i’ve spent a lot of time on dessert pizzas, in large part out of commitment to a bit (a friend mentioned liking a treatzza pizza like 3 times and i now consider this to be a defining trait beyond all justification), but it’s led to me thinking through how to make them work. i’ve worked on pizzas that use fruit quite a bit, and have worked with peaches especially, but most of the ingredients i’ve worked with are pretty delicate. ricotta works, but usually has to be whipped and still melts on contact with heat. peaches don’t cover the full crust which can lead to burning of the crust or large bubbles under it.

mascarpone solves the first problem, it holds its structure on a pizza out of the oven, and streusel solves the second problem. the peaches we had weren’t amazing so i pre-grilled them with a tiny bit of sugar (until there’s just a little scorch on any available peach skin) to give them a head start but if you had a fresh and ripe peach i’d probably just fire it with the pie.

dough

use what you know, i used a 60% hydration dough, unsweetened.

streusel

3/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1tsp ground cinnamon 6 tbsp butter, cubed

put that in a mixer with a paddle until the butter is pea sized or smaller.

pre-cook your peaches (if desired), add streusel and peaches to the pie and fire. slice, top with mascarpone, and serve.

a new york style pizza crust with a bed of streusel, topped with peaches and mascarpone