Pizza - Hawaiian Pizza - Canadian Bacon and Pineapple

If it's Monday, it must be the PIZZA 2011 PROJECT!

OK... Today we are going to play a game...  Today's pizza is a form of product placement.  You have to squint your eyes, make a few assumptions (like colors are not as important as shapes) and you may get it.


Long time readers will know that tomorrow I had planned to be announcing my new business.  I am in the final stages of testing.  I have about 95% working perfect, but the remaining 5% is very important.  Chances are we are not going to go live tomorrow, with the opening delayed for a week.  But, I promise tomorrow I will show off what I have planned.  If the stars are in alignment, I am hoping you will be excited with just the preliminaries.


Almost as much fun as opening on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) is the idea of going live on the Ides of March... What's the worst that can happen.


But I digress...


Look close, ponder my blog and what I try to do (ignore the colors) and the answer will jump out at you.  First to make a reasonably close guess to what I mean by product placement will get an extra 10 points added to their score.


Here's a hint... Here's a close up of the cut Canadian bacon slices before cooking.

OK, one more product placement comment...  And it is not even digressing, as it has to do with Hawaii.


My very clever and observant wife is a HUGE fan of the new Hawaii 5-0 TV series.  A few weeks ago she noticed that the bad guys are ALWAYS driving Fords.  The heroes of the series are always driving a General Motors car.  Been watching for several weeks, and it is absolutely true.  Take a look.


OK, back to the pizza.  Hawaiian pizza is in fact NOT from Hawaii.  It is the most popular pizza in Australia. It probably originated in Germany with pork sausage (almost ham) and pineapple.  True Canadian bacon and pineapple pizzas, called Hawaiian pizza originated in Ontario Canada.


Who knew???


Our house is divided on this one.  Personally, it falls in the OK category.  If it was up to me, I would probably never make this again.  BUT... Jackie LOVED it.  The roasted pineapple on top caramelized a bit.  The pineapple under the cheese was still very nicely sweet and moist.  Because I was smart and layered cheese between the pineapple and crust, the crust came out very crunchy, exactly as you want.


So, as we all know, if mama ain't happy, ain't no body happy, it looks like Hawaiian pizza is on my permanent to be made again soon list.

OK, here's what I did...


For the crust, I used  My "go-to" pizza dough recipe

For the  sauce, I used my "Gussied Up" Tomato Sauce Recipe.


I used about half of the pineapple two slives and the rest finely chopped and liquid squeezed out.
6 ounces of Canadian bacon.  I trimmed the slices to resemble a H***E, and diced the remains small like the size of the diced bacon.


8 ounces of Cappiello Scamorza cheese (Mozzarella with a bit of provolone mixed in) Sliced VERY thin, we are going to do two layers of cheese


Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

• Preheat oven and pizza stone (or heavy baking sheet) to 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes.
• Roll your crust out on parchment paper to your likeness... Thin, Chewy or thick like a bread.
• Brush Olive oil around the edges to get a beautiful Golden Brown and Delicious looking crust.
• Salt and pepper the crust at this time
• layer slices of thin slices of cheese
• layer the "Gussied up" sauce
• layer the Canadian Bacon pieces and then the pineapple pieces on the ham (the cheese and ham will help the pineapple to NOT get the crust mushy)
• layer more cheese
• Arrange the pineapple slices on the cheese to look like ... product placement
• Layer the Canadian bacon slices to resemble a ... product placement
• Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cheese starts to get that baked color.

Here are a few photos to help  you get the idea (and maybe give you a better look to earn those extra 10 points...

OK, see you tomorrow for the big announcement...