Burrata Pizza with Prosciutto and Basil
Makes One 12-inch pizza, serving 2 · Prep: 15 minutes · Cook: 10 to 14 minutes · Total: About 1 hour, including preheating, with room-temperature dough
If you love burrata, you have to try it on pizza! A little of that creamy middle ends up in the tomato sauce with every slice. Just wait until the pizza comes out of the oven before adding it, along with the prosciutto and fresh basil.
Ingredients
- 1 ball pizza dough, about 12 ounces, at room temperature
- Flour or fine semolina, for stretching and dusting the peel
- ⅓ cup canned crushed tomatoes
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 ball burrata, about 4 ounces
- 2 to 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
- 6 to 8 fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven
Place a pizza stone or steel on a rack in the upper third of the oven. Heat to 500°F for at least 45 minutes.
If your dough still feels cold, leave it covered on the counter until it relaxes. Refrigerated dough may need 1 to 2 hours, depending on your kitchen.
- 2
Prepare the sauce and toppings
Stir the tomatoes with the salt and 1 teaspoon olive oil. If the tomatoes look watery, drain them briefly in a fine-mesh strainer before mixing.
Lift the burrata from its liquid and let it drain in a small bowl. Take it out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before serving. Separate the prosciutto slices now, while your hands are clean.
- 3
Stretch the dough
Lightly flour the counter. Press the dough outward from the center, leaving about an inch around the edge untouched.
Lift it over the backs of your hands and gently stretch it to about 12 inches. If it keeps springing back, cover it and leave it alone for 10 minutes before trying again.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured pizza peel. Give the peel a small shake to check that the dough slides.
- 4
Add the tomatoes and bake
Spread the tomato sauce over the dough, leaving the rim bare. Check that the pizza still slides on the peel, then transfer it to the hot stone or steel.
Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, until the rim puffs and browns. Lift an edge with a spatula to check the underside before taking it out.
If a large bubble rises in the center during baking, carefully flatten it with a long-handled spatula.
- 5
Finish with burrata and prosciutto
Transfer the pizza to a board. Tear the burrata into several pieces over the hot tomato sauce, including the cream from the center.
Drape the prosciutto around the cheese. Add the basil, tearing any large leaves, and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
Slice and serve immediately.
No pizza stone or steel?
Use a heavy metal sheet pan rated for 500°F. Preheat it upside down and slide the pizza onto its flat underside with a peel.
Without a peel, stretch the dough directly onto a lightly oiled, unheated metal pizza pan. Bake on the lower-middle rack and begin checking after 12 minutes. Allow a few extra minutes for the bottom to brown.
Shortcuts and substitutions
Store-bought dough: Refrigerated dough works well. Let it warm up before stretching, even if the package says it is ready to use.
Prepared pizza sauce: Use ⅓ cup and skip the salt and oil in the tomato mixture.
Stracciatella: Spoon about ½ cup over the baked pizza. This is the creamy filling inside burrata.
Fresh mozzarella: Tear 4 ounces into small pieces and blot them dry. Add them with the tomato sauce before baking. Finish with prosciutto and basil afterward.
No prosciutto: Leave it off. The burrata, tomatoes, and basil make a good pizza on their own. Taste a finished bite before deciding whether it needs more salt.
Why add the burrata after baking?
Burrata has a mozzarella shell filled with cream and soft cheese curds. A long bake releases that moisture onto the crust. Adding it afterward lets the hot pizza warm the cheese without cooking away its creamy texture. King Arthur Baking also recommends adding burrata after the bake.
The prosciutto goes on at the same time. The heat warms the thin slices without drying their edges.
Can I prepare this pizza ahead?
Mix the tomato sauce and separate the prosciutto slices earlier in the day, then refrigerate them. Leave the burrata in its liquid until shortly before serving.
Stretch and bake the dough when you are ready to eat. Once the burrata goes on, its cream begins soaking into the crust.
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