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This exceptionally light, fluffy and crispy seaweed pizza is topped with nutritious wakame seaweed, a soft, unctuous egg, rich kombu béchamel sauce and meltingly milky mozzarella.
Steaming seaweed pizza like a bao bun
By creating a pizza dough and then steaming it before baking, we’ve combined an airy Asian bao bun with a classic Italian pizza. For this particular fusion, we were inspired to make a version of a classic spinach and egg fiorentina pizza but with Asian ingredients. Trading spinach for wakame seaweed keeps the appealing signature appearance of the pizza but introduces a wonderful delicate oceanic umami flavour so prevalent in Asian cuisine, and when paired with a soft egg with the addition of a béchamel sauce enriched with kombu we have a completely new product altogether. Is it baked bao bun or steamed pizza? Whatever that answer is, the premise of what has been created opens the door for a whole new menu of bao bun pizza fusions. Our first iteration of this dish though highlights the best aspects of both bao buns and pizza. Light and fluffy, crispy, cheesy and saucy and satisfyingly comforting.
One dough, endless possibilities
To start off with the idea of creating a dough and cooking it differently isn’t so unique, dough is used all over the world and is cooked using different techniques. Different heats, different timings and different mediums will deliver different products. Baking will make bread, frying will make doughnuts and churros and steaming will make baozi or bao buns. It is one simple dough that can create infinite possibilities.
For this seaweed pizza recipe, there is no need to scrutinize every detail in the production of the dough. Quite simply, there will be master bakers, artisan bread makers and pizza pros who will have precise methods to create their art to an exceptional quality, but this seaweed pizza recipe is one that you can do in your own home and create a beautiful fusion pizza in double time that is perfect every time. There is also no need to be scared of making the dough with the intricacies associated with proving, kneading and stretching the perfect pizza or be put off by the time it takes to prove.
How to make steamed pizza dough
The dough recipe itself is very simple. Adding a teaspoon of baking powder with a touch of salt and sugar to all-purpose flour before adding a sachet of fast-acting yeast and warm water to make the dough will halve the time it takes to rise. It also helps the texture remain fluffy, which is what we want when steaming.
Once you have fully incorporated the flour mix with the water, knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface before returning back to the bowl and covering with cling film or a wet cloth and leave in a warm place to prove. After a while, the baking powder will have helped the dough rise and double in size. Then, punch the dough to remove some air then roll it into a ball before dividing it into four equal portions. Place these portions into a lightly oiled tray before covering and leaving them to rise a second time for a little bit. All in all, you will have a perfect dough in just over an hour rather than the several hours it would normally take.
To steam pizza bases, simply roll each portion out to fit into a bamboo steamer lined with a bit of grease-proof paper and press the dough into the sides. Use two double-tiered steamers to make four pizza bases. Bring two pans of water to a boil and place each steamer with the pizza bases snugly on top and steam for eight minutes. What comes out are four almost physics-defyingly light and fluffy pizza bases ready to top.
Once you have topped your pizzas you then have the option of returning the pizzas to steam to cook through or use a conventional oven. Steaming the pizza toppings too creates a wonderfully unique pizza experience keeping everything soft and glistening with a delicate appearance and texture. Originally, steamed bao buns or baozi are a Chinese recipe dating back to the Han Dynasty from 206 BC to 220 AD. These bao buns were traditionally filled with pork mince and steamed to create a convenient meal for travellers and workers to eat on the move. In Japan, this recipe, known as nikuman evolved with the addition of other ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms and wakame and other types of kelp. This seaweed pizza is almost an inside-out version of the original, but of course with a sprinkling of European influence.
Otherwise, if you prefer the gratinated melted cheesiness found on an authentic Italian pizza, use a conventional oven. The choice is yours, but it’s certainly recommended to try both.
