Pizza Today - July 2024 - 30

how to match your platform, cheeses and
toppings with this lovely fruit. Here are
many ways to make fresh tomatoes in your
restaurant.
Slicing: Because tomatoes are very juicy,
you will sometimes need to tilt your cutting
board with a wet, folded kitchen towel
on a large sheet pan after you have sliced
them. This will enable the juices to escape
and thus ensure that the top of any pizza
will not be too watery. Sprinkling a small
amount of salt on the fruit will leach more
tomato water out also.
Skinning: Some tomatoes have very
thick skins that can burn on pizzas or curl
into a leathery annoyance. It is easy to cut
an X in the bottom of tomatoes and plunge
them into boiling water for just five seconds
or less for smaller ones, then plunge them
into an ice bath. Most skins come right off
this way. Once the skin is off, it is fair game
for smoking, coring and making tomato
concasse (the French term for small dice).
Oven Drying: A wonderful way to
increase the intensity of flavor is to quarter
tomatoes and toss with extra-virgin olive
oil and dried herbs. Do not use salt because
it will draw too much juice out. Place on
parchment in a 200 F to 250 F oven for
up to two hours depending upon the type
of tomato and how you wish to use them.
Sometimes the tomatoes can become too
leathery to use on any pizza, so a half-drying
bake is preferable.
Big Red Triple Tomato Pizza with
Pancetta and Brie
I have always loved tomatoes and cured
pork, the fresh sweet acidity is a great foil to
the salty, crisp and oily pancetta. The cream
sauce and just enough mozzarella for a good
pull lies under the pancetta. The fig leaf and
lemon in the tomato honey imparts a bright vanilla
and coconut nuance which embraces the
brie slice perfectly and the tomato crisps add
an exciting finale to each bite. This pizza is all
in the prep. Once that is done, it is incredibly
fast to make. Just make sure the pizza cools or
the brie will melt into butter.
For the Tomato Honey and Tomato
Crisps:
12 Small Toy tomatoes, (12 ounces total)
1-1.5 inches wide
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 fig leaves
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Cut a
shallow " X " into the bottom of each tomato.
Place a medium bowl with ice water near
the boiling water.
When the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes
in the water 5 at a time and boil them for
15 seconds each until pulling them and placing
them into the ice bath.
After a few minutes in the ice bath, take
each tomato out and pull the skin down the
side and remove. Gently place the skins on a
plate side by side by side.
Place all the tomatoes, the lemon zest,
salt, and the fig leaves into a small pot and
simmer while breaking up the tomatoes with
a wooden spoon. Simmer on medium until the
tomatoes start breaking down even more- 1215
minutes. Remove fig leaves.
Turn off heat and grind the tomatoes up
with an immersion blender.
Place a colander filled with a large square
of cheesecloth on it. Pour the now cooled
tomato mixture into it and let the juices flow
through. Brush with a wooden spoon to clear
any blockage. Finally, pull up each corner of
the cheese cloth and twist the top to force out
the rest of the juice. You should have a final
yield of ¾ cup to 1 cup.
Place the juice in another small sauté pan
and add the sugar.
Reduce the tomato juice on medium-low
heat and when the sugar has liquified, add ½
teaspoon of the lemon juice. Taste to see if the
lemon juice adds a bit of acidity to the sauce.
If you need more, add a spritz more.
Reduce the sauce by ¾ or until the sauce
coats the back of a spoon and has the viscosity
of honey. Remember that the sauce will
turn thicker as it cools.
For the Tomato Skin Crisps:
Pre-heat an oven to 190 F.
Using a small tray lined with parchment
paper, place the tomato skins gotten from the
tomato honey all about the tray.
Sprinkle a small amount of fennel pollen,
30 / PIZZATODAY.COM / JULY 2024
JOHN GUTEKANST owns Avalanche
Pizza in Athens, Ohio.
salt and fine paprika on the petal shaped
skins.
Dehydrate in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or
until the skin is crisp. Reserve for the pizza.
For the Bacon Tomato Pizza:
9 ounces proprietary pizza dough ball
2 tablespoons béchamel cream sauce
2.5 ounces shredded mozzarella
3 ounces Italian style pancetta, (4-5 rounds)
or 5 thin slices thin-cut bacon
1 Roma tomato, (1.8 ounce), cored with the
thick wall diced small, (3/4 cm)
5 thin slices of cold Brie cheese (approx. 3.5
-4 ounces)
2 tablespoons tomato honey, (see recipe
above)
15-20 crispy tomato skins
1 sprig of basil for garnish
Pre-heat a deck oven to 550 F.
Place the pancetta or bacon on a small
parchment lined tray to partially cook. If not,
the bacon will not cook enough on the pizza.
Cook for 3-4 minutes until it has leeched
some fat and is just starting to crisp up. Pull
the pancetta from the oven and reserve it for
the pizza.
Form a 12-inch pizza round from the dough
ball and spread the béchamel across the
pizza.
Spread the shredded mozzarella on top
Photo by Josh Keown
of the cream sauce then place the pancetta
around the pizza followed by the diced
tomato.
Bake the pizza in the oven for 5-6 minutes
until golden brown and crisp.
Remove pizza and place on a cooling
rack. Wait for 5 minutes then top the Brie in a
spoked wheel pattern starting from the center
to the crust.
Drizzle the tomato honey around the pizza
and on top of the Brie.
Place the crispy tomato skins around the
pizza like wings then place the basil bud in the
center.
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