I just got back from the perfect vacation to New Orleans with my amazing friend Alice (more on that later). One of the days we spent a rainy afternoon in an amazing cafe called The Vintage on Magazine Street. If you ever go to NOLA, please check it out; the ambiance is incredible, they have a full bar, and their happy hour treats are fantastic!
One of the things we snacked on as we drank our mimosas and screwdrivers was this incredible Apple Brie Flatbread.
Now that I’m back home…I wanted that flatbread. Like, needed it like I needed to sleep in until 10:30a this morning (don’t you judge me!) What this meant was that I needed to make it, because I’m pretty sure there’s nothing like it made up here in the Frozen North.
Recipe: Apple-Brie Thin Crust Pizza
Here’s what I knew for sure: this thing had to have Apples, Brie, a balsamic reduction and arugula. It had to not have onions like the original because I hate onions (I know!) Here’s what my toppings looked like when I had them all chopped up and ready to go:
Before this, however…the crust. Now, I’ve never made pizza before from scratch. Little Caesars gives me a pizza for $5, what more could I need, right? Well…that was before NOLA. So I hunted around on Pinterest as I was grumbling my way around Target trying to find Brie (it’s in the deli section, not back with the cheese for some unknown reason) and found this amazing Thin Crust Pizza recipe by The Salty Mushroom.
It looked so foolproof, even a pizza virgin like me could do it, right? Well…yes. The answer is yes, but with a caveat that I’m sure is wholly due to me being a n00b (as the kids say). I ended up with less pizza dough then the recipe said I’d get, due to the fact that the 1c of water it called for didn’t seem to want to moisten all 2.5c of flour. So I only ended up using about 2c of flour in all. BUT! Who cares how pizza is shaped?! It’s all about how it tastes!
I made some super-cheater garlic butter (a half-ish stick melted with a bunch of garlic salt shaken in) and brushed that on, and into the oven the empty crusts went for 5 mins, just like the recipe said. During that time, I decided to make one of those little pesto packets because in my opinion, everything is better with pesto! My final toppings were:
- A whole wheel of brie
- Peppered Turkey Breast (from the deli)
- Thin sliced radishes (used the mandolin)
- A granny smith apple, also thinly sliced
- Pesto
- Garlic Butter brushed on before cooking the crust
I forgot to take a picture of them once I’d layered everything on, but here’s how they looked after 13 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees:
I chickened out and only put pesto on the big one (on the left) and not the little one. The original from The Vintage didn’t have pesto and I panicked! Maybe the pesto would take the place of the balsamic glaze? After cutting it up, sprinkling it with the arugula, and trying it I decided it needed that little bit of acid after all. So I whistled up this incredible Balsamic Vinegar Glaze by Three Olives Branch:
I only made 1/2 the recipe, and did it totally wrong because I was an idiot and didn’t read the recipe all the way through, and it still came out perfect! So I let that cool in the fridge for the 30 minutes it recommended, and called my dad and told him about my mad culinary skills (and also the fact that I put together a nightstand!) Then I drizzled it on, and voila! literally the most amazing pizza in the world:
And there we have it! Below is the final grocery haul required for this, please leave me a comment if you make it! I’d love to know what you think!
Grocery List
- Crust:
- Flour
- 1 packet Active Dry Yeast
- Sugar
- Olive Oil
- Toppings:
- 1 Brie wheel
- 1 Granny Smith Apple
- 4-5 radishes
- 1/4 lb peppered turkey breast
- Pesto packet
- Butter + garlic salt
- Arugula
- Balsamic Glaze:
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Sugar
- Salt