Fresh Pizza on Puff Pastry

If you’ve read my blog long enough, you’d have an idea on how much I love cooking and eating pasta.  Oftentimes, I’m happy just having it alone.  But then there are times when it must have a partner dish.  Without a doubt, pizza is one of them.

I don’t mind ordering from pizzerias and chains.  But the truth is, ordering often can be costly.  And what I don’t like so much is not having enough control on what and how toppings are put — even if the store allows you to choose them.

So for me, homemade is still the way to go.  Still, one would have to deal with the biggest hurdle — making the pizza crust.  I have yet to see good store-bought crust worth recommending.  And it is time consuming to make the crust from scratch. Of course, I’ve tried bread in the past — with the baguette or the local pandesal.  But they still come out different.

So just today, I tried out something new: puff pastry as a pizza crust.  I had excess puff pastry sheets from last week, when I only needed to use one out of five sheets for my baked camembert recipe.  I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that before?” How I wish I realized this several years back.

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Puff Pastry Sheets are available in the grocery. This one is 8×8 inches, which is perfect for four slices of pizza– good for 2 people.

It’s very convenient to use puff pastry sheets.  No more using the rolling pin, no more kneading, etc.  It’s already a perfect square.

To make sure there is a good degree of crunch, I lightly brushed the sheet with olive oil.  I then proceeded to spreading tomato paste. I did a very thin layer, as putting to much paste would make the crust soggy.  Then I put parmesan cheese (I’d put mozzarella if it were available).  I put chopped sausage, grated vintage cheddar, a few teaspoons of cream cheese here and there, and a few pineapple tidbits.  I made sure to drain all the excess juices from the pineapple first.

Finally, I added a few pieces piquillo peppers.  They’re very flavorful, and they balance the richness of the cream cheese.  Add pepper.  Oh, and I still spread out a pinch of salt.

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I placed it in the oven at 175 C (350 F) for 15 minutes.  I actually used my oven toaster for this.  My wife and I I love it.  It’s the Smart Oven from Breville, which actually has a pizza function.  Very smart.  Perhaps, I should write about it one of these days.

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Something’s puffing up in the oven 🙂 #food

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After taking it out of the oven, I topped the pizza arugula.  Aside from adding flavor, it gives good color to the pizza, completing the red, white, and green.

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I loved how the puff pastry increased in volume– how if puffed up, yes.  And while purists would say a puff pastry crust is still different from the traditional crust, I loved the flaky crunch it has, which is wonderful with pizza.   At the end of the day, if you choose good puff pastry, the crust will not taste store-bought,jo and that’s what counts.

Notice how the pastry went from flat to puffy.

All things considered, the prep just took 10 minutes + 15 minutes baking.  As you make this pizza, you can complete a pasta dish within the 25 minutes.  Hope you would consider trying this at home.  This might as well be part of the advocacy to keep many home meals homemade.  🙂

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