Saturday, November 12, 2011

No Yeast, No Bake, Stove Top Pizza Made From Scratch- Caramelized Onions and Salami

Stove Top Pizza?  Yes, stove top pizza hahaha.  Such a far fetched idea huh, but often times, far fetched ideas often churn out surprises.
I thought to myself, what are the most important factors that makes a pizza a pizza?  After reflecting back on my alternate pizza recipes (made with other starches such as sliced bread and baguettes), I've decided that an actual dough recipe, crispness of crust, and a melted baked cheese texture were the determining factors in making anything worthy of being called a pizza.  

Cheese and Salami
Surprisingly, after a lot of experimenting in my kitchen, I was able to churn out something that was worthy (in my eyes) of being called a pizza. I love this pizza so much that it will take some convincing to get me back to ordering delivery pizza.

This pizza recipe is for those who love their pizza crust and cheese thin and crispy.  O, another gauge for determining if this recipe is for you, is, do you like cheese-its?  If so, this recipe is for you.
You know how on some delivery pizzas, some cheese spills out to the edges of the pan... and gets baked and turns into crispy goodness, in other words, cheese-its? Imagine loads of it on a pizza.  This pizza is that kind of pizza.

You can definitely tweak this recipe to your liking.  Have fun with it. The possibilities are endless.  
First Attempt. Caramelized Onions and Cheese-  The pizza sauce on this one was grilled along with other ingredients. Messy deed but fun!


~7 Mini Pizzas; 25-35min
Ingredients:
Dough
2 cups sifted flour (I bought pre-sifted flour, Purity Brand with pig on front of cover)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 small eggs
1 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Sauce
4 cloves garlic minced finely
1 tbsp oil
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce (I used Magic Time Mamma Mia Traditional)
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp dried parsley 
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste

Toppings
2 small onions caramelized (good for 3 pizzas)
salami
sharp cheddar cheese
sprinkle ground black pepepr
(Fresh Basil would've been great but I didn't have any)

Directions
1.  Prepare dough. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar, baking powder.  Make a well in the middle for wet ingredients.
2.  In the well add eggs, water, and vegetable oil. stir to incorporate. Try not to over mix. Let set momentarily while you prepare sauce.
3.  Prepare sauce. In a pot heat up oil.  Medium low heat. You don't want garlic to burn as it will become bitter. Stir garlic constantly for ~2 min to cook out raw taste.
4.  Add spaghetti sauce, sugar, parsley, basil, pepper, and tomato paste. Mix well.
5. Simmer sauce for about10-15min allowing for it to thicken and develop in flavor.  You may want to cover it as it may splash out.  After cooked, set aside and bring to room temp.
6. Cook dough. In a non stick pan (essential to caramelize cheese), heat medium high heat. When heated, add about 1/3 cup batter at a time (if you have a standard sized pan. try keeping batter from touching sides. this will trap moisture, not allowing dough to get crispy). as you're pouring hold pan up tilting in a circular motion to create a circle (as flat as you can get it).
7. Let cook for about 5-7 min on one side on medium low heat until bottom browns. Once browned, flip and cook other side the same way.  
8.  Add toppings adding cheese last (exclude tomato sauce for a crisp crust). Flip and pat down with spatula. let cook 2 min allowing for cheese to turn into a cheese-it texture.  Start scraping all around pizza towards center of pizza to get cheese to lift off from pan.  Once free, press down on pizza moving it in a circular motion.  Take a look under to see if cheese has hardened.  
9. Transfer to a cooling rack, add room temp. pizza sauce, and serve immediately.  If you want to preserve the crisp texture of the cheese, you can dip your pizza in the sauce as you go instead of putting sauce on all at once.

*tip: try not to overload toppings.  the moisture needs to be kept to a minimum in order for cheese to caramelize.  you can add them after. 
*no need to add extra oil. salami and cheese have plenty of natural oils
*you don't have to cook all pizzas at once. you can refrigerate dough in a sealed container
*the dough should be thin enough to spread out by tilting pan

2 comments:

  1. I do this, but with pita bread and leftover spaghetti sauce from a jar. I bet your way tastes much better!

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  2. The pita bread way sounds like a time saver. I'm definitely going to try that way out!

    These pizzas were at our Thanksgiving party. They are the ones you asked about haha. They turned into pizza pockets because if you don't eat them right away, they lose their crispness and composure.

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