National Pizza Day: Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza

National Pizza Day:
National Pizza Day: Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza. This sweet & spicy pizza is pure magic & you will love the different textures of the crust, cooked pepperoni, sticky, spicy honey, and soft cheese. – there is no better way to celebrate #nationalpizzaday than with this pie!

Flavor Profile of Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza:

The Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza is a delicious blend of sweet and spicy flavors, combining the heat of pepperoni with the sweetness of honey and the tanginess of goat cheese. The crust adds a crispy texture, while the cooked pepperoni brings a salty and savory taste to the pie. The spicy honey glaze gives a sticky and slightly hot sensation, creating a perfect balance of flavors in each bite. The soft and creamy goat cheese adds a rich and tangy flavor that complements the sweetness of the honey, making it a unique and mouth-watering combination.

History of National Pizza Day:

Though flatbreads with toppings were consumed by ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks, the modern birthplace of the pizza is southwestern Italy’s Campania region, home to Naples. Founded around 600 BC as a Greek settlement, Naples in the 1700s and early 1800s was a thriving waterfront city. Technically an independent kingdom, it was notorious for its throngs of working poor, or lazzaroni. These Neapolitans required inexpensive food that could be consumed quickly. Pizza — flatbreads with toppings that can be eaten for every meal — fulfilled this need. These early pizzas featured tasty toppings such as tomatoes, cheese, oil, anchovies, and garlic. More well off Italian authors judged Naples’ innovation, often calling their eating habits disgusting.

In 1861, Italy finally unified, and King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited Naples in 1889. Legend says that the traveling pair became bored with their steady diet of French cuisine and asked for an assortment of pizzas from the city’s Pizzeria Brandi, founded in 1760. The variety the queen enjoyed the most was called pizza mozzarella, a pie topped with the soft white cheese, red tomatoes, and green basil — much resembling the Italian flag. Since then, this particular choice of toppings has been dubbed the Margherita pizza.

However, even with the Queen’s love for the dish, pizza would remain little known in Italy beyond Naples’ borders until the 1940s. Across the sea, immigrants to the United States from Naples were replicating their flatbreads in New York and other American cities. They were coming for factory jobs, but accidentally made a culinary statement. Relatively quickly, the flavors and aromas of pizza began to intrigue non-Neapolitans and non-Italians alike. (https://nationaltoday.com/national-pizza-day/)

National Pizza Day: Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza. This is a perfect opportunity to celebrate one of the most beloved and delicious dishes in the world. Pizza has a rich history that dates back to ancient times. It has evolved into a variety of flavors and styles over the years. The Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza is a fantastic example of how pizza can be adapted to include new and exciting ingredients, creating a perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors. Whether you enjoy classic Margherita pizza or prefer more unconventional toppings, there is no denying the magic of a good pizza. So, let’s celebrate National Pizza Day by indulging in our favorite pies and discovering new flavors to enjoy.

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Hot Honey & Goat Cheese Pizza

This sweet & spicy pizza is pure magic & you will love the different textures of the crust, cooked pepperoni, sticky, spicy honey, and soft cheese.

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Course dinner, lunch

Cuisine American

Equipment

• 1 Pizza Stone
• 1 Pizza Peel
• 1 Stand or hand mixer with a bread dough fitting

Ingredients

  

Pizza Dough

• 3.5 cups Bread flour  Plus more for rolling
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 envelope instant dry yeast
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 cups water, 110 degrees F
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons

Pizza Toppings

• 1.5 cups marinara sauce
• 4 oz goat cheese
• 2 oz sliced pepperoni
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1.5 cups freshly grated provolone or mozzarella or a mix! cheese

Hot Honey Infusion

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 jalapeño pepper thinly sliced (keep the seeds in!)

Instructions

 

Making The Pizza Dough

• Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine or use a hand mixer with the bread dough fitting. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it into a smooth, firm ball.
• Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Making The Hot Honey Infusion

• Heat the honey and the jalapeños in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Let the honey come to a light simmer then turn off the honey. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Strain the honey through a fine mesh sieve to remove the peppers and the seeds.

Making The Pizza

• Spread the sauce on the dough, leaving a small border around the edges. Add on about 3/4 of the goat cheese and most of the pepperoni slices. Top with the grated cheeses and a sprinkle of oregano. Add a few more tablespoons of sauce if you'd like. It’s okay if it’s around the edges because it will get crispy on the edges of the dough!
• Bake the pizza for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly and the crust around the edges is golden. Remove the pizza and drizzle it with a few tablespoons of the hot honey. Add the remaining crumbled goat cheese. Slice and serve!

Notes

Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust. If you can’t find bread flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour which will give you a chewier crust.

 

You can also play with the flavor by trying different combinations of cheeses and herbs or different types of honey and honey pepper infusions. 

Keyword cheese and honey, honey, honey pizza, Hot Honey

You might also like this Sweet & Savoury post from our blog, ‘Shaved Apple, and Honey, Brie Crostini‘.

Shaved Apple, and Honey, Brie Crostini

This is a wonderful appetizer to make in the fall when fresh honey & apples are abundant in Ontario. However, it is such a crowd-pleaser that it will quickly become your go-to, whenever you have company over especially during the holidays.

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