Cook: Fig, Turkey Bacon and Goat Cheese Pizza

Ever since I got my pizza stone, and pizza peel - I've been making pizza about once a week.  It's fun to come up with new combinations - I no longer feel the need to follow any recipes, I just think of something that inspires me and go for it!

Figs have been in season, so I've been having a lot of fun with putting them on pizza. When you add them at the end for about 1-2 minutes, they become nicely caramelized.

This week's pizza recipe was for my friend Steph. She is new to pizza making, so I asked her to bring over some toppings she'd like to see on her pizza. She doesn't eat meat, so she brought over some turkey bacon to go along with some fresh figs she had picked up that morning at the Santa Monica farmer's market. She also brought some goat cheese and arugula. 

To make this pizza, this is what we did.  

1. Preheat oven with pizza stone in it to 500F.  
2. For the dough, I used the Trader Joe's pizza dough (I prefer regular to wheat or herb) and divided it into two balls. I let the dough rest at room temperature on a floured surface for 30 min. When dough is ready, roll out to form a circular shape (mine always comes out oval!).  
3. Lightly drizzle olive oil on the top of the crust - spread with brush to evenly coat. Add cheese (here we dropped dollops of goat cheese and I filled in the gaps with some shredded mozzarella. Using the pizza peel (coated with cornmeal) transfer the pizza to the pizza stone in the oven.  Bake approximately 7 min for a medium sized pizza (longer if larger, or until lightly brown)
4. While I was working on the dough/cheese combo, Steph was frying up the turkey bacon.  After it was ready, we sliced it into little pieces. and sprinkled it on the pizza. She also sliced the figs into 1/3 in pieces. 
5. When the oven timer went off (7 min), we opened the oven door and pulled out the rack slightly so that I could add the bacon and figs on the top. I closed the oven door and baked for 2 more minutes.
6. Since figs cheese and bacon go so nicely with arugula, we topped it with freshly chopped arugula for a finishing touch. 

A message to my readers - do you have any pizza recipes/ combinations to share? If you post them in the comments, I'll try to make and review it on the blog!