Halloween Ghost Pizza
Halloween Ghost Pizza is the ultimate in simplicity and taste. Its crisp crust is topped with a simple homemade pizza sauce, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. After one bite of this classic pizza, you'll never go back to store-bought pizza!
Equipment
- Food Processor
- 12-inch cast iron pan
- Ghost cookie cutters
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons (11 ounces, 312 grams) bread flour
- 1 ⅛ teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast (See Tip 1)
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon (0.5 ounces, 14 grams) olive oil
- ¾ cup (6 ounces, 177 ml) filtered water (See Tip 2)
Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- 16 ounces (2 8-ounce cans) tomato sauce
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon onion salt
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Ghosts for Pizza
- 6 slices (4 ounces, 113 grams) sliced Mozzarella cheese
- 1 Tablespoon sliced black olives
Halloween Ghost Pizza
- 8 ounces Pizza Dough, room temperature (See Tip 3)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons (0.75 ounces, 22 grams) olive oil
- ⅓ cup Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- ¼ cup (.75 ounces, 22 grams) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ cups (6 ounces, 170 grams) shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, for drizzling on cooked pizza
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Add bread flour, yeast, and salt to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse 5 times to combine. Add olive oil and water. Process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 seconds. Let rest for 2 minutes. Process an additional 30 seconds. Transfer to a lightly floured surface; knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place in a large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours. (See Tip 4) Yield: 1 pound of pizza dough - enough for two pizzas.
Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- Add all ingredients to the blender. Purée for 30 seconds, or until all ingredients are well combined. (See Tip 5) Yield: 2 ½ cups.
Ghosts for Pizza
- Trace an 11-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper. Flip to the other side. Set aside.
- Using ghost cookie cutters, cut out ghosts from sliced Mozzarella cheese. Position them on parchment as you want them to appear on the finished pizza. (See Tip 6)
- Cut out eyes and mouths from black olive slices and place them on the ghosts. Set aside until the pizza comes out of the oven. (See Tip 7)
Halloween Ghost Pizza
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Brush 1 ½ Tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a 12-inch cast-iron skillet; set aside.
- Divide the pizza dough in half (for 8 ounces). Press and roll one piece of dough into an 11-inch round. Transfer to a prepared cast-iron skillet; gently push it to the corners. Spread ⅓ cup super-simple pizza sauce over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border around the edge. Top with ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Set the skillet over medium heat and cook until the outside edge of the dough is set and the pizza is lightly puffed, about 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven; bake until the edge of the pizza is golden brown and the cheese is melted, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and place the ghosts on the hot pizza. (See Tip 8)
- Remove pizza from the cast-iron skillet. If desired, drizzle with olive oil and serve.
- Yield: 1 11-inch pizza (See Tip 9)
Video
Tips/Notes
- Instant or rapid-rise yeast (sometimes called bread machine yeast) does not need to bloom like active dry yeast. So you can add it directly to the other ingredients.
- I always use filtered water rather than tap water. Tap water contains chlorine that can inhibit yeast growth.
- The included recipe for pizza dough makes 16 ounces. You need 8 ounces for one ghost pizza.
- Alternatively, the pizza dough can be refrigerated for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours. If only making one pizza, refrigerate the remaining dough for another use.
- Super-Simple Pizza Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 1 month.
- I use a 3-½ inch ghost cookie cutter for the large ghosts and a 2-inch ghost cookie cutter for the small ghosts.
- I used a #7 round pastry tip to cut out the eyes for the small ghosts, and a #12 round pastry tip for the eyes for the large ghosts. I just used scraps of the black olives for the mouths.
- Through a lot of experimentation, I concluded that the best time to add the ghosts was when the pizza came out of the oven, but was still hot.
- If you don't want the hassle of making your own pizza, you can still make an adorable Ghost Pizza with a store-bought cheese pizza. Cut out the ghosts, eyes, and mouths as described. Bake the pizza according to the package directions. When it comes out of the oven, position the ghosts on the still-hot pizza.
Nutrition
Calories: 358kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 16gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 1441mgPotassium: 628mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 952IUVitamin C: 12mgCalcium: 310mgIron: 4mg
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