The last ball of the night stretched thin, brushed with melted butter, dusted with cinnamon sugar and given a minute in the wood oven until the sugar bubbles and the rim blisters, then finished with a drizzle of honey. It is a churro that thinks it is a pizza, and it uses an oven that is already hot for exactly nothing extra.
7 steps, about 7 minutes start to finish.
1. Mix the cinnamon sugar in a small bowl ahead of time and have the honey in something you can drizzle from.
2. STRETCH: same as a pizza, semolina on top, press from the center out, stretch on your knuckles to 8 to 10 inches with a small rim. Onto a semolina-dusted peel. Shake test.
3. Brush the melted butter over the whole surface, rim included. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the butter, about 3 tablespoons of it; the rest is for the top.
4. If you are doing banana, lay the slices on now in a single layer, not touching. Nutella waits until after.
5. LAUNCH AND BAKE ON THE COOL SIDE: onto the deck on the side away from the fire. 60 to 90 seconds, rotating every 20 to 30 seconds, watching it the entire time. Out when the rim is blistered and the sugar is bubbling and amber. Amber, not brown.
6. Onto the board. Nutella, if you are using it, goes on now in dollops and spreads itself in the heat. Drizzle the honey over the top in a zigzag, add the flaky salt, and one more pinch of cinnamon sugar.
7. Rest 30 seconds so the sugar sets, then cut into 8 wedges. Eat it hot.
“Sugar burns before dough does at 800°F, which is why this one goes on the cool side of the deck and gets pulled early; the residual heat finishes it on the board. By 8:05 the oven has calmed down a little from its 7:00 peak, and that is a feature here, not a problem. Nutella never goes into the oven, because at this temperature it scorches in seconds and tastes like a burnt tire; it goes on after and melts on contact. If it comes out a shade dark at the rim, the honey covers it. If it comes out black, that is the one pizza of the night you throw away, and you have eleven other balls.”
Show the Side Dish crew how it turned out, or ask a question, over in our Discord.
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