it will get.  Line a large baking sheet with foil, and spray with oil.

2. Combine all the crust ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix on low speed with the dough hook for a few minutes.

3. Let the dough sit while you prep your topping ingredients.

4. Using wet hands, transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and gently press it out as thinly as possible.  You may need to let it rest for a few minutes when you're halfway done to allow the gluten to relax.  Make sure to use wet hands when handling to dough so that you don't tear it.

5. Cook the pizza dough for about 5 minutes, until the top is dry but not browned.

6. Brush the entire pizza crust with a thin layer of olive oil, and season with salt.  Scatter the corn, crumbled bacon, crumbled goat cheese, and scallions evenly over the pizza.

7. Return the pizza to the oven, and bake until the crust is nicely browned.
8. Right when the pizza comes out of the oven, grate some Parmesan cheese all over the top.