When we bought our little cottage, we couldn’t resist getting a pizza oven. We find any excuse to fire it up – literally, the only weather that stops us is a hurricane! Our oven uses both wood and gas, so we have the flexibility depending on our mood and time constraints.

Recently, I found myself with an abundance of Korean Pulled Pork and decided to try it on a pizza with pineapple. Pineapple on pizza is a contentious topic, but trust me, it works brilliantly here.

To elevate this humble pizza, I used about 3 tablespoons of my Gochujang Vodka Sauce per pizza, adding even more spiciness. Feel free to use a regular tomato sauce if prefer something maybe less spicy.

So to make it, fire up the pizza oven when you are ready to make the pizza, which is about 30 mins before if using wood, 10 mins if using gas. The recipe below is my go to pizza dough recipe with links to my pulled pork and sauce.

Ingredients (makes 4 small or 6 large pizzas)

750g Tipo 00 Flour (Or Strong White Bread Flour)
2x7g Sachets of Fast Acting Yeast
480ml Lukewarm Water
1 tbsp salt
1 Red Onion (finely sliced)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for greasing)
Semolina (for dusting)
Korean Pulled Pork
Fresh Pineapple (cut the chunks up smaller)
Gochujang Vodka Sauce
Grated Mozzarella
Coriander (finely chopped)

Method

• Measure out the water in a measuring jug, making sure it is lukewarm, otherwise the yeast will be killed off.
• Add in a couple of tablespoons of the flour, give a mix and then add in the yeast.
• Cover and place in a warm area for a round 5 or so minutes, until the surface becomes frothy (this means your yeast has come alive!)
• In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the remaining flour and salt and mix together, then add in the wet ingredients
• Mix by hand to bring all the ingredients together, then if making by hand, dump out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for around 8 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. Grease the bowl with some olive oil and place the dough inside.
• If using a stand mixer, using the dough hook knead for around 5 mins. Remove and place in a lightly oiled bowl.
• Rub some oil on top of the dough, cover with cling film and a tea towel and place in a warm place to prove.
• I sometimes put the dough somewhere slightly cooler and prove slowly for a couple of hours, or in a warm place for around an hour.
• Once doubled in size, removed from the bowl, punch out the air, and divide into your 4 – 6 balls of dough.
• Place this time on plate / baking sheet, cover and leave for about another 30 mins in a warm place to prove a second time
• Now it’s time to make pizza, on a lightly floured board, press down on the dough ball and start press from the middle outwards. Keep doing this until a round flat disc forms.
• Next pick up the dough and it by the edge and gently move through your hands in a circle, letting gravity work its magic and stretch the dough into a thin pizza shape.
• You can use a rolling pin, but its better to try by hand. Also don’t worry about it being a proper circle – mine never are, its all about the taste at the end of the day!
• Next, dust your pizza peel with some semolina, this will help stop it sticking. Place your pizza dough on top.
• Now spread some of the Gochujang vodka sauce over the top, you don’t want to put too much as this will just make the dough soggy and start to stick to the peel, just a nice even covering.
• Almost there, time for toppings. This is really all about how little or how much you want to top the pizza. You can sprinkle cheese before or after the toppings. For this particular pizza I place the grated cheese on first, topped with the pulled pork, pineapple and red onion.
• Now its time for cooking, push your pizza into your pizza oven (which should now read min 400C) from the peel, turning it every 1 to 2 minutes, until evenly cooked.
• Remove from the oven, slice, scatter with some chopped coriander and enjoy!

This dough freezes really well. Lightly grease and wrap in grease-proof paper, then freeze. When needed, bring it out a few hours before, once defrosted place somewhere warm to let it rise a little and then you are ready to use as above. Handy to have a stock pile in case you need emergency pizza!

This pizza was different, spicy and very moreish. In this instance, the pineapple really did work. I made a little Kimchi Mayo dipping sauce to go with it (1 part mayo to 2 parts Kimchi whizzed in a blender) which was a nice side. However, this pizza is so good even without it.

So, have you tried to make this pizza? And whats your verdict on pineapple on a pizza? acceptable or abomination! Let me know in the comments.