I am hosting a couple of pizza parties in July and wanted to serve my guests a desert pizza for a unique ending to the pizza menu. Since it is the start of the Farmers' Market Berry and Stone Fruit season, I was thinking of trying to make a desert pie with fresh blueberries. I have a gas oven with a pizza stone setup that I am using right now. I hope to use a friend's WFO later this summer as well.
Since I am new to making desert pizzas, I welcome any input on the things to do or not to do in making a successful desert pizza. Here are some of my questions:
1) Under what conditions would you throw the pie for baking with the desert ingredients on them versus pre-baking the pie and then adding the ingredients at some point when baking?
2) Are there any ingredients that you have used that you had problems with when baking (ie, sugar burning, watery dough from the fruit releasing its juices, etc)?
3) Any techniques that you would recommend for handling the dough prior to adding the ingredients?
4) Are there any differences to take into account when baking in a regular oven versus a high temp oven like a WFO?
Thanks for all your input.
Bruce
Hello Bruce,
I’m new to the site and my suggestions may be of no interest to you now but when I saw your post wanted to give them anyway.
In my pizzeria, here in Italy, I used to make dessert pizza - I was known for my crispy and crunchy pizza base. They are amazingly good especially when made larger than a normal pizza, around 45 cm. I know that some pizza makers prepare a different batch of dough with some liqueurs, spirits or special wines like Malvasia, Porto, Limoncello to give the pasta a better taste. I didn’t. I would take my ball, stretch it and cook in my wood-burning oven. Before though, I ‘d pour all over the base a mixture made of 30% milk and 70% of whisky cream (or Baileys Irish Cream). In the oven this would caramelize and add a delicious flavour to the base. Then I’d top it with custard cream and whipped cream, fruit salad, chocolate shavings and whipped cream, mascarpone cram and pineapple…
When I make pizza at home, especially in the winter, I use some dough leftover to make what we’ve come to call “apple pizza”. I put the dough in the baking tray, then add a layer of sliced apple or pear, depending on what I’ve got at the moment, with walnuts, hazelnuts, some raisins, sugar/honey and some butter. Some people precook the apple slices with wine, sugar and dried fruit, but I don’t like because I prefer the sugar and the butter to caramelize in the oven. At home I have a common electric oven, not the wood one.
Remember: it’s ready when the pasta looks cooked. Don’t wait till the fruit slices get a lovely brownish colour otherwise the pasta may be a bit hard and overcooked (This is why I make the apple slice very thin).
From my experience the best way to top dessert pizza is according to the season: in the summer with all the fresh and juicy fruit at disposal it’s better to add it after cooking, especially if you want to add some cream. In the winter and with apple, they are best cooked.
If you’re after some more ideas to make pizza, you can take a look at my blog:
http://www.dipizzaepizzerie.com/In case you do, don’t forget to tell me what you think. I’m open to any criticism.
Daniela
