Thin Crust Ham and Cheese Pizza. A terrific leftover baked ham recipe that turns it into this crispy, chewy thin crust pizza with garlic and 3 cheeses. Simple but very delicious.
When Easter Sunday has come and gone, a delicious recipe for those baked ham leftovers is what you need. We have done a number of these recipes over the years from Newfoundland Pea Soup with Doughboys to Toutons Benedict. A recent success though, was an incredibly simple but absolutely delicious thin crust pizza. This recipe uses leftover ham, garlic oil and 3 different cheeses – parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella.
I make pizza dough in batches and freeze it in balls so that it’s easier to have homemade pizza with not a lot of advance preparation. Some leftover garlic oil and baked ham were the inspiration on this day and it turned out great.
The pungent garlic, salty sweet glazed ham and gooey cheeses all work perfectly together with the chewy, crispy thin crust.
I later made them for a party, as smaller 6 inch pizzas. I cut them into 8 tiny slices as finger food and everyone raved about it. Try that idea at your next get together too.
I like to use cubes of cheese under these high heat conditions because it tends not to brown quickly as grated cheese does, before the bottom is adequately browned. You can buy ready made garlic oil for this recipe or use my method for making garlic oil here.
Like this recipe?
If you enjoy this leftover ham recipe you may also want to try our Toutons Benedict. It’s one of my favourite brunch dishes ever!
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- 4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp instant rise yeast
- 1 & 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 tsp sea salt
- Garlic oil
- black pepper
- grated Parmesan cheese
- thinly sliced ham
- part skim mozzarella cheese cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- cheddar cheese cut into 1/2 inch cubes
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Makes sufficient for 6, 12 inch pizzas
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Add all ingredients except 1 cups of the flour to the bowl. Using the dough hook on your electric mixer, mix together well and allow to run on low speed for about 10 minutes.
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Start adding the rest of the flour a little at a time until a soft dough forms. The dough will be a little sticky but don’t worry about that, just allow it to rise in a warm spot for a couple of hours or more before turning it out into a bread board and kneading by hand, adding more flour if necessary to firm up the dough.
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You may have to use a little more or a little less flour depending factors like local humidity. Just use as much as it takes to form the dough, adding only a little at a time as you knead.
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Form into 6 balls and allow the dough to rest at least a half hour before rolling out or stretching it to 12 inch circles.
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NOTE: I think that pizza dough should be made a day or even two in advance and cold proofed, covered, in the fridge. It has better flavor and texture after this long proofing period.
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Preheat your pizza stone in middle rack of your oven for half an hour at 450 degrees F.
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Place the circle of dough on a wooden peel that has been well sprinkled generously with cornmeal. The cornmeal will allow the pizza to slide off the peel (I’ve even used a thin piece of cardboard in a pinch if you do not have a peel. You can also prepare the pizza on a pizza pan and when it has been baking for 4 minutes, slide it from the pan, directly onto the pizza stone to crisp the bottom crust well.) Make sure your pizza is sliding on the cornmeal base before adding your toppings.
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Brush the pizza crust with garlic olive oil and sprinkle on some freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese. Top with the ham and scatter the cheddar and mozzarella cheese cubes evenly over the surface. Never pile toppings onto a thin crust pizza, keeping them in a single layer always works best for quickly cooked pizzas.
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Shake your peel to make sure the pizza is not stuck. Slide the pizza onto the hot stone, shaking it slightly in a back and forth motion as you slowly retract the wooden peel. Bake for about 8- 10 minutes or until the bottom is evenly brown.
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Remove from oven and allow to stand for a couple of minutes before cutting and serving.
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gail
Wednesday 17th of June 2020
Can your pizza dough be frozen to use some later (us seniors cannot eat six pizzas at a sitting) and if so, when do you freeze it? It is nice to have a pizza for lunch time or a light supper but I don't like store bought cardboard crusts!
Karen
Friday 15th of February 2019
I’m not understanding the 1/2 tsp of yeast.You answered above that it’s a small batch of dough so that’s why.ive never seen that little yeast with four cups flour.Suppose I’ll have to make this recipe to believe it!
Barry C. Parsons
Tuesday 12th of March 2019
Yeast is more a function of time than amount. A small amount of yeast can raise a whole, multiple loaf batch of bread dough if left long enough. More yeast just speeds things up. Nothing wrong with adjusting it as you see fit.
judy
Monday 1st of January 2018
1/2 tsp yeast???? is that correct??
Barry C. Parsons
Thursday 4th of January 2018
Yes, This is a small batch of dough. Yeast is more about time than amount. I make a long fermentation bread that actually takes just a 1/4 tsp of yeast!
Nancy @ imadethisdish
Friday 1st of May 2015
This looks so delicious! I used to add garlic powder to elevate the flavour, but garlic oil sounds way better! Thanks for sharing a great tip for us to enjoy our pizzas even more! :)