Matzo Pizza is gross. It’s usually a piece of matzo with sauce and cheese melted in a toaster oven and almost always becomes too soggy to pick up. Since I have been avoiding pizza all week in observance of Passover, I decided to experiment a bit. Armed with some all purpose flour and a dream, I set out on a voyage of culinary discovery.
I have said this a thousand times: I am not a pizza maker. But I’ve been reading so many books lately about dough and bread history that I just had to take a stab at this ancient flat bread. It’s really great for the impatient among us because you have to get your dough into the oven within 18 minutes of combining flour and water, after which time wild yeast may begin to feast on starch and ruin the whole setup by leavening your dough. I didn’t use kosher flour or anything, so my pizza wasn’t completely right for Passover consumption. Whatever.
First I lined my lowest oven rack with four six by six inch unglazed quarry tiles and preheated to 500 Fahrenheit, the max on my dial. After about 45 minutes, I combined a cup of flour with about a half cup of water and mixed for about five minutes. This gave me enough dough for four tiny matzos. First, I baked the cracker on one side before flipping it over and sticking it back in the oven with cheese and tomato added. The tiles lose a bit of heat so I had to rotate through different areas to stay on the hot spots. The pre-baked crust is probably the best of the bunch, but I had more experimentation ahead of me.
Next, I tried baking the whole thing together. This resulted in a slightly gummy center, but really wasn’t bad at all. Either way, the underside was nicely charred and the entire pizza held up pretty well.
I wouldn’t enjoy this kind of crust under normal circumstances, but it has been a week since my last slice and I’m starting to get the shakes. This video captures the testing phase of my final experiment, a matzo pizza baked on oven tiles with cheese and tomato layered on top.