Quick Pita Pizzas

Pita pizzas are a pretty kickass idea when you’re looking to make versatile pizza style snacks or appetisers fast.

These good looking crispy discs are perfect for times when:

* You don’t want to bake your own pizza crust.

* You want to experiment with toppings other than the ones offered by commercial pizza places.

* You don’t own things like a pizza stone, a pizza steel, a pizza peel or a cool kiln-like brick oven.

* Baking pizza on an upturned baking sheet hasn’t helped much because your oven doesn’t operate at the kind of furnace-like temperatures required to make a really awesome pizza crust.

* All of the above.

You can use any of your favourite pizza toppings to make these. The possibilities are endless and consider these 3 types of pita pizzas as guides and build your own favourites.

Use your favourite pizza sauce, mushrooms, olives, caramelised onions, feta cheese or anything your heart desires and that you like to top your pizzas with.

It is hard to give exact quantities for the ingredients here because it will all depend on the size of the pita breads you use and how generous or stingy you are with the toppings.

The pita breads I used to make these pita pizzas were roughly maybe 6″ in diameter so use that as a guide.

I used a homemade Parsley Walnut Pesto to top one of the pizzas. That is what I had in the fridge so that is what I used. The pesto recipe below is flexible; if you want to make a traditional pesto, use sweet basil and pine nuts.

I had roasted pumpkin pieces in the freezer so I defrosted some of those and added to one of the pizzas and topped it with some leftover baby spinach from a salad that I had made the previous evening.

The pita breads I’ve used here were purchased a few weeks before and had been sitting in my deep freezer. I put them to defrost on the kitchen counter while I got the pizza toppings ready.

I’m all about what’s available and making life easy. So work with what you have and what you like.

Also, these pita pizzas look best when they’re not perfectly prettified. The more rustic looking, the better, in my humble opinion.

It is ok to be generous when topping your pita pizzas but remember not to overload them with the toppings. It is pita bread after all, hence not as sturdy as thick crust pizza dough so keep that in mind.

 

QUICK PITA PIZZAS

 

Recipe Type: Starter & Snack    Author: Alice In Eatland

Prep Time: 10 Minutes    Cook Time: 10 Minutes    Total Time: 20 Minutes

Serves: 2 – 3

 

Crispy quick pita pizzas – easy, fast & fun to put together thanks to readymade pita breads & a myriad of topping possibilities – yum!

 

PIZZA MARGHERITA

INGREDIENTS

• Pita bread*
• Olive oil
• 4 – 6 canned whole peeled tomatoes, preferably Italian style
• Dried oregano
• Dried basil
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Mozzarella cheese, sliced into squares or rectangles
• Fresh sweet basil leaves

 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F.
2. Brush pita bread evenly with olive oil.
3. Cut or tear tomatoes roughly into quarters and drain as well as possible.
4. Add a good pinch each of oregano, basil, garlic powder and onion powder.
5. Pour in a teaspoon or so of olive oil, add salt & pepper to taste and toss lightly to combine, being careful not to break tomatoes.
6. Arrange seasoned tomatoes randomly all over the pita.
7. Top with squares or rectangles of sliced mozzarella.
8. Drizzle a little olive oil all over.
9. Place directly onto your oven’s wire rack.
10. Bake 10 minutes or until cheese is well melted.
11. Remove from oven, top with fresh sweet basil leaves.
12. Slice into wedges & serve.

 

PESTO & SUNDRIED TOMATO PIZZA

 

INGREDIENTS

• Pita bread*
• Olive oil
• Pesto, store / deli bought or homemade (recipe below)
• Mozzarella cheese, sliced into squares or rectangles
• Sundried tomatoes in oil, drained
• Fresh sweet basil leaves, chiffonaded

 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F.
2. Spread pita bread evenly with pesto leaving a 1/2″ – 1″ border.
3. Place mozzarella randomly over the top.
4. Top with sundried tomatoes.
5. Drizzle a bit of olive oil all over.
6. Place directly onto your oven’s wire rack.
7. Bake 5 – 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
8. Remove from oven, top with chiffonaded sweet basil, cut into wedges and serve.

 

BLUE CHEESE, ROASTED PUMPKIN & WALNUT PIZZA

 

INGREDIENTS

• Pita bread*
• Olive oil
• Mozzarella cheese, sliced into squares or rectangles
• Blue cheese, crumbled
• Roasted Pumpkin bits (recipe below)
• Walnuts
• Arugula / Rocket leaves or baby spinach

 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F.
2. Brush pita bread evenly with olive oil, leaving a 1/2″ – 1″ border.
3. Place mozzarella randomly on top & scatter blue cheese over it.
4. Place roasted pumpkin pieces on top and add walnuts.
5. Drizzle olive oil all over.
6. Place directly onto your oven’s wire rack.
7. Bake 5 – 10 minutes or until mozzarella has melted.
8. Remove from oven and top with fresh arugula/ rocket or baby spinach leaves.
9. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top of the leaves if wished.
10. Cut into wedges and serve.

 

PESTO 2 WAYS

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup fresh sweet basil leaves OR flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon pine nuts OR walnuts, ground
• 1 clove garlic, peeled & grated
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + extra
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt

 

METHOD

1. Put all ingredients together in a small blender or in the small bowl of a food processor.
2. Blend or process until combined and a thick paste forms.
3. If not using straight away, put in an airtight container and cover with a layer of extra virgin olive oil.
4. Store pesto airtight in the fridge for up to a week.

 

ROASTED PUMPKIN

 

INGREDIENTS

• Pumpkin, peeled & cut into 1″ pieces
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Dried herbs such as thyme, Italian herb mix, fines herbes, herbes de Provence etc (optional)

 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
2. Line a roasting tin or baking sheet with foil.
3. Add the pumpkin cubes and drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil.
4. Season with salt, pepper and herbs if using.
5. Give everything a good mix with your fingers so that the pumpkin in thoroughly coated with the oil and seasonings.
6. Bake 15 – 30 minutes, stirring pumpkin pieces halfway through baking or until fully cooked. Plus points if any light charring occurs in places.
7. Remove roasted pumpkin from oven and cool completely to room temperature.
8. Store airtight in the fridge up to 1 day and a few weeks in the freezer.

 

* You can use any type of pita bread to make these pita pizzas such as whole wheat, gluten free etc.

The ones I’ve used here are multi grain pita breads from La Patisserie.