Crispy Bar-style Tortilla Pizza
This! I ate it all.
To be honest, I didn’t really have a clue what bar-style pizza was until I happened to see a tweet from Serious Eats, and I happened to be starving, and the tweet happened to have an embedded photo of an ultra thin-crusted, cheesy, crispy-edged pizza in it. So I deduced that a bar-style pizza was more appy-sized, with thin, small wedges that were more convenient to eat with a pint. Thin enough to maybe fold in half, like people do in movies set in New York.
I thought I had a handle on pizza – I have my go-to crust recipe that I know by heart and like to make a day ahead to give the dough a chance to develop some flavour. I occasionally swap in a batch of chewy no-knead bread dough. I toss it on the grill sometimes, and I know the cast iron pan trick, and I’m down with pita pizzas – a staple of our childhood birthday parties. It never occurred to me to venture beyond the realm of my existing pizza knowledge – or to use a flour tortilla, which is far too thin and floppy. Right? Nope. Look at that edge! The secret: cast iron.
Serious Eats has a detailed recipe, and the Food Lab thoroughly walks you through the science of it, but I think with a pizza you can freestyle the toppings – it’s the tortilla + technique that’s so worth sharing.
So here’s the gist: set a cast iron skillet on the stovetop while you turn on the broiler. Add a drizzle of oil and wipe it around with a paper towel – I didn’t even bother with the paper towel, just swirled a bit around in a well-seasoned pan. Flop in a flour tortilla – they specify which side to put down, but I couldn’t tell a difference (there’s yet another post out there that illustrates it, but now I can’t find it) and spread on some sauce, going right to the edges. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella and Parmesan (again – right to the edges!) and whatever toppings you like – I happened to have some mushrooms sautéing in another pan for soup, so tossed a few on.
By now the bottom should be golden and crisp, and you can slide it under the broiler for a minute or two to melt the cheese. (And if your oven happens to already be on, that works too – no need to switch it to broil.) The resulting pizza has a perfectly crisp, cheesy edge and no soggy bottom – it will fold, but not flop. The bottom is toasty and structurally sound.
So there you go – pizza in under ten minutes. Far faster than frozen, and better (and SO much cheaper!) than takeout.
This looks awesome, Thanks so much!!!! Do you think a corn tortilla could be substituted as well as vegetarian yeast for the cheese?
Vegetarian yeast instead of cheese?
Nutritional yeast doesn’t melt. That takes all the fun and ooey goodness out of pizza.
The Village Cantina (pre Salt & Pepper) in Inglewood used to have an amazing California pizza – a double layer of flour tortillas, basil pesto, parmesan, huge prawns, and artichoke hearts, lemon wedges on the side. I could not order anything else from the menu, because I had to have this, often. The texture of crispy, oily, cheesy tortillas is the best.
Thnx for the inspiration – I’m sure could make a homemade version.
Jake
wow, that sounds divine!!
Couldn’t wait to make this as I had a pkg. of Corn Tortillas in the fridge.
Made two different ones for lunch today, using my good old cast-iron fry pan.
First one was spread with warmed cream cheese, thinly sliced cucumbers, and thinly smoked salmon, sprinkled with shredded gouda, dill and pepper. The other one was a good old regular pizza with sauce/meat/mushrooms/oregano, and mozza cheese. So easy and tasty!
Thanks for that Julie.
I tried this last night since we were sort of having leftovers. I had one lonely tortilla. It turned out great and easy. I put some leftover roasted broccoli on top which sounds odd but tasted good.
Sorry for the dumb question but is the heat on under the skillet? Or just the oven is on? I if only the oven is on, how does the tortilla get crispy?
Yes, the heat is on under the skillet on the stovetop!