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Crispy Bar-style Tortilla Pizza

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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So there you go – pizza in under ten minutes. Far faster than frozen, and better (and SO much cheaper!) than takeout.

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9 comments on “Crispy Bar-style Tortilla Pizza

  1. Erin
    January 21, 2016 at 10:41 am

    This looks awesome, Thanks so much!!!! Do you think a corn tortilla could be substituted as well as vegetarian yeast for the cheese?

    • Julie
      January 22, 2016 at 10:24 am

      Vegetarian yeast instead of cheese?

  2. Lesley
    January 21, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    Nutritional yeast doesn’t melt. That takes all the fun and ooey goodness out of pizza.

  3. jake
    January 21, 2016 at 4:12 pm

    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

    • Julie
      January 22, 2016 at 10:23 am

      wow, that sounds divine!!

  4. Margaret
    January 22, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    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.

  5. Katie C.
    January 23, 2016 at 5:28 am

    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.

  6. Jim
    January 17, 2020 at 2:12 am

    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?

    • Julie
      January 21, 2020 at 1:13 pm

      Yes, the heat is on under the skillet on the stovetop!

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