square, puffy, slightly sweet
Kharkiv-style Pizza
If you’ve never been to Kharkiv, this probably needs some context. I feel like any city can claim its own pizza style. New York pizza, Chicago pizza... my hometown, Kharkiv, absolutely can too. Kharkiv-style pizza is Bufet pizza. Bufet is a cheap fast-food-ish chain that basically every person from Kharkiv knows. Somehow, it became a bit of a legend far beyond Kharkiv. The pizza there is, first of all, square. The dough is puffy and slightly sweet. No fancy tomato sauce — just mayo and ketchup. Oh, how I miss it. When I lost the ability to casually order a half chicken and pineapple pizza plus okroshka (a cold soup) from Bufet, life got significantly worse. But suffering leads to innovation, so after several iterations, I ended up with a recipe that gets pretty close to my favorite pizza. This is not a perfect copy, but it absolutely scratches the itch.
Ingredients
3 servings6 servings12 servings
For the dough
For the topping
Method
14 steps, about 2.5 hours
- Add the sugar, yeast, salt, and oil to warm water. Gradually add the flour and knead into a soft dough. It may be a little sticky, and that’s okay.
- Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 1–1.5 hours, or until the dough has roughly doubled (or even grown a bit more).
- While the dough is rising, boil the chicken breast until fully cooked. Let it cool a little, then cut it into small cubes.
- Mix the ketchup and mayonnaise together.
- Grate the cheese using a coarse grater.
- Drain the pineapple. If you’re using rings, cut them into small pieces (I usually buy the pre-cut kind).
- Once the dough has risen, lightly oil your hands and transfer it onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Spread the dough into a square or rectangular shape, about 1 cm thick. Mine usually ends up around 25 × 21 cm.Mine usually ends up around 36 × 30 cm.Split it between two trays — mine end up around 36 × 30 cm each. The square shape is mandatory — this is Bufet.
- Prick the base well with a fork.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 12 minutes.
- Take the base out. It should be lightly baked and have formed a little crust around the edges. Prick it once again with a fork.
- Generously spread the sauce all the way to the edges.
- Evenly add the chicken, pineapple, and top with the grated cheese.
- Return to the oven at 220°C (430°F) for 15–20 minutes. For the last 5–10 minutes, I like turning on the grill setting so the cheese gets nicely golden.
- Cut into squares and eat!
Sasha’s tip
