No Oven Pizza Hack

Not very many people have access to a pizza oven or outdoor barbecue, but surprisingly a lot of small units these days don't actually have an oven at all. I've used this hack to create quick pizzas for myself without having to use my big oven, but realised this could be helpful to a lot of other people who don't have an oven at all.

Bear in mind you will not end up with a traditional crispy burn-y base you would get using a normal pizza oven or pizza stone, but you will end up with a great quick pizza without using an oven.

The key star of this hack is the humble ~Sandwich Press~

This is a basic pizza dough recipe that you can whip together the day or a keep in the fridge for a few days until you actually would like to make a pizza. In fact the longer you keep it in the fridge (within reason) the better the dough will taste as the little yeasty guys in the dough ferment and create a stronger tasting pizza base. You will need:

• 2 tsps. (7 g sachet) dried yeast
• 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water (35 to 40 degrees Celsius)
• 2 2/3 cups (400 g) plain flour, plus extra to dust
• 2 tsps. salt
• 2 tsps. sugar
• 3 tbsps. (1/4 cup) oil
• Pizza Toppings

• Sandwich press/ grill
• Kitchen Scales
• Mixing Bowl
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cutting Board
• Egg Flipper

Using your scale weigh out your flour and salt and set aside.

In another container measure out your water, oil, and sugar, then heat to 35-40 degrees Celsius. If your water is too hot it will kill your yeast and if it is too cold your yeast won't activate properly. Add your yeast to the heated water and wait ten minutes for it to Bloom. You'll be able to tell if the yeast is working because it will become foamy looking on the surface. Use this time to clean your measuring stuff and the kitchen counter.

Tip: Do Not add the oil into the flour mix because you will end up with weird lumpy bits that do not mix into the dough properly.

Mix the wet and the dry ingredients with a fork until everything comes together and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for a minute or two. Let the dough rest for a minute or two and then knead again, and the work the dough into a ball. Put a little oil to your mixing bowl and add the dough ball, cover and rest in the fridge overnight.

Your dough will have risen overnight and doubled in size. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead for a moment, and divide into three or four balls.

Turn your Sandwich Press on and allow it to heat up

Press and shape your dough into a circle, and then transfer onto a floured cutting board. You'll use the board to slide your assembled pizza onto the sandwich press.

Now comes the easy part- add whatever toppings you want. (Keep in mind that some uncooked toppings- like bacon- may not fully cook before the base does, so you might want to precook your toppings).

Add a little oil onto the base of the sandwich press, and using the cutting board slide your pizza gentle onto the base. Rearrange if things have become a little wonky. Close the lid until the top plate is a few centimetres above the top of the pizza and allow it to cook for 5 minutes- my press has a toast setting on the side that props the lid up. Use this time to clean the things you have used.

Check the top of the pizza often and lift the lid for a while if the top of the pizza looks like it is cooking too fast. Let the pizza cook for up to 15 minutes and check the base until you reach crispy perfection. Remove the pizza using the flat egg flipper and slide the pizza back onto your cutting board. Cut and serve.

Enjoy!

By the way: I split one of my dough balls into three and used the sandwich press to make English Muffins.