Note
This really is a wonderful pizza to make, and also works well with a salsa verde or chimichurri. So, if you have your own salsa recipe that you swear by, then please go with what you know. This pizza is more about the combination of the salsa and the vegan oat creme fraiche. The flavours work so well. It’s a genuine joy to eat. Non-vegans can also swap these products out for dairy based creme fraiche or soured cream. The Tajin seasoning on the crusts is a MUST. If you can source it, it’s well worth the effort, and the oiled crusts come out beautiful and golden from your oven. As always, for the salsa, the freshest local ingredients are best.
For the salsa:
Heat up your Ooni Cast Iron Grizzler Pan or a large heavy based frying pan - either in your Ooni or on the hob, and add your whole tomatoes (leaving on to the side). Also add the chillies, and garlic to blacken their skins. Turn them regularly until large areas of their skins are nicely charred and blackened, this will add a whole load of extra flavour.
Once your veggies are nicely charred, take them out of the pan to cool, then add them to a food blender. Add a handful of chopped coriander and another of parsley, a crunch of black pepper, and then set your blender to pulse. You only want it to pulse your veg quickly so it's roughly blended. If you do it too much then your salsa will become too watery. Empty the contents of the blender to a small mixing bowl.
On a chopping board, finely slice one red onion and roughly chop the whole tomato you left out, then add these to the mixing bowl with the blended ingredients. Slice half a lime and squeeze it all into the salsa, then add any extra salt and extra chopped coriander to your preferred tastes.
Cover and place in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours. I like to make mine the night before so it's full of flavour the next day!
For the Dorito Dust:
1 x Bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos, blitzed in a blender until it resembles a fine dust. “Dorito Dust” to be sprinkled on post bake. Sounds silly, tastes great!
Ok, you’re now ready to make your pizza!
Fire up the Ooni oven and aim for a temperature of around 350°C-375°C on the baking stone. Use the infrared thermometer to quickly and accurately check the temperature of the middle of the stone.
For this pizza we will be blind baking our base (not adding any sauce or toppings!) and then topping with the salsa immediately post-bake.
Once you have stretched your dough out, use a dough docker, or a fork to press lots of tiny holes into the centre of your dough ball. This will stop the centre of the dough ball from puffing up during the bake.
Then add a drizzle of olive oil over the centre of the stretched out pizza and brush the crusts with olive oil and sprinkle the Tajin Mexican seasoning over the crusts. Now get your pizza onto the peel and launch it into the oven.
Cook for three to five minutes, using a peel to turn your pizza as necessary to get a nice even bake. Oiling these crusts and baking for longer at a lower temperature of around 350ºC will ensure you get a golden brown, light and crispy crust, which, with the added seasoning, tastes absolutely divine.
Once baked and removed from the oven, get your salsa and spoon it evenly in two diagonal stripes across your pizza, leaving a gap between each stripe, and then in that gap, spoon in your vegan creme fraiche. Once you are happy your pizza is topped to your liking, get a handful of your Dorito Dust and sprinkle it over the vegan creme fraiche, and then add another sprinkle of finely chopped coriander.
Slice, and serve. Repeat with the remaining pizzas.
Rich Payne
Rich works by day (sometimes nights and weekends!) as a Visual Effects Editor for a London based Studio, and when he’s not doing that, he’s making pizza. He has been an Ooni Ambassador for over 5 years now and loves the pizza life. He has his own pop-up which he runs with his daughters, does Supper Clubs, has worked in pizzerias in and around London, and also runs the social media for the newly opened Marta Pizzeria in Chelsea, London, specialising in Romana style pizza.
He’s always willing to help newcomers to the pizza scene, so if you ever
have any pizza related questions or need advice, you can always drop him a message on his instagram @dough_and_behold.