Pizza Party Part 3: Heirloom Tomato Pizza

So I wanted to recreate last weeks heirloom tomato tart but as a pizza. I was going to add some goat cheese, but decided I had enough cheese on this. What? Enough Cheese? Yeah, I know, Crazy!!!!  Regular tomato sauce Pizza Party can be found here or here

What I used:

Spinach Basil Pesto

Kalamata Olives

Fresh Mozzarella

Onion

2 Heirloom Tomatoes – I used a green one  brought over by Paul and Shashi who grew them in Greenpoint, and a red one I bought and never used from the tart

Olive Oil

Pepper

Crushed red pepper

Good Olive Oil for raw drizzle

Pizza Dough – seriously, if you buy this instead of making it, just go call Domino`s and go away.

What I did:

Preheat your oven to 550, let it heat for at least 35 min, an hour is better. Have a pizza stone sitting in the middle of the oven. Not the top, not the bottom, the middle rack.

Slice the cheese, olives and onions.

Make the pizza dough, or take it out of the freezer and thaw it.

Slice the tomatoes and lay on paper towels to drain for at least a half hour.

Stretch out your crust. Don`t roll it unless you like it to be dense. Take the ball and stretch it in the air by turning it in circles. Put it on a floured, preferably with semolina, parchment and continue to stretch by pulling it from underneath until it is as big as possible. If you rip a hole, no worries, just pull it back together and fill the hole.

Ready? Put the stretched dough, parchment and all on the pizza stone. Top some now, and some while on the stone in the oven. It will be hot.

Spread a thin layer of pesto and a layer of cheese.

Move it to the oven.

In this order, add a layer of tomatoes, olives, onions, and a final layer of cheese. Close the oven and cook for 10 min. Lift it with the peel to check, put it back for 5 min. This will take 3 times as long as regular pizza. The raw tomatoes will wet it up, you need to cook them down and glaze/roast the tomatoes. Check it after the five. The cheese is spreading past the pizza and forming a cheese burn crust. This is ok. Back in for 5 minutes. Check it again. Lift it with the peel, still wet? yes, turn the oven to 400 and back for 5 min. Times done, check it and lift with the peel, crispy now on the bottom and not wet, yes, take it out. If not, give it another 4 or 5 min. Mines done.

Pull it out and cut it.

Sprinkle with oregano or basil or both – fresh. Drizzle with olive oil, I like Titone, and crushed red pepper.

Eat It.

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