In Italy I ate pizza from different regions, but I can’t compete with my home oven, so I’ll make a pan pizza. I’ve been told it’s easier to make and it’s very delicious and crunchy on the edges.
I love pizza, I could eat it every week! That’s why I thought I’d make a pizza to eat for Christmas, besides the more fancy or heavy dishes. You know, something to snack on.
Watch How to Make it
This is a fluffy dough pizza with a homemade feel, which is what you want for a holiday snack. I like the colors of the toppings, they make this pan pizza more festive.
As you will see in the recipe, I wanted to you red and green colors for my toppings. Meat is obviously the choice for red, since Christmas is a good enough time to eat sausages. The smoked version did the right job! For green I chose peppers, which can be mild or hot, if you want some spice.
I hope you will enjoy this pan pizza version with your friends and family!
Here is the written recipe, with the ingredients and step by step instructions:
Christmas Pan Pizza
Equipment
Instructions
For the dough
- Mix 1 tsp. of active dry yeast with 1 tsp. of sugar and half a cup (or 120 ml) of warm water. Let them rest for 5 minutes or until when the top gets foamy.
- Add 1 cup of flour (or 136g), 1/2 or 1 tsp. of salt (depending on your taste) and mix everything together.
- Put flour on your hands to not get sticky and knead until the dough is nice and stretchable without tearing. You can add a little more flower if needed, but make sure you don’t add too much. You want the dough to be slightly wet and soft.
- Form the dough into a smooth ball, add olive oil over it and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature, or until it doubles in size.
For the toppings
- Take a pan, add some olive oil in it and sprinkle some cornmeal or semolina and put the dough in. The semolina will help the pizza to not stick. Stretch the dough with your fingers, then let it rest in the pan, for another 1/2 hour.
- Prepare your sauce: put the tomatoes in a bowl, add some olive oil and some chopped fresh basil, or dried – if you can’t find fresh.
- Put the pan with the dough on the burner, first, on medium heat. Add the sauce all over the dough and let it cook like this for 5 minutes. Then, add the parmesan and the mozzarella. To make this a Christmas pizza, I used chorizo, pickled red onions and fresh peppers. You can use any topping you like, of course.
- Be ready to move the pizza into the pre-heated oven, on high. Depending on your burner, it can take 7-8 minutes from the time you first put the pan on the burner until it’s ready to move into the stove. It takes practice to know the right moment.
- Keep the pizza in the stove, in the high rack until the top is brown enough for you. Could be 4-5 minutes.
- Let it cool in the pan until it’s firm enough, then try to release the edges from the pan until you can move the pizza out on a cutting board.
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @notacheftv on Instagram and hashtag it #notacheftv.
More Italian Recipes
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