A New Pizza

The last of the Cherokee Purple tomatoes insisted I make a pizza. I only had smoked mozzarella so here is the result. Smoked Mozzarella pizza with Cherokee Purple tomatoes. There is a finely sliced shallot in there as well as some fresh basil and Parmigiano Reggiano. An excellent combination if I do say so myself.

Update: I should add that if you are going to use fresh tomato slices like this on a pizza you should lower the moisture in them a bit. I slice them no more than 1/8 inch thick and lightly sprinkle them with sea salt. I then sandwich them between some paper towels for 15 or 20 minutes. It sucks out a lot of the water and keeps the pizza from getting soggy. It also helps to put them on top of the cheese as they evaporate a little more in the hot oven. Mozzarella on the bottom sprinkled with the herbs and chopped shallots then the slices of tomato and finally a sprinkle of good Parmesan. Hottest oven you can manage(mine gets to 550F) and on a pizza stone or quarry tiles. Let the oven heat for at least 45 minutes or an hour so that the stone is fully heated before cooking. I spread my dough on parchment which doesn't affect the crispiness of the crust but it makes handling a wet dough much, much easier. Enjoy.