Cornmeal Pizza Crust with Cheese and Salami

Making the cornmeal dough

1. Homemade pizza on a cornmeal crust is not hard to make, since the yeast dough only needs to rise once. For the topping, it’s best to use ready-made store-bought products: tomato sauce with olives and basil, sliced salami, firm low-moisture mozzarella, ripe tomatoes and, as a nice extra, a few capers.

   Use finely ground cornmeal; the package always states the grind. Corn has no gluten, so dough made from cornmeal is brittle. That’s why you need to add some wheat flour. The dough won’t be completely gluten-free. Add a little olive oil to keep the dough soft.

2. Sift the cornmeal and wheat flour into a large bowl.

   

3. Add a pinch of salt and 8 g of brewer’s yeast.

   You can use baker’s yeast, by and large, but you will smell it in the finished dough.

4. Add 1 tsp of sugar (5 g) to the flour and stir everything with a fork to distribute the ingredients evenly.

   

5. Warm 150 ml of water slightly in the microwave; 10 seconds on full power is enough.

6. Mix the water with 1 tbsp of olive oil and whisk with a fork.

7. Pour the liquid into the flour and knead a soft dough. Knead it well until smooth.

8. Roll it into a ball and put it in a bowl, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

9. Leave the dough in a warm place for 45 mins. This dough only needs to rise once.

   

10. When the time is up, without kneading it again, transfer the dough to a greased pan and spread it out to form the pizza base.

11. To make sure the dough bakes through, bake it briefly before adding the topping: 7–8 minutes in an oven preheated to 180–190°C.

    In that time the dough will rise slightly and dry out a little, so the cornmeal pizza will be crisp. While the base bakes, you can work on the topping.

    

Preparing the pizza topping

1. To spread on the dough, you can use ready-made store-bought tomato sauce with herbs and olives. Or make homemade olive sauce, which keeps in the refrigerator.

2. Spread the sauce over the base.

4. Arrange the sliced salami, any kind you like. You can also use thinly sliced ham instead.

5. Sprinkle the topping with a pinch of dried oregano.

6. Slice the ripe tomato very thinly and arrange half of it with the salami.

   

7. Grate the firm mozzarella and sprinkle it over the sausage and tomato.

8. Arrange the rest of the tomato on top of the cheese and press down lightly with your hands.

9. Scatter 1 tsp of salted capers (3 g) over the topping; they are an exceptionally tasty addition. If you like, you can add a few sliced olive rings.

   

Baking and serving

1. Put the pizza in an oven preheated to 180–190°C. Since the base has already been partly baked, 12–15 mins is enough.

   Go by the browning of the bottom of the cornmeal crust. By then the cheese will have melted and the tomatoes won’t run.

2. Take the finished pizza out of the oven and move it to a serving board.

   

3. Cornmeal dough is a bit crisp and prone to breaking, so cut it carefully. We cut the pizza not with a pizza wheel but with a regular long-bladed chef’s knife, in a single motion.

4. Serve the pizza while it’s hot. It’s delicious with tomato juice. If you like, you can top it with a few sprigs of fragrant fresh basil or arugula.