Oh how I love fall and the smell of warm cinnamon & apples filling my home! My Apple Crumb Pizza is the perfect treat to bring to your Thanksgiving brunch or dinner. I partnered with Fleischmann's Yeast to create the perfect soft yeast dough for the crust. This pizza is topped with thinly sliced apples coated with cinnamon & sugar, a buttery crumb topping & drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze, yum!
For the crust:
1/2 cup 2% milk, room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons Fleischmann’s RapidRise Instant Yeast
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 -2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk, vanilla, egg and sugar. In a separate bowl combine yeast, 2 cups of flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon.
(*You do not have to activate the yeast in this recipe since we are using RapidRise Yeast. If you are using ActiveDry Yeast then you must activate it by combining the yeast, warm milk (between 120-130 degrees) and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let set for 10 minutes until foamy)
Whisk together your dry ingredients and then add into your wet ingredients. Stir to combine until a soft dough forms. Place dough onto a floured surface and begin kneading, adding more flour a little at a time as needed. The dough should not be too sticky and will begin to become very smooth. Continue kneading for 4-5 minutes.
Place the dough into a greased bowl, spray the top with baking spray, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and place in a warm area. Let rise for 45 minutes to an hour. After the dough has risen, punch down and place onto a floured surface. Roll out dough into a circle or rectangle about 1/4” thick. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap or towel and let rise for another 45 minutes to an hour.
For the apples:
4 medium granny smith apples, peeled & sliced thin
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
Peel and cut apples into thin slices. Place into a medium mixing bowl and add in sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Add more sweetness if desired. Stir to combine and set aside.
For the crumb topping:
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 cup all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of salt
Cut the cold butter into cubes. Whisk dry ingredients together. Add butter into dry ingredients and cut butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or your hands. The mixture will clump together and be coarse.
To assemble:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Once the dough has finished the second rise you are ready to assemble the pizza. Place the apples evenly across the dough and drizzle some of the remaining juice from the apple mixture across the pizza. Next, sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the apples. Place into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the bottom of the crust is golden as well. Remove from oven and place onto a cooling wrack. Let cool before adding the glaze.
Powdered sugar glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. If glaze is too thin add more powdered sugar, too thick add more cream.
To serve:
Once the pizza is cooled, using a piping bag or ziplock bag drizzle the glaze across the pizza. Cut into squares or triangles to serve. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream to take it to the next level!
This can be made 1 day ahead of time, store in an airtight container and leave at room temperature. Warm in over before serving if desired. Enjoy!