Our seaweed pizza: A new twist on the classic Fiorentina
For the toppings, and to really highlight the mix of Asian and Italian we have opted to imitate the look of a traditional fiorentina pizza which is lusciously green with wilted spinach topped with a perfectly baked egg with a runny golden yolk in the middle. But, rather than using spinach, we have swapped this for wakame seaweed for this distinct vivid greenness.
Wakame is a kelp popular in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cuisine. You can easily find this superfood in your local asian food market along with many other varieties you may want to try. It comes dehydrated and a little goes a long way as when you pour over some boiling water it expands into large unravelling leaves. Once rehydrated, the wakame has a soft silky texture with a slight bite similar to a thin slice of calamari. It also has a distinct taste of the sea which adds a wonderful Asian dimension to this pizza.
The perfect pizza sauce for seaweed pizza
For the sauce, by all means use a traditional tomato base but a pizza bianco version using béchamel sauce pairs perfectly with the rest of the ingredients. By adding a touch of kombu stock, another rich kelp flavour, into a simple béchamel sauce, the flavours are intensified adding even more Asian notes into the mix.
To prepare the pizzas, spoon the sauce over the steamed bases, make a small well in the middle and break an egg into it, chop up the wakame and arrange around the egg before liberally scattering small cubes of fresh mozzarella over it all. That is it, you are ready to steam the pizzas or place them in the oven to cook for the final time.
More Italian/Asian pizza combinations
The steamed pizza bases are the perfect base for whatever you like on your pizza, but for other Asian/Italian fusions, why not try Korean BBQ sauce with some cured Italian ham, hoisin sauce with duck bresoala or a simple tomato sauce topped with shiitake and oyster mushrooms. You can even make your steamed pizza bases in advance and freeze them ready to cook anytime you like. Chī hǎo hē hǎo and buon appetite.
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Steamed seaweed pizza recipe
Equipment
- Bamboo steamer basket
Ingredients
For the bases
- 300 g of all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 7 g fast acting yeast
- 165 ml of warm water
Béchamel sauce
- 250 ml of milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- 1 tablespoon of kombu dashi
Toppings
- 20 g of dried wakame seaweed re-hydrated and chopped
- 4 eggs
- 2 (or 250g) buffalo mozzarella chopped into small cubes
Instructions
To make the pizza bases
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar, salt and baking powder. Sprinkle the fast acting yeast over the flour and pour in warm water. Stir with a wooden spoon to bring the dough together, then use your hands to thoroughly mix the dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 4-5 minutes until completely smooth.
- Return the dough back to the mixing bowl, cover and let it prove in a warm place for 45 minutes.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out gently with your fist then roll it into a ball and divide into 4 equal pieces. Place the dough pieces into a lightly oiled deep tray or bowl, cover with cling film and rest them for a further 15 minutes to second prove.
- Turn the dough out and roll each piece with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface into rounds that will fit into a two tiered 18cm bamboo steamer lined with baking paper.
- Place one pizza base into each bamboo steamer basket and push the dough into the edges with your fingers and gently press a small well in the middle of the base.
- Stack the steamers, one on top of the other and place the lid on top. Using ideally 2 two tiered bamboo steamers or working in batches if necessary place the steamer over a pan of boiling water for 8 minutes. Remove the pizza bases from the steamer and set aside ready to top.
To top and cook the pizzas
- To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a sauce pan and once bubbling add the flour and stir to cook out the flour. Add the milk and kombu dashi and whisk smooth. Turn the heat down and continuously stir until the béchamel sauce has thickened. Set aside.
- Spread the béchamel sauce equally over each pizza base, crack an egg into the well in the middle of each pizza and arrange the wakame seaweed around. Scatter the mozzarella equally over each pizza.
- Place the pizzas in a 220℃/ 428°F oven and bake for 11-13 minutes, alternatively, they can be steamed in the bamboo steamer for 9-11 minutes.
Garnish options
- Sriracha mayonnaise, togorashi seasoning, dulse seaweed, chilli oil, sesame oil.
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