Hawaiian Pizza
I gotta keep it real… I don’t like Hawaiian pizza at all. So I decided the only fair way to judge it was to make the best possible version and try to change my own mind. Every choice here exists to fix a specific way Hawaiian pizza usually goes wrong.
The pineapple gets vacuum-compressed, which pulls the air out of the flesh and collapses it so it turns dense and deeply flavored, then it gets seared hard in bacon fat, and that sear is what actually drives off the moisture and caramelizes it, so it lands jammy and deep instead of wet and one-note. There are two pork cuts pulling two different jobs: Canadian bacon for the hammy backbone (and a nod to the Greek-Canadian guy who caught the blame for all of this), and thick-cut bacon rendered for smoke, salt, and crunch, with the rendered fat carried through the whole pie as a savory throughline. Then it gets the funk of aged Parmigiano and Pecorino, and the acidity of a good tomato sauce, all pulling against the sweetness so the pie never tips into candy-territory.
Then for the dough which gets a long cold-ferment. The flour in the dough is cut with a little semola for chew and character and a touch of honey for color, because a great topping still needs a crust worth eating. Does it convert me? You’ll have to watch. But I can tell you it’s the first Hawaiian pizza I’ve ever wanted a second slice of.
The result is a regional classic worth knowing: a snappy frankfurter under a fine, almost saucy ground beef topping, spiced with warm notes you might expect in a dessert, then finished with raw onion and yellow mustard. It is cheap, fast, and deeply satisfying, and once you make the sauce from scratch you start to understand why people in Michigan have strong opinions about whose version is right. This homemade Detroit-style Coney sauce is simple enough for a weeknight and good enough to make a backyard cookout feel like an occasion.
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Hawaiian Pizza ingredients. Dough, sauce and all.
ADAM'S HAWAIIAN PIZZA (That's Also Greek, but Not Really)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Make the dough a day or two ahead. Mix the water and bread flour just until no dry flour remains, then cover and rest 20 to 30 minutes. That autolyse hydrates the flour and makes the dough easier to press out later. Mix in the sugar, yeast, and oil, then add the salt and work it until smooth and it passes the windowpane test. Divide into two balls, store in oiled, closed containers, and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days. No poolish, no babysitting, just let father time do the work. Pull them out 1 to 2 hours before you bake.
- Make the Greek sauce, and this one you cook. Sweat the grated onion in the olive oil until soft, add the garlic for a minute, then stir in the tomato paste and let it fry and darken for a couple of minutes. That caramelized paste is where the deep, cooked color and richness come from. Add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, sugar, salt, and pepper, plus a whisper of cinnamon and clove if you want the Detroit-Coney warmth. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes until thick and darkened, tasting as you go. You want background warmth, not a cinnamon bun.
- Render the thick-cut bacon slow in a cold pan until the fat is out but the meat is still bendy, about three-quarters done. Chop it and save the fat. Raw bacon never crisps on a pizza in time, so do not skip this.
- Cut the pineapple into half-inch rounds and punch out the tough core. If you have a vac sealer, compress the rounds: that pulls the air out and densifies the fruit so it is more concentrated and sears better. It does not dry it out. Sear the rounds hard in the reserved bacon fat until the faces caramelize. The sear is what drives off the moisture and kills the raw bite, so they land jammy instead of wet.
- Oil a pan or screen and press a dough ball out to fill it, then let it relax 15 to 20 minutes for a softer, taller crust. Spread on the sauce, then the mozzarella, then the bacon, ham, pineapple, and jalapenos. The ham goes on as is, no crisping, so it stays juicy. Bake at 475 to 500F for 12 to 16 minutes, until the bottom is crisp and the cheese is set, then run it under the broiler for a minute or two to blister the top.
- Out of the oven, grate over the Parmigiano, rest a couple of minutes, and slice.
Adam's Notes
- Greek-Canadian pizza is a cheese-forward, loaded style. Many shops pile on 12 to 16 oz of mozzarella per pie and bury the toppings underneath it. This build keeps it lighter with the toppings on top, but for the full Calgary-shop effect, double the cheese and put it on last, over everything.
- The warming spices are the Detroit-Coney wink. Greek and Macedonian immigrants brought that clove-and-cinnamon-tinged sauce tradition to Detroit and the Midwest, right across the river from Windsor, so it is not as random as it sounds. Keep it subtle or it takes over.
- Optional garlic-finger nod: brush the baked crust with garlic oil or garlic butter and a little oregano. Garlic fingers are themselves a Greek-Canadian invention out of the Maritimes, so it fits the theme.
- Two meats, two textures: the bacon is rendered for smoke and crunch, the ham stays soft and juicy. Do not crisp the ham or you lose that contrast.
- These pizzas are cooked in deck ovens “low and slow.” Which, in pizza talk, likely means somewhere around 400F for 25-30 minutes which is expected for a pan pizza of this thickness.
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