What a delight to discover Piñón Pizza during my stay last year on the island of Puerto Rico. Piñón is a Plantain Meat Pie prepared with layers of fried ripe plantains, ground beef, string beans, and beaten eggs. When I was living in Puerto Rico in the 1970’s, this dish was traditionally prepared in a skillet and cooked on top of the stove. However, today we mainly bake this dish.
When I visited a restaurant in Humacao, Puerto Rico, they had several pizzas listed on their menu. One particular pizza caught my attention – Piñón Pizza. When I looked at the description, the main ingredients for preparing our Piñón was listed as their pizza toppings. I ordered the Piñón Pizza out of curiosity. It was so delicious that I decided to create my own version of this pizza with some changes.
Activating the Yeast!
Heat water to reach a temperature between 100 to 110°F. Check the water temperature with a digital thermometer.
In a small bowl, pour the water along with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. The sugar will provide the energy the yeast needs for the dough to rise.
Add 1 packet of instant yeast and stir well. Cover bowl with a dish towel and place in oven to proof for 10 minutes or until it becomes foamy.
NOTE: If you don’t have an oven proofer, then just find a spot in your kitchen with a consistent warm temperature from 75 to 80°F.
The yeast mixture appears to be foamy on top (known as bubbly active yeast) after 10 minutes of proofing.
Gradually pour 1½ tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and gently stir.
Making the Dough for the Piñón Pizza!
In a bowl, add 2½ cups of bread flour along with 1 teaspoon of lite salt. Mix the ingredients with a whisk and set aside.
We are going to mix the dough, using the lowest setting. For this stand mixer, it is the first notch.
In the mixing bowl, add the bread flour mixture and pour the yeast mixture. Stir the ingredients, using the lowest setting. The dough will be ready when there is little or no dough at the bottom or sides of mixer.
The dough is mainly concentrated on the dough hook with very little or no dough in mixing bowl. We just finished making our dough.
Place dough on top of kitchen counter that has been lightly sprinkled with bread flour. Shape dough into a ball. The dough is round and has a smooth surface.
I coated the bowl with olive oil before placing dough in bowl. You can also lightly brush olive oil on top of dough. Cover bowl with a dish towel, and place in the oven to proof the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The dough should double in size.
Cooking the Ground Turkey!
In a 10-inch skillet, add the following ingredients: 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of sofrito made with culantro and 3 minced garlic cloves.
Click on the links to learn How to Prepare a Large Batch of Sofrito and/or How to Make Sofrito for a Single Meal.
Continue with ¼ cup of chopped onions, 3 sprigs of chopped cilantro and 1 teaspoon of lite salt or to taste.
Stir all the ingredients until well blended and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes medium heat.
We can now add 1 pound of ground turkey and stir until it is completely coated with the condiments. Cover skillet with lid and cook over medium-low heat for approximately 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes of cooking, stir the meat. Since we want the meat to remain in chunks (similar to Italian sausage), limit the frequency of stirring the ground turkey. If you stir the meat too much, then it will have a minced texture, which is what we want to avoid. Cover skillet with lid and continue cooking for approximately 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The meat mixture is done after 25 minutes of cooking. You can also see the chunks of meat in the skillet. The meat mixture is ready. Place in a bowl and set aside.
Sautéing the Ripe Plantain!
This is a ripe plantain. The flesh is slightly firm with yellow skin color that has several dark spots. The plantain is a member of the banana family but is much thicker and starchier than the familiar banana.
With a sharp knife, cut off both ends and make a slit lengthwise barely touching the flesh from top to bottom.
Peel the plantain.
Cut the plantain into ½-inch diagonal slices. One plantain will yield 5 to 8 slices, depending on the size of the plantain.
Melt 1 tablespoon of olive oil margarine into a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Place the plantain slices and sauté until they have a golden-brown color on both sides.
After sautéing for a total of 15 minutes, they are golden brown on both sides. Remove the slices of plantain from skillet and place on a cutting board.
Since the cooked plantain slices will be used as one of our toppings, cut them into smaller pieces with a sharp knife.
Place the cooked plantain chunks into a bowl and set aside.
Preparing the Other Pizza Toppings!
Open and drain the liquid from a can (14.5 ounces) of French Style Green Beans.
It isn’t a pizza unless you top the pizza with cheese. Mozzarella cheese is normally used for pizza. However, I shredded 1½ pounds of Gouda cheese since this is one of our favorite cheeses in Puerto Rico. The Gouda cheese will easily melt due to its high fat content.
Rolling Out the Dough for the Piñón Pizza!
Preheat oven to 450°F. This is a 16-inch round baking pan. Sprinkle cornmeal on top to avoid the dough from sticking to surface.
