HHDD #17: Here, have a slice!

I have become a crazy-person about making pizza at home. With a few simple ingredients, anyone can make their own. Using either store-bough dough or home made (and its really not that hard to do), you can toss anything you like on your pizza. You can make it all one flavor or half-n-half, or one-thirds green pepper because you're mate doesn't care for them... and I'd like to see Pizza Hut make a one-thirds green pepper pizza!

You can imagine my delight when I read that Joey of 80 Breakfasts chose pizza as this round of HHDD's theme! (For those of you that remember, HHDD = Hay Hay it's Donna Day! is a fabulous event created by the lovely Barbara, honoring the much-adored Donna Hay. Each round's winner hosts the next, starting us off with a Donna Hay recipe that fits the new theme.)(For those of you that really remember, I was lucky enough to host HHDD #12: Caesar Salad. Totally fun!!)

Okay, enough with all that link-action - back to the pizza! I saw this pizza on an episode of Giada's Weekend Getaways.... she was in Boston and went to Sonsie's for an amazing-looking lunch of pizza... White cheese pizza with grilled corn and wood smoked bacon! As if that doesn't sound delicious enough, the cheese was cheddar and brie!! Chedder and BRIE!!

Sure, I go on and on about my love of goat cheese... but me and brie go waaaaaay back. When Dave has hockey games, I sometimes just have brie and toast for dinner... and this morning, I worked brie into our breakfast sandwiches (bacon, egg and brie on a bagel, if anyone is interested).

I saw the episode long before Joey announced her round, so when she did, I knew that this pizza would be it! I cooked the bacon first and used the bacon drippings to grill the corn. I don't know which is better: the brie or the corn cooked in bacon fat! My super-clogged arteries took one for the team, I know, but I'm a giver. :)

My thanks to Joey for such a fun choice and for giving me a good excuse to make this delicious pizza! Pop over to Joey's site for the roundup and a chance to vote!

White Cheese Pizza with Grilled Corn and Wood Smoked Bacon
Seen on Giada’s Weekend Getaways: Boston, Food Network TV
Recipe courtesy Chef Bill Poirier of Sonsie's in Boston
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_89142,00.html

8 ounces pizza dough, store-bought or home-made
1 tablespoon semolina flour
3 slices sharp Cheddar
5 (1/2-inch) cubes brie cheese
1/4 cup grilled corn kernels
3 strips cooked smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon freshly flat-leaf parsley, no stems
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon grated Pecorino Romano

Preheat oven with pizza stone to 475 ° F for 30 minutes.

Gently stretch dough to 11-inches in diameter. Place dough on pizza peel dusted with semolina to prevent sticking. Top dough with the Cheddar and brie cheese. Scatter corn, bacon and parsley leaves. Sprinkle pizza with olive oil then Romano. Slide pizza onto hot stone in oven. Bake 6 to 8 minutes until golden, cut into 6 slices and serve on warm plate.