Pizza Alla Benno: Speck, Pineapple, Jalapeños, Mozzarella, and Tomato
I created this pizza, an upgraded take on “Hawaiian pizza,” typically made with Canadian bacon and canned pineapple, for my son, Ben. When he was growing up, that’s the pizza he always ordered and I cringed at the combination every time. When I opened up my own pizzeria, I wanted to come up with a pizza using the same or similar ingredients that would please both Ben and me. We start with fresh pineapple and slice it paperthin so it caramelizes in the oven, and we use speck in place of Canadian bacon. But what I think really makes this pizza is the addition of jalapeño peppers. Their heat cuts through the sweetness of the pineapple.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 1 pizza (serves 1)
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare and stretch the dough and preheat the oven according to the instructions given in “Nancy’s Scuola di Pizza” (page 128).
Step 2
Brush the rim of the dough with olive oil and season the entire surface with salt. Ladle or spoon the sauce onto the center of the dough and use the back of the ladle or spoon in a circular motion to spread the sauce over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch rim without any sauce. Scatter the cheese and then the jalapeño slices over the pizza, lay 2 pineapple slices in each quadrant of the pizza, putting the halves together to look like a whole round, and lay the final slice in the center of the pizza. Slide the pizza into the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown and crispy, 8 to 12 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven and cut it into quarters, making sure that each quadrant contains a whole slice of pineapple. Drape one slice of speck onto each quadrant, finely snip the chive over the pizza, and serve.
Suggested Wine Pairing
Step 3
Gewürztraminer (Alto Adige)
