Pizza with pan-fried broccoli, crispy guanciale bacon and provolone cheese

• 15 minutes to prepare •  15 minutes to cook  • Serves 4

Broccoli e guanciale

There were two things I love, generally speaking.
The first is ham and the second is vegetables on pizza.

It seems, to me, a very good idea to combine the two into a guanciale bacon and broccoli pizza.
With cooler evenings starting now a seriously warming pizza made from my favorite ingredients is my idea of the perfect dinner.

Guanciale is a pork meat which comes from cheek of the pig. This delectable, robustly flavored meat is cured in a mix of salt and spices.
As the guanciale is used here as a topping, it gives a warmth and depth of flavor to the whole pizza.

I have made so many versions of this pizza and the one thing that doesn’t work very well is mozzarella cheese. It’s too wet for this and causes the dough to become too sticky.
Definitely use the provolone cheese.
I hope you enjoy it!

Here are ingredients for a 4-serving recipe (4 pizzas):

1 kg pizza dough divided into 4 balls (you may find here my pizza dough recipe and here my recipe for sourdough pizza)
100 g Provolone cheese
400 g broccoli
1 clove garlic

200 g guanciale bacon
EVO oil
salt and pepper

1. Start by cleaning the broccoli: cut the stem and rinse them under running water. Then, cut the top of the florets and use a clean towel to soak up any excess water
2. Cut broccoli into small pieces
3. Boil water in a pot, add salt and once started to bubble, pour the broccoli. Let them cook for 20 minutes, then drain them
4. Meanwhile, pour 2 tablespoons of EVO oil in a pan and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the guanciale bacon, chopped
5. Once they have become golden, let it drain on paper towel
6. Then, pour 3 tablespoons of EVO oil in a pan, add the garlic clove unchopped to flavor the oil. Make it toast over medium heat until it becomes golden, then remove it, turn off the heat and add the broccoli. Pan fry until they become crispy, add salt whether needed
7. Put half of the pan-fried broccoli in a blender, together with 3 tablespoon of EVO oil. Blend until you obtain a smooth cream, keep aside
8. When you are ready to bake the pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge, leaving at least 1 hour and half for it to warm up and get pliable
9. Preheat oven to 270°C (or, better, as far as oven temperatures go)
10. Slice the Provolone cheese into thin slices
11. Generously dust the counter with semolina flour. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands in flour and lift a ball of dough. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 25 cm in diameter), lay it on the baking tray covered by baking paper
12. Place some broccoli sauce, and some pan-fried broccoli over each pizza. Top with crispy guanciale
13. Bake the pizza for about 10 minutes. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the baking tray to a lower self before the next round
14. Few minutes before pizzas are done, add provolone cheese on top, and let it melt
15. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer it to a wooden cutting board. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.