The Tiktok Baked Feta Craze as a Pizza
Here’s a little riff on the insanely popular baked feta pasta trend that went around this past year. It’s perfect for those amazingly sweet summer cherry tomatoes that are just around the corner. This was baked in an Ooni Pro using wood as the fuel source. Part of the appeal with the baked feta craze was how easy it was. Throw it all in a pan, bake it, and mix it with the pasta. The pizza version requires a little more finessing but at the end of the day, it’s still remarkably simple. Video of the process below.
Ingredients:
Ripe cherry tomatoes
A block of feta cheese
Thyme
2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced
Basil for garnish
High quality olive oil
Salt to taste (the feta is already very salty, so this might not be necessary)
Your dough of choice (I’m using a naturally leavened 67% hydration overnight dough)
Directions:
In a heavy duty skillet (I like to use cast iron), arrange your tomatoes, feta cheese, garlic, herbs, and a generous pour of olive oil over the entire surface.
Heat your oven. I’m using a wood fired Ooni pro that I bring up to about 600F. If using a conventional oven, set it to 450F.
Bake the tomatoes and feta until the tomatoes begin to blister and their juices start to bubble out. The feta will begin to soften and slump down in the skillet. At higher temperatures (600F) this takes approximately 10 minutes. At a lower temperature this part may take about 20 minutes. If using a wood fire, be careful that the cheese does not become burnt on the top - adjust the fire accordingly.
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool down a little.
Shape your pizza dough and drizzle a light coating of olive oil in the middle.
Using a peel, slide the dough into your oven. My Ooni Pro was set to about 750F when the dough goes in. Bake for about 2 minutes, carefully rotating the dough with a turning peel so it gets evenly baked on all sides. The key here is that you only want to go half-way so you’ll remove it before you start to see blisters on the cornicione. If using a conventional oven at a lower setting (500F), this might take about 5 minutes.
Remove the dough and set onto a work surface. Spoon on a layer of the softened feta followed by spoonfuls of the blistered tomatoes. Finish it off with a spoonful of the amazing juice in the bottom of the pan. Return to the oven and cook until finished (another 1-2 minutes) when you have a perfected leoparded crust.
Garnish with some fresh basil and allow to cool. The cherry tomatoes retain their heat for a long time and you’ll be sorry if you take a bite too quickly. For me, the best part of this pizza is dunking the crust in the leftover juices in the pan - it’s pure heaven.
