Semolina Pizza With Cherries And Tomato

The tomatoes and sage are from my garden. You're probably wondering how I kept the red onion so vibrant. My trick was a bit of port and a handful of chopped cherries. Beautiful colour, don't you think?

I don't suppose I'll ever just make a tomato and cheese pizza.

You Will Need:

For the crust:

2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup Semolina flour
3-4 cups bread flour

For the topping:

1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup ruby port
1/4 cup sage, stems removed
1/4 cup parsley, stems removed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Bing cherries, pitted roughly chopped
3-4 Italian tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups grated Swiss cheese
Olive oil for sauteing
olive oil for brushing pizza
Black pepper

Dissolve the yeast in warm water with sugar. let proof 15 minutes. Add olive oil, salt and 1 cup of flour. Mix in semolina and additional flour until you have a pliable, not stick dough. Knead well-about ten minutes by hand. Place in an oiled bowl and let rise in a cool spot about 1 hour or until doubled. Punch down, let rest 20 minutes.

Oil a baking pan and stretch the dough onto it. Cover and let rise while you prepare the topping.

In a pan with about 2 tablespoons olive oil, saute the onions, cherries, sage and parsley for a few minutes until softened. Add the ruby port, turn up the heat to burn it off. Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly before topping pizza.

preheat oven to 450 degrees with one rack at bottom and one in the middle position. Brush the dough with a bit of olive oil and spread on the mixture of cheeses. Add the onion topping and arrange tomato slices. Grind fresh pepper over entire pizza.

Bake 5 minutes at the lowest position, then move up and bake another seven to ten minutes or until cheese begins to brown.