Fig and prosciutto pizza

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F/200°C fan (or 220°C conventional). Grease a 12-inch pizza pan with butter.

Press the pizza dough into the pan evenly, and push it right up to the edges. Combine the olive oil and the minced garlic in a small bowl, and brush the dough with the garlic oil.

Top your pizza with the crumbled goat's cheese, torn prosciutto, and sliced figs. Season with black pepper to taste.

Place into the oven for around 30 minutes, until the crust is golden. If you’re using a traditional pizza oven, then you’ll only need around 2 minutes to cook the pizza.

Remove from the oven and drizzle a generous amount of balsamic glaze over the top. Serve straight away and repeat the recipe for as many pizzas as you need.

Tips & tricks

For the best prosciutto and fig pizza make sure you buy the freshest ingredients. Figs are in season from August to October, so this pizza is a great one for any late summer get-togethers or early autumn meals. There are actually loads of types of figs you can use for this recipe, from Adriatic to black mission figs. You may be limited by the varieties you can source from your local grocery store, but if you do want to be specific about the type you use, Adriatic figs are a brilliant all-purpose variety with a rich taste of strawberries or raspberries. We like the combination of sweet figs with the texture of crispy prosciutto which crisps up well in the oven. But, if you wanted to, you could make this pizza with pancetta or bacon. Pancetta is made from pork belly, and probably the richest of the three, whereas bacon will bring its signature salty taste to the pizza. They’ll all pair well with the figs, and you can experiment with the combination you like the most in your kitchen.

We’ve used an olive oil and garlic base for the pizza in the recipe above as this adds a robust richness to match the strong flavors of the figs and prosciutto, but you could also use a more traditional tomato base if you prefer. You can make your pizza with homemade dough if you’d like to take the time to make it entirely from scratch, but it’s just as delicious with a store-bought option if you need to take this shortcut. Balsamic glaze is a must, as this brings a welcome sweet and sour element to the pizza, to round the flavors off. Make sure it is the glaze, however, and not traditional balsamic vinegar as this will just dissolve into the dough.

How to serve it

The only way to enjoy this gourmet pizza is fresh and hot straight from the oven. Cut it into slices and encourage your family and friends to dig in and help themselves. As you can make as many or as few pizzas as needed to match the hunger levels of your group, there’s usually very little food waste with this recipe.