I have to be honest… I don’t believe in bad pizza. It doesn’t exist. Where there is bread and melted cheese, sometimes sausage and olive, sometimes pepperoni and pineapple… there is some dang good pizza.
Frozen, warmed-over, school-lunch, cold from the fridge, so hot all the cheese slides off, any which way… it’s pizza and it’s delicious.
I have high standards when it comes to wine and chocolate chip cookies. Low standards when it comes to pizza and reality television.
Let’s do this.
Party.
Pizza party.
PS. It’s exciting that it’s Hatch Chile Pepper season again. These special peppers from New Mexico are just the right spicy. Last year we made Roasted Tomato and Hatch Chile Salsa. That was juuuust fine.
First let’s talk about pizza dough! It’s easy to make. So so easy!
I used White Whole Wheat flour for this dough although this is a versatile dough that can handle bread flour and all-purpose flour as well.
The dough comes together very easily. Bowl and spoon. No need to knead! The dough can rise at room temperature for about an hour, or can go into the fridge for an all-day slow rise. It’s super versatile. That means, no excuses… sorry.
My smoke detector is questionably close to my gas stovetop and does not at all enjoy when I char things like hatch chiles or corn on the cob. It thinks I’m trying to burn the house down. Where’s the trust!?
I charred these chiles over the open flame of my gas stovetop. This can also be done in a broiler, probably to the relief of my smoke detector.
Once charred on all asides, I allow the peppers to rest and steam up (from the residual heat of charring) in a ziplock type plastic bag. Then the skin can be easily scraped from the peppers.
When chopping the peppers, remove some or none of the seeds. It’s up to you. These peppers are pretty spicy. Medium spice. High-medium.
I divided the dough into quarters, creating four smallish pizzas. Four small or two large. Choose your own adventure.
Pizza sauce.
More is more.
Our charred and mostly peeled chili peppers meet up with salty pepperoni and super fresh pineapple.
Sweet, savory, and spicy. There are no accidents.
This crust, extra cheese, fruit and spicy peppers. It’s pizza. There is nothing you can do wrong. Nothing at all.
PrintPepperoni Pineapple and Hatch Chile Pizza
Ingredients
- For the Crust
- 3 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour (all-purpose and bread flour are also great!)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus lots more for the pan
For the Pizza
- 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 hatch chilis, roasted, peeled, and coarsely chopped
- pepperoni slices
- sliced fresh pineapple
- red pepper flakes, for topping
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add warm water and olive oil all at once. Using a wooden spoon, work the mixture together until fully incorporated. If necessary ditch the spoon and work the mixture together with your hands. The dough will be slightly shaggy.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Let rise at room temperature for 2 hours or covered in the refrigerator for 8 hours.
- After resting, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide in quarters or half. If you’re only going to make one pizza, wrap the second piece of dough in plastic wrap, place in a ziplock bag, and place in the freezer. Defrost dough in the fridge overnight and allow to come to room temperature before pressing out into the pizza crust.
- Working with one dough at a time, liberally oil a 13×18-inch rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Place the rounded dough on the pan and stretch and press the dough out into thin circles. If the dough springs bag as you’re pressing it out, simply wait five minutes to allow the dough to rest and then try again. The dough should be very thin. If the dough tears, don’t worry, just press it back together.
- I used two rimmed baking sheets to make four small pizzas. Top pizzas with as much sauce, cheese, and toppings as you’d like.
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 450degrees F.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are charred and bubbling. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool for a few moments then slice and top with crushed red pepper flakes.
- Serve immediately.
Renee @ Tortillas and Honey
Pepperoni and green chile pizza is a staple here in New Mexico! It’s our favorite pizza! Nice twist with the pineapple!
Emily
Joy,
I’m always the oddball who eats pineapple on pizza (though not the hawaiian kind – ham is not my friend), yet I never thought to put peppers on there to level out the sweetness. I really dig the idea. As fate would have it, I am making cauliflower pizza tonight. I think some peppers and turkey pepperoni will need to make an appearance on this one.
I’ve read a lot of positive notes in your blog about New Orleans. I am visiting there next month – any travel tips I can pick up?
Hailey
Oh my! We made this last night and the toppings were the most incredible combination. One of the best pizzas of my life. The only changes we made were 1) buying a ball of pizza dough from a pizza shop and then we GRILLED the dough and the pizza (it’s our favorite way to make pizza) browning the top by finishing it off in the broiler.
My boyfriend and I moved from SW Colorado to Portland, OR this year and were so surprised (to our delight) to find fresh and pre-roasted hatch at Whole Foods. We thought we’d never find hatch chile in the PNW. Thanks for a great recipe!
Margaret
Are the pizzas baked in the oil (as per the picture)? I have never seen that before; I have always used a stone. The pizza looks delicious. I just want to make sure about that step. Thanks.
Margaret
Did you bake the pizzas in all of that oil? Or did you transfer the pizza to another pan? I have never seen pizza baked in a pool of oil; I have usually used a stone. The slices really look delicious!
joythebaker
You can use your stone if that works better for you.
Deborah @ The Harvest Kitchen
Awesome looking pizza! Really great combo of flavors!!
bobbydotube
Oh baby sweet and spicy is the way for me! I could eat the whole pie!!
Bhiravi
Not gonna lie, I can be kind of a pizza snob sometimes. But this post reminded me of how much I love pineapple and jalapeño pepper pizza on deliciously soft, doughy crust. From pretty much and pizza place in town… Even better if they deliver.
This recipe looks like a way tastier, thoughtfully done version of my favorite guilty pleasure pizza. I can’t wait to make this’
Trina
Yes! I stayed at a cottage by the coast this summer and the smoke detector was so sensitive that whenever we cooked anything, someone had to stand next to it with a pillow, ready to wave the smoke away! That pizza looks amazing, though! Sweet, savory, and spicy! Genius!
BTW, when is the Joy the Baker podcast coming back?
Christina Soong
You’re so right that there’s no such thing as bad pizza….even the cheap greasy stuff is satisfying in its own way.
Kathryn @ The Scratch Artist
Hatch green chiles take me back to my college years at the University of New Mexico, which also coincided with pizza once a day (at least). Great flavor combinations. And I agree, no such thing as bad pizza.
Sharon
Sounds like a really great pizza, though I wonder about the pineapple.
The habit of siting smoke detectors too near kitchen appliances is one reason some (dumb) people take the batteries out. Then they get house fires. It would be more sensible to move the smoke detector away from the cooker but still keep it in the kitchen!
On caravan holidays we notice smoke detectors going off as people try to cook meals, and that’s without burning anything – which is in itself quite an achievement on a caravan stove! Heck, I’ve even set caravan smoke alarms off myself. Eventually we sort out which windows to open to keep the air moving away from the detector. All the same, all those smoke detectors crying ‘wolf!’ can’t be a good thing, can they?
Aimee Wimbush-Bourque
Bloody hell yes!