Upside Down Pizzas ~ Ανάποδη Πίτσα

We all love pizza and we have eaten it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack. So much variety in toppings and doughs we are spoiled with choice! Of course it originates in Italy and according to Wikipedia ‘On 9 December 2009, the European Union, upon Italian request, granted Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG)  safeguard to traditional Neapolitan pizza, in particular to “Margherita” and “Marinara”. The European Union enacted a protected designation of origin system in the 1990s’. Moreover they are identifying 12 formal national variations of pizza.

When I thought I had seen it all my aunt introduced me to the upside down pizza. It’s an interesting variation and to be honest have no clue who thought about it or how and where it originated. In a bowl you start by layering all the ingredients of pizza in the reverse order than the usual pizza recipe. As a type it’s more filling and the dough is fluffier. Again toppings are a matter of personal choice.

For this recipe we need small ovenproof bowls. We have to bare in mind that each pizza is an individual serving so the size of each bowl has to accommodate one person. 

Ingredients:
For the pizza dough
400g strong flour
100g Tipo 00 flour
350ml lukewarm water
7g of dried yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano, basil, thyme

For the topping
15 slices of cheddar cheese (or cheese of our preference)
1 can of chopped tomatoes (or 5 tomatoes)
250g mushrooms
3 peppers
250g chicken or sausage
Salt, pepper and olive oil

We start by preparing the dough. In a bowl we mix the flour, herbs and salt and make a hole in the middle. In a cup we mix the lukewarm water and dried yeast with the sugar. It is important the water to be in the right temperature as if it is too hot the yeast will get burned and if it is not warm enough it will not rise. We can test that the water has the right temperature by putting our finger in it. Our finger has to tolerate the temperature of the water. We let it rise for a bit and then add the oil. We pour the liquids in the flour well and we starting working the dough. If necessary we can add more flour until we get a smooth and elastic dough. We keep it in the bowl, cover it with a napkin or kitchen towel and let it rise until it doubles in size.

While the dough is resting in a pan we saute the mushrooms, peppers and chicken sprinkling pepper and salt until all the ingredients get cooked. In another pan we prepare the tomato sauce. We grate the tomatoes and cook them with basil in an oiled pan until we get a sauce.

We cover the insides of the bowls with olive oil. We start layering the toppings of our pizza in the reverse order of a normal pizza. We cover the surface of the bowl with the cheese slices. We make sure there are no gaps as the cheese will prevent our pizzas from sticking to the bowls. The second layer is our meat topping and the third our tomato sauce. Once the dough has doubled in size we work it a bit more and we divide it in 8 smaller balls. Shaping each ball into a pizza base we use it to seal the bowls. Before we bake our pizzas in the oven we let them stand for a while until the dough rises a bit further.

We bake in a preheated oven at 250 C for about 20 minutes or until our dough has a golden colour.

To serve we turn our bowl upside down on a plate.

Good luck! I hope you enjoy it! 

Variation: For our topping we can use any ingredients we want.