Pizza Recipe: Pan Fried Pizza, Perfect for Leftover Dough

A few weeks ago I made some cold-fermented pizza dough. The recipe I used resulted in more dough than I could handle which meant I had to move it fast. It was like I was the leader of a pizza cartel that was trafficking dough. Could I get rid of the dough before the next shipment came in? What if we had a rat inside the kitchen? I couldn’t risk being caught, so I got rid of the evidence by pan frying some pizza. 

Pizza is such a simple creation. As long as you have crispy dough, red sauce, and a bit of gooey cheese not much else matters. Pizzas are built on that crust which means it’s under a fair amount of scrutiny. If the crust holds up the pizza is passable. When you make fried pizza dough, it’s betting hard on that concept. The crust will be so crispy and piping hot that you’ll forget that the sauce is room temperature and the cheese dotting the surface has yet to bubble. 

Getting Started

You’ll need some dough. It can be refrigerated, but I let it sit at room temperature for an hour. Before you’re ready to toss the dough to its death, heat a pan up and coat it with a bit of olive oil. Too much results in quite the miss. Oil start slipping and sliding, panic sets in, and before you know you start a grease fire in your kitchen. Not that that’s ever happened in my kitchen.

The dough should sit in the pan for only a few minutes. It’ll puff up like a whoopee cushion almost instantly. There’s some science that explains this (the reaction of yeast and hot oil?) but I have no idea why it happens. One of the many mysteries of pizza. 

After two-three minutes you can flip your dough and reveal the crisp bottom layer. It looks like it’s been in a brick over for a few minutes when in actuality it’s been drowning face-first in some hot oil! While it’s sitting in the pan, it’s time to add your toppings. I keep it light since there’s not a lot of heat on that surface. Unless you’re okay putting raw ingredients in your stomach, I’d stick with just the sauce and cheese. 

A few sizzling minutes later and your pizza is complete. 

Some may scoff at the combination of slighty-cold ingredients on the roof of the pizza, but I disagree. I’m a fan of the juxtaposition. Makes my tastebuds feel alive. Plus, it’s refreshing to be able to eat pizza without instantly destroying the roof of my mouth thanks to difficult-to-chew cheese.