Does Fruit Belong on A Pizza?- Spicy "Chorizo" and Pomegranate Pizza!

There has been a debate for as long as time could tell- Does fruit belong on a pizza? Yes! It does! Some of you might think we're nuts for PRO fruit on pizza, but we think you are nuts for thinking other... you are clearly missing out on a world of flavor explosion!

To prove everyone that it does, we made six different pizzas with six different fruits and ate them to see which ones were the best. The outcome was surprising! We still stand by, yes fruit does belong on a pizza, but some fruits work better then others.

The fruit that surprised us the most was pomegranate seeds!!!! I mean, think about it. They are little juicy rounds of sweetness, with a crunchy center. You would think that the texture would be off putting or get weird once it cooked, but IT DOESN'T!!!

We paired it with a spicy "chorizo" ground round meat substitute, red onions and cilantro. Funny thing is, we forgot to add the cheese, but it still tasted AMAZING!!! The spicy "chorizo" and sweet pomegranates really balanced and complimented each other perfectly. The fresh, bright sweetness from the pomegranate seeds stayed plump and juicy and didn't become sickly sweet.

The other fruits we tried were pineapple (duh!), strawberries, figs, mango and apple. The strawberries were in our opinion the worst! Since strawberries are not "sweet" usually a bit sour or tart and there is no added sugar to the pizza, the strawberries become very strong in flavor and over powered the rest of the ingredients. We DO NOT suggest strawberries.

Figs were delicious! Again, another sweet fruit that we paired with faux meat; spicy Italian "sausage", basil, mozzarella and we made this one an oil based pizza. It was really really really tasty!!!

Now, apple and mango were "meh" and we were a little shocked with how underwhelmed we were with them. We both agreed that the apple was too soft of a flavor to match the strong opposing ingredients, but that could have been the kind of apple we chose. A Granny Smith apple or an apple that is really tart would have probably worked best. We used a Red Delicious and it was too weak of a flavor. Same with the mango, we used a "green"/under ripe mango and it wasn't punchy enough. Which shocked us, because we really thought that it would work. NOPE!! Maybe a juicier ripe mango would have been better?

What did we learn and hope you did too? Opposite strong flavors that compliment each other worked best! The sweeter the fruit with a spicy or salty opposing ingredient, balances and creates a flavor experience that is so fun and delicious.

To watch Roz create six different pizzas with six different fruits, click here!

You will need:

Oven at 450F

Makes two 9-inch thin-crust pizzas or 8-inch thicker crust pizzas.

Pizza Dough

1 cup Warm Water

1 tsp. Instant Yeast

1 tsp. White Sugar

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Unbleached Flour

1 tsp. Salt

In a small bowl or a tall drinking glass, combine the water, yeast and sugar. Do not mix! Place in a warm area, like on top of the stove under the light.

Let stand until the mixture foams on top, 10-15 minutes.

In a stand mixer with the dough hook, combine the flours, salt and yeast mixture. Mix on medium low speed just to combine and forms into a ball. This will appear to be very sticky looking. Don't stress!

Remove the dough from the bowl with floured hands, and knead the dough, while adding small handfuls of flour throughout this process. You will kneed for 10 minutes. You are looking for the dough to be soft, not sticking to your hands or surface and smooth to the touch.

Form into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl and lightly grease the top of the dough to prevent the plastic wrap from sticking. Then cover with a clean cloth on top.

Place the bowl in a warmish part of the kitchen. We suggest the oven with the light turned on.

Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes.

Once you are ready to use, cut the dough in half and roll to fit your trays. *Tip! Lightly grease your pans and then generously sprinkle corn meal on the tray. This will prevent sticking and create a crunchy crust.

Once the dough is in it's trays, you can put them in the fridge to prevent from rising and work on the toppings till needed.

Toppings

1 pkg. of Yves Mexican Ground Round, crumbled

1 tbsp. Smoked Paprika

2 tsp. Ground Cumin

3 tsp. Garlic Powder

2 tsp. Dried Oregano

3 tsp. Chili Flakes

1/2 Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 Pomegranate, Seeds removed

1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped finely

1 pkg. Daiya Mozzarella shreds * we forgot to add this on the pizza in the video, but this was the cheese we would have used.

17.5 fl oz. can of Unico Tomato Sauce *You can use your own or any other brand you desire

1 tbsp. Vegetable Oil

2 tbsp. Water

In a pan, heat to medium high.

Add the oil, the crumbled ground round and all the spices.

Stir to cook the spices, 2 minutes. You are looking to just enhance the flavors, nothing really needs to be "cooked".

Add the water to remove any cooked on spices that stuck to the pan.

Remove from heat.

To assemble the pizzas, spread a generous layer of tomato sauce on the two crusts.

Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top of the sauced pizza crusts.

Divide up the "chorizo" ground round in half and sprinkle it on top of the cheese.

Spread half of the onions on top of the "chorizo" on both pizzas, followed by placing a few good handfuls of pomegranate seeds on each pizza.

Finish by sprinkling the cilantro on both pizzas.

Bake for 20 minutes. To check to see if it is done, carefully lift up to see the bottom. If the center of the crust has browned you are good to go. If not, give it a few more minutes to your liking. We like it a little more cooked as it becomes nice and crunchy!

Let cool for a few minutes before cutting!- It's going to be crazy hot and the toppings will fall off.

Now!!! Is that not the most delicious pizza ever?!