Bell Pepper Pizza with Cold Cuts and Mozzarella

First you need to make a yeast pizza dough from 2 cups of flour (260 g). The pizza dough recipe is quite simple, and the dough turns out well. After the dough has risen, knead it briefly and stretch it onto a pizza pan, lightly greased with olive oil beforehand. The dough should be 5-7 mm thick. Prick the dough with a fork in several places. If you want a thin, slightly crisp crust in the finished bell pepper pizza, you can put the topping on right away. If you cover the dough with a towel and let it stand for 15-30 minutes, the final crust will be soft and fluffy.

Peel the onion and slice it into very thin strips. Mix the sliced onion with 1 tbsp of wine vinegar. After 20 minutes, pour boiling water over the onion for 5 minutes, then rinse and squeeze lightly. Quick pickling of onion works very well for pizza toppings.

The bell peppers for the pizza need to be roasted. How you roast them is up to you. Peppers roast well in the oven or over an open flame; in Bulgaria peppers are roasted in a remarkable kitchen gadget called a chushkopek (I have long wanted to bring one back, but it weighs a lot). At home in the kitchen you can easily roast bell peppers in the microwave. Two peppers take 6-8 minutes. Then immediately put the peppers in a plastic bag and tie it tightly. Leave the peppers until completely cool and peel off the thin outer skin, which comes off easily.

Bell pepper pizza can be made without tomato sauce, but the sauce is better, as it gives the pizza its unique flavor. Don’t use tomato paste or, God forbid, ketchup from a packet. Making a homemade tomato sauce takes no more than 10 minutes. You could of course make salsa, a tomato sauce. But it is much faster to scald 1-2 ripe tomatoes and remove the skin and seeds. Puree the flesh in a blender with a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. If you like, add herbs or a pinch of dried Mediterranean herbs. Simmer the tomato mixture for 3-4 minutes, covered, with 1 tbsp of olive oil until it reaches the desired thickness.

Spread the tomato sauce over the dough and lay out the sliced pickled onion. Sprinkle the pizza with a pinch of dried oregano.

Lay pieces of thinly sliced meat over the sauce and onion. The meat can be anything. It works great with homemade buzhenina (baked pork), smoked meat, or cured pork loin. I think dry sausage can be used too. The size of the pieces is up to you. Just don’t cut them too large, and note that you shouldn’t take meat that is too tough or stringy, or it won’t be convenient to bite into the pizza.

Cut green or black olives in half lengthwise and remove the pits. If the olives are pitted and not very large, you can use them whole. Arrange the olives on the pizza.

Peel the roasted pepper of its outer skin, seeds, and stem, then cut into thin rings or simply strips.

Coarsely grate fresh mozzarella over the pizza, spreading it evenly. You can also cut the mozzarella into thin slices and lay them over the pizza.

Arrange the prepared bell pepper. If you want the pizza a little spicier, roast one hot pepper (or leave it raw), remove the seeds and white inner membranes, cut it into rings, and lay them over the mozzarella as well.

Sprinkle the pizza with grated Parmesan. If you like, chop a few fresh basil leaves together with the Parmesan, and the cheese mixture will take on a pleasant green color.

Press the topping down very lightly with your palms to compact it. Put the pizza in an oven preheated to 200°C. Bell pepper pizza with cured pork loin bakes in about 20 minutes. After 15 minutes, check the doneness of the dough by lifting an edge. As soon as the crust browns nicely, the pizza is ready.

Serve the finished bell pepper pizza hot: cut it first with a pizza wheel into 6-8 slices and bring it straight to the table.

To decorate, scatter fresh green basil leaves over the finished pizza.