The Nutella pizza ring
If those words haven’t got your mouth drooling just yet, then you may want to take a look at the video for this deliciously naughty pizza, well is it more of a calzone? Pizza ring. Yep, lets stick with a Nutella and ricotta pizza ring with bashed toasted hazlenuts both inside and out!
We make a salty pizza dough base, with the perfect contrast of Nutella and ricotta to balance it out for good measure and it is phenomenal I promise! Inspired by one of my favourite London food joints, the Pizza Pilgrims, who themselves discovered this in Italy I believe, this is my best attempt at a homemade version if you can’t quite make it to London or Italy.
How to make this nutella pizza masterpiece….
First up make the pizza dough, if you have a preferred recipe for that, go ahead and use that, alternatively this will do just fine, ideally leaving it to prove overnight for maximum flavour.
Pour the flour into a large bowl and add in all of the water except 3 tablespoons. In a separate bowl add the remaining 3 tablespoons of water to the yeast and leave to one side for the moment. Work the dough together with one hand ideally, keeping the other one clean, to form a very rough dough ball, with it all together add in the salt and the yeast mixture and knead through.
You’ll want to knead for a very long time here, getting extra standard flour on a work surface and really working that dough until lovely and smooth. Portion the dough into 4 pieces and place in mixing bowls with a little drop of olive oil, ensure there is enough room so it can expand. Cover each bowl with cling film or a cloth. Leave to prove ideally overnight, but if you are in a hurry until it has doubled in size. You’ll find that in each bowl, the proved dough amount will be enough for 2 pizza rings so all in all this mix will make 8 rings if you wish to make that many!
While the dough is proving, pour some blanched hazelnuts into a pan, over a medium flame keep them moving to toast them, they catch pretty quick so be careful! Once nice and charred remove from the heat, allow to cool, then bash using a rolling pin in a sealed bag. These add a really lovely flavour both inside the pizza ring and on the outside to finish. Warm your Nutella in the microwave for 30 seconds ensuring that you remove the gold foil under the lid, or your microwave will not like that – basically don’t put it in there ok. The Nutella should be warmed and fluid, and look gorgeous!
Roll out your dough or shape with your hands into a long wide, yet thin piece of dough. Dab ricotta all along the middle of it, a real nice strip down the middle leaving a small gap at either end. Drizzle on some Nutella all over, then some bashed hazelnuts, leaving a few for garnishing and fold the dough over on itself encasing the Nutella and cheese in side. Crimp together to seal, as I type this I am definitely thinking this is more of a calzone, but to make it a ring shape turn it in together and open one end, tucking one end inside the other, crimping together.
Cook on a pizza stone as you would any other pizza either indoors or outdoors, until lovely and charred. Failing that you can try making it in a frying pan, like this frying pan pizza video recipe or even by getting your oven as warm as possible with a baking tray in there, and then putting the pizza ring on the tray (this will act as a makeshift pizza stone) baking until charred also.
Once done serve up with a fresh drizzle of Nutella all over and bashed toasted hazlenuts, it is super delicious indeedy and the best I can do for a homemade alternative, it didn’t last long, try it!