Apple tart pizza

Your classic apple tart: sliced apple, cinnamon sugar, apricot glaze…but with a twist – all on a sweet pizza base. Crispy, sweet, sharp and with a beautiful texture – wow!

When I cooked my first dessert pizza the response I received was amazing. I couldn’t believe the number of people who came back to me with their own experiences of pizza puddings or with crazy ideas for toppings. Ever since then I’ve been thinking of different puddings, refining ideas and discussing combinations with my wife, who happens to know far more than me about puddings and baking.

So when Marcus Bawdon asked me to write up a wood fired recipe for UK BBQ Mag, I immediately knew it was time to put our ideas for dessert pizzas to the test!

They couldn’t have gone any better – three different pizzas, one for the summer, one for the autumn and one to kindle the atmosphere of sitting in front of an open fire with a long skewer and a bag full of treats at your side.

Here’s my autumnal apple tart pizza recipe.

what you’ll need

Equipment: uuni 2S pizza oven. Pizza peel. Electric mixer (if you don’t want to knead by hand). Large frying pan. A small saucepan/metal measuring cup. Several bowls.

INGREDIENTS

sweet pizza dough: (makes 5 pizzas)

• 500g type ’00’ flour
• 320ml warm water
• 75g white sugar
• 9g dry yeast
• 20g butter

apple tart pizza: (per pizza)

• 3 braeburn apples, peeled, halved, cored and sliced.
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 25g butter
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 1/2 tbsp water
• icing sugar to serve

METHOD

sweet pizza dough: (make sure you have plenty of flour to hand to stop the dough from sticking)

1. In a bowl, mix the water, yeast and butter. To get the water to the right temperature, measure 220 ml of cold water and then another 100 ml of boiled water. That should bring the temperature to around 36°C. Be careful not to go too warm as that can kill the yeast.
2. In your mixing bowl, shift in the flour and sugar.
3. Place your mixing bowl in your mixer. I use our Artisan Kitchenaid. Turn the machine to level 3 and gradually add water. Once they’re mixed, time 4 minutes on the same setting. If you’re hand kneading, knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is stretchy and velvety.
4. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.
5. Hand knead for around 1 minute.
6. Cut your dough into 5 even sections. Shape into a ball and flatten slightly. Cover with cling film and a kitchen towel and leave to proof for 2 hours.
7. (If you want cold prove – highly recommended – use a little less yeast and prove in a fridge for 24-48 hours. Cold proving will add a great, deep flavour to the dough as it gives the yeast time to work with the sugars in the flour.
8. Once proved it’s time to stretch your dough into pizza bases.

apple tart pizza:

1. Throw your apple slices into a bowl and toss with the cinnamon and caster sugar.
2. Melt your butter in a large frying pan over a medium/high heat. Once it’s melted, add a single layer of apple slices and fry for 3 minutes on either side or until they begin to soften. Remove from the heat and repeat with the rest of the slices.
3. In a small pan over a gently heat, mix the apricot jam and water.
4. With your pizza base ready and on your peel, fan the apple slices and brush them with the apricot glaze.
5. Cook in the uuni, turning ever 20 seconds or so until the base is cooked.
6. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately.