Banana Salted-Caramel Pizza

Why this formula works

A real caramel made from 60 g sugar, warm cream and butter gives depth that bottled drizzle lacks. Firm banana is cut 8 mm thick and protected with lemon. Half the caramel finishes the warm pizza after baking, while the remainder is served at the table; this avoids a sugary lake during the bake.

Honest timing

Ingredients

• mature room-temperature pizza dough ball240 g (8.5 oz)
• firm ripe banana, peeled and weighed200 g (7.1 oz)
• unsalted butter, divided30 g (1.06 oz)
• fine sugar60 g (2.12 oz)
• heavy cream, warmed50 g (1.76 oz)
• roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped30 g (1.06 oz)
• ground cinnamon2 g (0.07 oz)
• fresh lemon juice5 g (0.18 oz)
• fine sea salt, divided2 g (0.07 oz)

Equipment

• digital scale
• small heavy saucepan
• heatproof whisk
• sharp knife
• pizza peel
• baking steel or heavy inverted sheet
• cooling rack

Exact method

1. 1. Preheat the selected pizza surface according to the dessert table. Keep warm cream beside the stove.
2. 2. Melt sugar in a dry saucepan over medium heat without stirring once the edges liquefy. Swirl until amber, remove from heat and carefully whisk in warm cream.
3. 3. Whisk 15 g butter and 1 g salt into the caramel. Return to low heat for 30–60 seconds until smooth, then cool until thick but pourable.
4. 4. Slice banana 8 mm thick and toss gently with lemon juice and cinnamon.
5. 5. Open dough to 28–30 cm, retain the rim and confirm it slides. Brush with remaining 15 g butter and arrange banana in one layer.
6. 6. Bake with the matching setup until banana edges caramelize, rim browns and underside is dry. Rotate before the fruit darkens excessively.
7. 7. Rack-rest 90 seconds. Drizzle about half the caramel over the banana, sprinkle hazelnuts and remaining 1 g salt, then cut.
8. 8. Serve remaining caramel separately so each portion stays crisp instead of drowning the whole pizza.