Bacon pizza with feta and avocado used to be *the* most popular pizza for a certain South African restaurant chain, but they sadly closed down, many moons ago. We've also not found anything similar in the UK since moving here. Needless to say, we felt compelled to painstakingly recreate it at home and we are pleased to say, we think we cracked it. It's a knock-out!

Homemade bacon pizza topped with feta and avocado is hands down our favourite type of pizza. Ever. Bonus points, you don't need a pizza stone, nor do you need to double proof the pizza dough.

For a great drizzle over your pizza, try this easy chilli oil, it's so much fun to make! Some drinks that go well with pizza are lemon lime and bitters and rock shandy.

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• What's to love about this recipe
• Key ingredient notes and substitutions
• Equipment needed
• How to make bacon pizza with feta and avocado
• Top tips
• How to serve the pizza
• Storage suggestions
• FAQ
• More Italian dishes
• Recipe

Key ingredient notes and substitutions

**Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full list of ingredients.

Water - We use lukewarm water. If you have a thermometer, the temperature should read between 36C-40C/97F-104F. If you don't have a thermometer, the water should feel neither hot or cold.

Run the water over your wrist and if it feels slightly warmer than your body temperature, but not hot, then you've got lukewarm water. Be very careful of too warm water as you can kill the yeast. Too cold and the yeast won't develop.

Sugar: This will go into the dough making process as it provides 'food' for the yeast, turning it into carbon dioxide and alcohol. It also improves the taste. We will also add a bit of sugar to the tomato sauce to counter the acidity from the tomatoes.

Active dry yeast - Note, it's not instant dry yeast, but active.

Olive oil - Will form part of the dough making process.

Strong white bread flour - Widely available in most supermarkets' baking aisles.

Semolina: This will be used to dust the surface of the dough when we shape the pizza. It also gives a lovely texture to the pizza base.

Herbs and spices: Crushed garlic, dried basil or oregano, fresh basil leaves, coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. You can adjust the quantities of the herbs to your liking.

Tinned plum tomatoes: You only need half a can, but you can always double the quantities for the sauce so you don't waste the other half, then use the extra sauce in a pasta dish. Or, you can freeze the extra sauce for your next pizza.

You can use chopped tomatoes from a tin if you don't have tinned 'peeled plum tomatoes'. Alternatively, use fresh tomatoes, skins removed.

Cheeses: We're triple-cheesing it! Grated mozzarella, half a ball of mozzarella and feta cheese.

Streaky bacon: Streaky bacon is just the right thickness with just the right amount of fat to crisp up in the oven.

If you can't find streaky bacon, we would suggest using normal bacon but chopping it into smaller pieces. Flash-fry briefly and then scatter the pieces across the pizza.

Avocado: You will need 12 thin slices which equates to about one medium avocado. Try and find a 'good-looking' avo if you can. Aesthetically it is quite a prominent feature on the pizza. Brown and bruised bits won't do in this instance

Equipment needed

• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
• A bowl for proofing
• Something to cover the dough whilst proofing, like a kitchen towel
• Measuring jug and measuring spoons
• Baking paper
• 'Slide off' baking sheet: This is a baking/cookie sheet that doesn't have a rim. If you don't have one, use a normal baking sheet and turn it upside down
• Pan for frying the bacon as well as making the tomato sauce in

How to make bacon pizza with feta and avocado

Step 1: Start by making the pizza dough. Combine the sugar, yeast and water and let it sit for 10 minutes until the yeast has activated. You will know it's ready if you see bubbles and foaming on the surface. If you don't see any bubbles and foaming, it might mean that the yeast you are using has expired. It may also mean the water was either too hot or too cold.

Step 2: In a stand mixer with the dough hook attached, combine the flour, salt and olive oil with the activated yeast. Kneed for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Tip the dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Leave covered for 1 hour in a warm, draught-free area until it has doubled in size. After one hour, punch down the dough, whilst still in the bowl, to deflate it.

Step 3: Roughly measure and cut a piece of parchment paper the same size as the baking sheet you will be using. Sprinkle a tablespoon of the semolina over the paper. Tip the dough onto the paper. With your fingers, work the dough into a rough circle shape of equal thickness. Flip the dough over halfway through to ensure it's not sticking to the paper. Sprinkle with more semolina if needed.

Step 4: Switch the oven on to 245C/473F/gas mark 9. Place the baking sheet you are using on the middle shelf to heat up. It will be scorching hot by the time the oven is ready, so keep oven gloves to hand.

Step 5: Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat a frying pan to a medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and crushed garlic, move it around the pan until it starts to sizzle. Tip in the tomatoes along with the herbs, salt and sugar. Keep stirring until it's reduced down. It should be more of a paste than a bubbly liquid, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Step 6: In the same pan, flash-fry the streaky bacon. Cook until the rashers have lightened in colour, but is not yet starting to brown. For very thin bacon this could take mere seconds. Don't worry, it will crisp up in the oven.

Step 7: Peel and pit the avocado and slice into thin slices. You will need 12 slices from a medium avocado. If you have a small avocado producing small slices, you can just add more slices to the pizza (and you may need a second avocado).

Step 8: Spread the tomato sauce across the base of the pizza with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle over the grated mozzarella and lay the pieces of bacon from the middle outwards, like a clockface. Picture slicing the pizza into 12 slices so that each slice is topped with a rasher of bacon along the length of it. Tear up the half-ball of mozzarella and scatter across the pizza

Step 9: When the oven is ready, remove the now scorching hot tray with oven gloves. Working quickly, slide the pizza with it's parchment paper onto the tray. Bake on the middle shelf for 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven.

Step 10: Lay a slice of avocado onto each rasher of bacon. Crumble over the feta cheese, tear up the basil leaves and scatter over the pizza. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper.

How to serve the pizza

• You can make this pizza any shape you want. Oblong looks nice too. Just space the avo and bacon slices in such a way so that it will make sense for how you are planning to slice it. Consider having a slice of bacon and avo on each pizza slice.
• Scatter over some fresh rocket or water cress just before serving.
• Grate over a good scattering of parmesan.
• Serve on a wooden chopping or pizza board for a rustic look.
• Drizzle over a few drops of chilli oil.

Storage suggestions

• You can make the dough the day before. After it's proofed and has been punched down, wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until the next day. Remove from the fridge an hour before using to bring it up to room temperature.
• You can also freeze the dough for up to three months. Move it to the fridge the day before using to defrost. Remove from the fridge an hour before using to bring it up to room temperature.
• You can also flatten and shape the base and add the tomato sauce with the first layer of cheese. Place the pizza uncovered in the freezer, on a tray, until the toppings have frozen. Now you can wrap it in plastic wrap before putting it back in the freezer. Follow the same defrosting technique as above by moving the frozen pizza to the fridge the day before. Add additional toppings to the pizza before putting it in the oven.

FAQ

More Italian dishes

Recipe

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