Have a pizza craving but not much time?
(We had pizza once while in Paris and I have to say I was not impressed. After a day of seeing so many museums, we were just too tired to track down one of our restaurants that we were going to try while there so we decided on pizza. It was a local place and it was just so-so.)
Do you ever have a pizza craving and don’t want to take the time to make a homemade crust? That is if you make homemade crust. Then, this recipe is for you, no using scissors to cut open that prepared pizza dough or crack that can on the counter to unroll some pizza dough but you simply open the thawed package of phyllo dough and you instantly have your crust and it is much better. This is definitely a light, thin and flaky/crispy type crust
When I first got married a good pizza to me was a Chef Boyardee pizza mix, a pound of hamburger meat and I actually tried to jazz up the crust by adding some Italian seasoning to the crust mix. Then one day, some years ago I decided to make my own crust and I never used that mix again.
What is a pizza anyway but a “crust” of some sort, rolled thin or not, slapped with some sauce or not and baked in the oven. French bread, pita, crescent rolls, naan…. anything can really make a crust for a pizza. The Greeks spread their pitas with oils and herbs and cheese — pizza. The Romans took a sheet of dough, topped with cheese and honey and bay leaves — pizza. A Calzone and stromboli are similar to pizza but the dough is rolled around the filling. In America we have deep dish, traditional, Chicago Style, California style, white pizza (no red sauce), thin/cracker crust and now this phyllo crust. Our toppings or unlimited. One I posted here a while back is a favorite now and that is a Shrimp and White Bean Pizza. Yummmm.
I remember when we lived in Ft. Madison, Iowa we had a Happy Joe’s Pizza Parlor. They had a taco pizza which was a regular hamburger or sausage pizza and when it came out of the oven they covered it with shredded lettuce and tomato and served it with taco sauce and it was delicious. It’s been over 20 years since I have had that pizza and I may try it again soon.
I made this pizza to take to a friend’s house one night. She was making spaghetti and meatballs and I had planned to make this for the blog that day so I took it to her house as an appetizer. It was perfect; a light crispy crust, fresh tomatoes and feta and it made a perfect first course to her spaghetti. It would also make a nice lunch with a salad. I’m anxious to try out different toppings using this phyllo crust.
What simple ingredients for such a delicious pizza.
Chop the garlic and oregano together.
Cut tomatoes in half. I put them cut side down on some paper towels to drain for a few minutes.
Stack 6-8 sheets of phyllo dough, spraying with either olive oil or vegetable oil spray between each layer. If you want, you can sprinkle a little parmesan between each layer. I would not salt any of the ingredients. My second try on the pizza I got it a little too salty. Not sure if it was the additional parmesan cheese or if I salted the top.
Top with tomatoes, cut side up and sprinkle with green onions (or anything other ingredients).
Nice brown, crisp crust.
Tomato Phyllo Pizzas
Ingredients
- Phyllo dough thawed
- Cooking spray olive oil flavor
- 2 c. assorted colors of cherry/grape tomatoes
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 c. feta cheese
- 1 Tbsp. fresh oregano chopped
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 c. mozzarella
- 1/4 c. parmesan cheese
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425°.
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Combine the mozzarella, feta and Parmesan cheese. Toss together and add the garlic, the oregano, basil, salt and pepper.
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Line the cookie sheet with a piece of parchment. Spray olive oil onto surface of parchment paper. Lay two sheets of phyllo on the pan, spray the top of phyllo lightly with oil and top with another sheet of phyllo and spray this one also. Repeat until you have used 6-8 sheets of phyllo dough. If you are using the phyllo that comes in two packages and you want a larger pizza you can overlap the sheets of dough until you have filled the pan. Try to overlap the seams and stagger the seams between the layers.
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Spread the cheese mixture over the phyllo, leaving about 3/4" border of phyllo with no cheese. Reserve about 1/2-3/4 cup of this mixture for top of pizza.
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Top the cheese mixture with the cut tomatoes, cut side up. Dot with some of the reserved cheese mixture and add some fresh basil if you have it. Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese
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Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until pizza looks cooked and cheeses have browned on top.
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*Note: Black olives can be added or just about any vegetable you want. I had some leftover sautéed asparagus and mushroom from the Mushroom and Asparagus tart I posted awhile back and tried that along with the tomatoes on a second pizza tart.
I had some leftover asparagus and mushrooms from my Asparagus and Mushroom tart so I added them to half of the tomato pizza. Good decision.
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