Sourdough Pizza With Cherries, Sage, and Shallots

This is easily the best pizza I've made. The crust was wonderful and the combination of Bing cherries and fresh sage from my garden really made it unlike anything I'd ever made. I've topped pizzas with cherries before, but alongside goat cheese or feta. This time I used a small amount of Swiss and an even smaller amount of Pecorino Romano. Perfect.

You Will Need:

Crust:

1 cup fed sourdough

2 cups warm water

2-3 cup bread flour

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Mix sourdough with warm water until it breaks up a bit. Add the olive oil, salt, sugar and two cups of the flour. Keep adding flour until you have a stiff dough. Keep extra at hand to add as you knead if dough becomes too sticky. Knead a good fifteen minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise slowly-about three hours in a warm house, or until doubled. Punch down, let rest another 30-45 minutes.

Stretch dough into desired shape (I do rectangle shaped pizzas) and place on a baking sheet lightly dusted with semolina (cornmeal is a bit coarse for this).

Top with cherries/cheese mixture and let rise another fifteen minutes as you clean up the dishes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place one rack in bottom position and another in middle.

For The Topping:

1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

4 large shallots-thinly sliced

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter plus more if needed

1 tablespoon stripped rosemary

5-6 small sage leaves, left whole

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1/2 cup pitted bing cherries cut in half

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

a good grinding of black pepper

In a small pan, saute the shallots and herbs-except parsley, in the butter adding more if needed. When soft, pour atop pizza dough and spread evenly to distribute butter. Top with cheese mixture. Arrange cherries and parsley over top. Grind fresh black pepper on top.

Bake the pizza five minutes on the low shelf. Transfer to middle rack and continue baking until cheese and crust are nicely browned. Let stand a bit before cutting.