Canada GP 2019: Hawaiian Pizza
I know what you are thinking. Hmm, she’s got this one wrong this time. Hawaiian pizza? Really? Canada?
If that is what you are thinking, you have not spent enough time on Wikipedia recently. It will tell you, along with many other fun facts, that Hawaiian Pizza was in fact invented in Canada by a Greek-born Canadian pizzeria owner: Sam Panopoulos. This, as my husband points out, must be why it has Canadian bacon on it!
I made two variations, one I think a little more “traditional” than the latter.
First, simply tomato sauce, mozzarella, Canadian bacon, and fresh pineapple chunks.
The second, is from Ken Forkish of Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast fame. His breads and pizza dough are absolutely delicious and this variation on the Hawaiian pizza is sweet, savory, a tad but spicy, and feels a bit classier than the standard fare. Not that I’m judging. I love fruit with my savory and Hawaiian pizza has always been a favorite of mine. All you haters can leave more pizza for me!
Hawaiian Pizza
The instructions are already great, so this is barely adapted, really it is just from Food52, which I think is barely adapted from Ken Forkish himself in his book The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home
1 pizza dough ball (using Ken’s recipe from Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast or the Pizza book above, or in a pinch a store bought dough will also work fine — but if you don’t have those books… you should)
1 whole pineapple
1/4 to 1/2 sweet onion, such as Maui or Vidalia
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt
Chile flakes
1 tablespoon rendered bacon fat (optional, but who are we kidding you’re gonna use it)
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
2 ounces cooked (deli-counter) ham, sliced medium-thick in 2-inch-long, 1/2-inch-wide pieces
1 1/2 ounces low-moisture, whole-milk mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
1. Put your pizza steel, stone, or iron (or, if you don’t have one of those, an upside-down rimmed baking sheet) on an upper rack in your oven no more than 8 inches below the broiler. Preheat the oven to 550°F for 45 minutes. (I don’t have a broiler, it still works out.)
2. While the oven is heating, prep and roast the pineapple and onion. Peel the pineapple with a sharp knife, then cut the fruit away from its core. Cut the fruit into 1/2-inch squares. Slice the onion vertically into 1/2-inch-wide wedges, then cut into 1/2-inch lengths. In a large, heavy cast-iron pan, toss the pineapple and onion in the olive oil with a sprinkling of fine sea salt and chile flakes to taste. Roast at 550°F until tender and nicely caramelized, about 10 minutes, depending on the size of your pineapple and pan. Reserve 3 1/2 ounces of the roasted pineapple and onion mixture for topping the pizza. Snack on the rest or save for future pizzas.
3. Set up your pizza assembly station. Give yourself about 2 feet of width on the countertop. Moderately flour the work surface. Position your pizza peel (or, if you don’t have one, another upside-down rimmed baking sheet) next to the floured area and lightly dust it with flour. Have the bacon fat, tomato sauce, pecorino, ham, roasted pineapple and onion, and mozzarella at hand, and a ladle or spoon for the sauce. Switch the oven to broil 10 minutes before loading the pizza.
4. To shape the pizza, put the dough ball on the floured work surface and flip to coat both sides moderately with flour. Shape the dough with your hands and leave a puffy edge, or roll with a pin for a flatter pie. Transfer the disk of pizza dough to the peel. Run your hands around the perimeter to relax it and work out the kinks.
5. Dab bacon fat evenly around the dough, then spread the dough with the tomato sauce, smoothed with the back of the ladle or spoon. Add the toppings in this order: pecorino, ham, roasted pineapple and onion, and mozzarella.
6. Turn off the broiler, then gently slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Close the oven door and change the oven setting to bake at 550°F. Bake for 5 minutes, then take a quick look at the pizza to judge its progress. Turn on the broiler again, and finish the pizza until the cheese is completely melted and the crust is golden with spots of brown and a few small spots of char, about 2 minutes. Use tongs or a fork to slide the pizza from the pizza stone onto a large cutting board. Serve!