Caprese Pizza with Balsamic Reduction Sauce

Do you ever have one of those days where you are a complete disaster and have no right to be in the kitchen? Like, have you ever spilled almost an entire bottle of vinegar all over the place? Twice? Yeah, that was me yesterday, while making this pizza.

It probably had something to do with the complete and total exhaustion I have been feeling since last week. The week and weekend went by so fast, I don’t think it has really sunk in yet that I finished! This weekend was graduation so my family came into town for the ceremony which was bright and early Saturday morning. It was a great time, but it was a crazy busy weekend. So busy that I woke up yesterday and my legs felt so sore, I could barely walk! Going to the grocery store was difficult!

And now that I have my dissertation out of the way, I can make my next exciting announcement which is that I have accepted a post-doc position at Arizona State University in Phoenix! My current advisor got a great offer to go there and she asked me to go with her! Me and Hubs will be moving out west at the end of September! But, now this means packing…the bane of my existence…sigh…

Now that I have had a little more free time, I have finally been able to share a recipe for #tomatolove hosted by Cassie from Bake Your Day and Ali from Gimme Some Oven!! These fabulous ladies are hosting a huge tomato party for the Recipe For Change Campaign which is trying to end modern day slavery on the tomato fields. It’s such a great cause and this week they are having a fabulous giveaway sponsored by Pizza Home Chef. Visit Recipe For Change to learn more about how to support tomato farmers.

I chose to do a simple caprese pizza…or is it a margherita pizza? They seem like the same thing…Whatevs. I used red and yellow tomatoes, but you can use whichever tomatoes you want! And I also drizzled some balsamic reduction all over the pizza. It adds such a great flavor!

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Yield: serves 3-4

Caprese Pizza with Balsamic Reduction Sauce

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Caprese Pizza with Balsamic Reduction Sauce - easy caprese pizza topped with balsamic reduction. The best summer pizza!

Ingredients

For the balsamic reduction:

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbs. brown sugar

For the pizza:

• 1 lb. raw pizza dough
• 1 tbs. plus 1/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 small tomatoes (sliced; can use any combo of tomatoes)
• About 7 fresh basil leaves

Instructions

For the balsamic reduction:

1. While the pizza is baking, add the balsamic vinegar and stir in the brown sugar in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Bring to a simmer and heat until the vinegar is reduced by half. Remove from the heat. Drizzle over the pizza as desired.

For the pizza:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface. Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper.
3. Brush the olive oil evenly over the dough. Sprinkle the minced garlic over the dough. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the dough. Spread the shredded cheese over the pizza. Arrange the tomatoes and basil on top of the pizza. Drizzle 1/2 tbs. olive oil on top of the tomatoes and sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the dough is a light golden brown on the bottom.

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