Pancetta pizzettas

Matthew Evans’ pancetta pizzettas are a quick and delicious snack. For crispy dough, use the grill part of a covered barbecue or cook on a pizza stone in the oven.

• makes

  8

• prep

  4:30 hours

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 250 ml (1 cup) passata (see Note) (sieved puréed tomatoes) 
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed 
• a few basil leaves, finely chopped 
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra, to brush and grease 
• 1 quantity pizza dough
• plain flour, to dust 
• 24 sage leaves 
• 16 thin slices pancetta

Instructions

Preheat oven to 230°C or as hot as you can get it. Place passata, garlic, basil and olive oil in a saucepan over low heat for 10 minutes or until warmed through. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water so it’s thin enough to spread easily. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide pizza dough into 8, then, using your hands, shape and flatten dough on a lightly dusted work surface to make 15 cm rounds. Place dough on 2 greased oven trays, brush with a little olive oil and smear over passata. Tear sage leaves and scatter over.

Bake pizzettas on the top shelf of the oven for 5 minutes, swapping trays halfway, or until browned on top and crisp on the base (the cooking time will depend on how hot your oven is). Top with pancetta to serve.

Note 
• You can substitute slightly watered down puréed canned tomatoes for the passata.

Photography by Alan Benson.

As seen in Feast magazine, October 2011, Issue 2. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.