Apple Strudel Pizza

The last time I said "dessert pizza" I was quickly chastised by my wife. "That's not a dessert pizza, it's just a rustic tart/pie. We'll make a REAL dessert pizza, then you'll see."

And so we did! Though it is sometimes uneven (I think the topping quantities are for 20" pies so I adjust down accordingly) the Pizza book has a chapter on dessert pizzas. These real pies start with an almost-normal dough recipe (honey, cinnamon and nutmeg are the only variations), the dough can be tossed (though the book categorically recommends rolling out all dough with a pin. I disagree wholeheartedly and ignore the book completely), it's topped with cheese (I did a cheddar/mozzerella blend)


and gets lovely bubbles in the crust like a normal pizza.



Apples, raisins, brown sugar and toasted walnuts complete the picture


And the result can be topped with ice cream or powdered sugar


(note: after the sorry pic on the left I decided to use a sifter for the powdered sugar. That slice looked much better!)

Now the book is not perfect; they had a weird scheme where you first cook it (dough with just cheese) on a perforated pizza screen, THEN transfer it to the pizza stone, THEN add the topping and cook some more. This was not only fussy it was over kill and lead to some charring of the crust on the edges. Now on a normal pizza charring on the crust is excellent. For dessert? Not so much. But this (along with the rolling vs. tossing issue and the toppings quantity issue mentioned before ) is really a minor quibble. The recipes here have some good 'bones'- you need to flesh them out with your own style and verve.