Chia pizza with Sichuan pineapple and tomato

Pineapple is my absolute favourite pizza topping! Here, I've boosted the base by adding chia seeds. And since there's no yeast, these are a quick way to DIY.

Credit: Born to Cook: Jack Stein Downunder

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 350 g plain flour
• 40 g chia seeds
• 2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 260 g warm water
• 10 g semolina (to dust trays)
• 300 g mozzarella

 For the sauce

• 15 g olive oil
• 120 g onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 400 g can diced tomatoes
• 5 g salt
• 2 g Vegemite

Spiced pineapple

• 200 g water
• 10 g fresh ginger
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• ½ tsp whole Sichuan pepper
• ½ tsp whole black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp sugar
• juice of half a lime
• ½ pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°C.

For the base, combine flour, chia, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl. Pour in the oil and warm water and mix together. Turn out the mixture onto a clean, floured surface and kneed until the dough forms (about 2 minutes). Use a floured rolling pin to make two 28cm circles from the dough. Dust pizza trays with semolina and place the dough on the tray, pinching the edges to form a crust.

Bake pizza bases for 12 minutes, or until they start to look dry.

Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat the olive oil and sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in the tomatoes, salt and Vegemite, and cook on medium heat until thick.

For the spiced pineapple, in a saucepan, bring the water, ginger, lemongrass, pepper, peppercorns and sugar to the boil, and simmer for 5 minutes before adding the lime juice. Pour over the pineapple and leave to cool.

Assemble the pizza on the cooked pizza base. Spread over the tomato sauce and mozzarella, finishing with well-drained pineapple chunks. Put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes, or until the cheese is golden.

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.