Chocolate Pizza. Do you really need to hear anything else? Some people might, so I guess I’ll write more than just that opening line 🙂 Brazilian chocolate coconut dessert pizza. It’s where it’s at.
The Brazilian market for snack foods (broadly referred to as salgadinhos — little savories) exploded a few years ago. Since then, street vendors have never missed an opportunity to hock Brazil’s native foods on the streets. And it might be my stomach talking, but boy I’m glad that they do.
Something that’s been popularized in equal proportion to their superior snack foods is their pizza. Like I talked about with savory pizzas, dessert pizzas are among items that showcase the pinnacle of modern Brazilian culinary invention. And by invention, I mean wild experimentation that almost always ends well.
I was so skeptical when I first heard about the concept of dessert pizza. “Chocolate pizza?” came my incredulous question. The guy I was working with just smirked and said, “Wait until you try it.” And one taste was all of the convincing that I needed. It was actually two tastes, but who’s counting?
The chocolate is held in place on the pizza with an EXTREMELY thin layer of mozzarella cheese. When I say extremely thin, I mean extremely thin. Like one micron thick across the pizza. I’m not honestly sure why the Brazilians do this, and you can probably get away without doing it, but in the interest of authenticity, I’ve included it in the recipe.
One of the most fun things to do with dessert pizzas is top them with different things. Like most things, the Brazilians are pros at this. Strawberries, pineapples, coconut, you name it. I’ll be posting some of their authentic dessert pizza recipes, but, to be honest with you, just about anything that tastes delicious will be called authentic by a Brazilian. Your imagination’s the limit.
- 3 and ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- 3 cups warm water
- ¾ cups olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 30 grams yeast (1.05 oz)
- 1 cup honey
- ½ pound baker's chocolate
- Shredded coconut to preference
- Prepare yeast by putting in a small amount of water with the teaspoon of sugar
- Mix flour, salt and olive oil
- Slowly mix the yeast and water mixture with the flour mixture
- Once well mixed, let sit (covered) for 30 minutes
- Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees
- Melt chocolate and mix with honey
- Pour on top of pizza
- Throw on shredded coconut to preference
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes
Kim says
Did you put the thin layer of cheese on the first baking time or the second when the chocolate was added?
themormonfoodguy says
Great question! It goes on the second time, when the chocolate is added. I suppose that you could try it the other way around, but I’m not sure that it would produce the same result.