Supper Club: Peach, courgette and burrata pizza

Loaded with tasty, fresh ingredients, this homemade pizza is a great alternative to your usual Friday night takeaway – and much less greasy too.

Peach, courgette and burrata pizza
Makes 2 pizzas, to serve 4

Ingredients

For the pizza dough

• 1 cup (250ml) lukewarm water
• 2½ tsp (8g) instant yeast
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour
• 1–2 large pinches fleur de sel
• Extra-virgin olive oil

For the arugula/rocket pesto

• 150g arugula/rocket
• Scant ½ cup (80g) grated Parmesan
• 1 clove garlic
  ½ cup (70g) toasted blanched hazelnuts or almonds
• ¾ cup (200 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• Fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper

For the pizzas

• 1 quantity pizza dough (see above)
• 6 tbsp arugula/rocket pesto (see above)
• 1–2 courgettes
• 2 peaches
• Generous ½ cup (60g) freshly grated Parmesan
• 250g burrata
• Arugula/rocket
• Five-peppercorn mix, crushed

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
2. To prepare the pizza dough, combine the water, yeast, and brown sugar in a bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast and sugar and let rest for 10 minutes. Place the flour and fleur de sel in a large bowl, then pour in the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon to make a dough (it will be sticky), add a drizzle of olive oil, and stir to incorporate the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for at least 40 minutes, or until doubled or even tripled in size. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes to deflate it. Dust with a little extra flour as needed, to prevent it from sticking to your fingers.
3. To prepare the arugula/rocket pesto, place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the processor running, gradually add the oil until well combined and smooth. Season with fleur de sel and pepper to taste.
4. To assemble the pizza, cut the pizza dough in half and stretch or roll each piece into a disk.
5. Spread a thin layer of pesto over the dough, leaving a narrow border all the way around.
6. Wash the courgette and slice it thinly crosswise. Arrange the slices over the pesto, overlapping them slightly.
7. Wash the peaches, then halve, pit, and cut them into 1cm slices. Arrange them over the courgettes. Sprinkle over the Parmesan.
8. Bake one pizza at a time for 15–20 minutes. If the crust is browning too slowly, switch to the broiler setting for the final 3 minutes.
9. Scatter over pieces of burrata, arugula/rocket, and crushed peppercorns. Serve immediately.

Extracted from My Art of Entertaining: Recipes and Tips from Miss Maggie’s Kitchen by Héloïse Brion (Flammarion, 2022). Photography by Christophe Roué 2022.