Place dough onto a floured surface after proofing for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough to measure the size of pan that you will use to make the pizza.
When the dough is completely rolled out, fold the dough in half and fold again in half. Carefully place dough on top of pizza pan and unfold.
Make sure the pizza pan is completely covered with the dough when unfolding.
Tuck under the excess dough around the outer edges of pan.
The next step is to apply pressure around the inside bottom edges to shape the outer crust.
Assembling the Piñón Pizza!
We are ready to assemble the pizza. Let’s start with brushing tomato sauce on top of dough. You can use spaghetti sauce if you prefer.
Add a layer of Gouda cheese to cover sauce.
We can now add the following Piñón Pizza toppings: Starting with the seasoned meat,
Plantain slices, and
Green Beans (also known as string beans).
Since I love cheese, I am going to sprinkle a small amount of cheese along with the remaining seasoned meat, plantain chunks, and string beans.
We just completed preparing the Piñón Pizza. Place in the oven at 450°F for 15 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and the dough is lightly brown around the edges.
The Piñón Pizza is Ready!
The Piñón Pizza is ready. The outer crust is crispy and golden brown. Conversely, the inside of crust is very soft and chewy. The Gouda cheese is completely melted as well. The sweetness of the plantain chunks along with the saltiness of the meat and cheese makes this combination so tasty and unique.
NOTE: This pizza will yield 12 slices.
Click on the button below to watch my YouTube Video on How to Prepare Piñón Pizza!
Recipe and Nutritional Facts!
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. Please refer to our Nutritional Facts Disclaimer for more information.
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Piñón Pizza
- Prep Time: 1 Hour
- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 Slices 1x
Description
Piñón Pizza – A pizza with all the toppings used in preparing a traditional Piñón. The dough is soft inside with a golden outer crispy crust along with melted Gouda cheese, covering all the delicious toppings.
Ingredients
Yeast Mixture:
- 1 cup warm water (temperature between 100 to 110°F
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 packet of Instant Yeast, measuring 2¼ teaspoons
- 1½ tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dough Mixture:
- 2½ cups of bread flour
- 1 teaspoon lite salt or to taste
Meat Mixture:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sofrito made with culantro
- 3 minced garlic cloves
- ¼ cup chopped onions
- 3 sprigs chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon of lite salt or to taste
- 1 pound ground turkey
Other Toppings:
- 1 ripe plantain, ends cut off, peeled and sliced into ½-inch diagonal slices
- 1 tablespoon margarine made with extra virgin olive oil
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) French Style Green Beans, drained
- 1½ pounds shredded Gouda Cheese
Instructions
- Dissolve sugar in warm water in a bowl, stirring with a spoon. Add packet of yeast and stir well. Cover bowl with towel and proof for 10 minutes.
- After proofing, gradually stir the olive oil into yeast mixture and set aside.
- Combine bread flour and salt into a bowl.
- Pour yeast mixture and bread flour mixture into a Stand Mixer bowl. Beat at the lowest speed for approximately 7 minutes or until there is no dough on the sides and bottom of mixing bowl.
- Place dough on lightly floured kitchen counter and form dough into a ball.
- Coat large bowl with olive oil and place dough into bowl. Cover with towel and proof for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Sauté all the ingredients except the ground turkey in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Incorporate the ground turkey and stir until completely coated with the condiments. Cover skillet and cook over medium-low heat for 3 minutes.
- Stir meat mixture. However, limit the frequency of stirring because we want the meat to remain in chunks similar to Italian sausage. Continue cooking for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Cook plantain slices in a skillet with olive oil margarine over medium heat until golden brown on both sides.
- Remove cooked plantain slices from skillet and place on a cutting board. Cut them into small pieces and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 450°F and sprinkle cornmeal on top of 16-inch pizza pan to avoid the dough from sticking to surface.
- After proofing the dough, roll out dough on floured surface to measure the size of pizza pan. Fold dough in half and then again.
- Lift folded dough and place on top of pizza pan and unfold.
- Tuck under the excess dough around the outer edges of pan. Afterwards, apply pressure around the inside bottom edges to shape the outer crust.
- Brush tomato sauce on top of dough and layer completely with gouda cheese.
- Start adding the pizza toppings in layers, beginning with seasoned meat, cooked plantain chunks and string green beans.
- Continue layering the pizza with the remaining ingredients, starting with the cheese and ending with the string green beans.
- Insert in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and the dough is lightly brown around the edges.
- Serve warm and cut the pizza into 12 slices.
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Baking, Sautéing, Simmering
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Keywords: pizza, Piñón Pizza, Piñón
