Hawaiian Pizza with Ham and Pineapple Recipe
Despite pizza's Italian roots, the popularity of this culinary masterpiece spread far beyond the Apennine Peninsula long ago.
Pizza became especially popular in Europe and the US. Huge chains of pizzerias offer all kinds of pizza, including delivery.
Pizza recipes are often far from the classics and deeply national in character, American pizza above all. The world-famous Pizza Hut chain was founded in 1958 by the brothers Dan and Frank Carney in Kansas. But regional pizzas often bear little resemblance to Italian classics. They frequently feature bacon, grilled chicken or barbecue.
For example, there's a stereotype that pineapple pieces in a dish with meat or poultry automatically make it “Hawaiian”. American Hawaiian pizza is made with bacon (Canadian bacon?), pineapple and mozzarella. This pizza is especially popular in the western US, as well as in Australia, Canada and Sweden, but not in the Hawaiian Islands at all.
I read somewhere that this pizza was first made in Canada more than 50 years ago. Hawaiian pizza is usually cheese on a tomato base with pieces of Canadian ham (bacon) and pineapple. That's all, really, but the recipe is often topped up with peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and so on. Still, Canadian bacon in Hawaiian pizza is often replaced with other kinds of bacon, ham or smoked chicken. Whatever the variations and whatever the experts think, pizza is tasty pizza.
Ingredients
34 cm pizza
- Pizza dough 400 g
- Tomato sauce 2 tbsp
- Ham 100 g
- Mozzarella 159 g
- Pineapple (canned) 5-6 rings
- Olive oil 1 tbsp
- Oregano to taste
- Tomato, Parmesan, basil optional
Step-by-step recipe
- Make a yeast pizza dough from 2 cups of wheat flour. Stretch the dough over a pizza pan, cover with a towel and let it rise so the base is nice and puffy, 2.5-3 cm thick.
- Many say Hawaiian pizza should only be made with white sauce. Maybe so, but I've only once tried pizza with white sauce, apparently made of mayonnaise, garlic and spices. Every other time it was pizza with a normal tomato sauce, and it was extremely tasty. So don't torture yourself; make 2-3 tbsp of good homemade tomato sauce.
- Remove the seeds and skin from one ripe tomato and blend it with 1 garlic clove, a pinch of salt and a little grated nutmeg on the tip of a knife. Salt to taste and, if you like, add a pinch of Mediterranean herbs (oregano, basil, savory). Pour the puree into a skillet heated with 1 tbsp of olive oil and simmer until the sauce is about as thick as ketchup.
- Canned pineapple is usually sold as rings or chunks. By and large, it doesn't matter how the pineapple is cut. But purely for looks, I suggest buying pineapple rings and cutting them into quarters. For a 34 cm pizza, 5-6 pineapple rings are enough. Go by your own taste, though.
- Although Hawaiian pizza is made with bacon, we'll go with ham. Ham is cured pork leg, sold in pieces or thinly sliced. Thin slices are perfect for a Hawaiian pizza topping. Cut the ham to any size you like, but I suggest cutting it to match the pineapple pieces.
- The dough stretched over the pan has risen and become quite puffy. If it seems too puffy, press it down a little with your palms to make it thinner. Prick it with a fork in several places. Spread the tomato sauce over the dough.
- Spread the ham pieces evenly, mixed with the pineapple pieces.
- Sprinkle with 1-2 pinches of dried oregano and drizzle with olive oil.
- Coarsely grate the mozzarella and spread it evenly, so that bits of ham and pineapple peek out from under the cheese here and there.
- As an optional extra, you can add thinly sliced tomato or a few halved cherry tomatoes. In that case, sprinkle the tomatoes with a little Parmesan. But that's all up to you.
- Bake the pizza in an oven preheated to 200°C. It bakes for up to 20 minutes. Since ovens differ, start checking the dough after 15 minutes by lifting its edge in the pan.
- As soon as the dough is nicely browned, the pizza is definitely done.
- If you like, and many people do this, once the pizza has cooled a little and is no longer piping hot, scatter a few small green basil leaves over the topping.
- Cut the finished Hawaiian pizza into 6-8 slices with a pizza wheel and serve.
Serves: 34 cm pizza Calories: 275 Prep: 60 mins Cook: 30 mins Total: 1 h 30 mins Category: Pizza Cuisine: American cuisine Rating: