Pita Pizza with homemade tomato paste

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade tomato paste ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Wash the tomatoes, remove the cores and quarter each tomato.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 2
   Put the tomatoes, the salt and half of the olive oil in a wide pot, cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and release their liquid.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
3. 3
   Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill or sieve and return the purée to the pot: the skins and seeds stay behind.

   Food millorFine sieve
4. 4
   Cook uncovered about an hour at a lively simmer, stirring now and then, until the purée reduces by half.

   StoveWooden spoon

   💡The paste burns easily as it dries: stir and scrape the bottom and edges, and once it is thick, don't walk away.
5. 5
   Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).

   Oven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
6. 6
   Grease a wide baking dish with the rest of the olive oil and pour in the purée in a thin layer. Dry in the oven about 3 hours, stirring and scraping the edges every 30 minutes, until the paste is thick, sticky and brick red.

   OvenBaking sheetSilicone spatula
7. 7
   Let the paste cool.

   Jar

For the Tomato sauce

1. 8
   In a bowl, mix the tomato paste, basil and black pepper with the salt. Don't cook it: the sauce cooks on the pizza in the oven.

   Bowl

To assemble

1. 9
   Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F).

   Oven
2. 10
   Spread the sauce over each pita and arrange the pitas on a baking sheet.

   Baking pan

   💡Spread a thin layer of sauce: pita soaks up liquid fast, and too much sauce makes it soft instead of crisp.
3. 11
   Scatter the mozzarella, peppers, cherry tomatoes and oregano over the top.
4. 12
   Drizzle the olive oil over the top.
5. 13
   Bake 10–12 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the edges of the pita are crisp.

   OvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.