Metaxa Pizza (Greece)

Metaxa Pizza
Metaxa Pizza

Metaxa

First created in Greece, this Metaxa pizza is a flavorful meat pizza you should try at home.

Created with care, this type of pizza provides a pleasant taste and abundant smell.

Ensure you use the freshest toppings and pair these with a delicious crust for you and friends to enjoy a enjoyable meal together.

If you enjoy a tasty Meat pizza using a Gyros sauce this could be the new love of your life.

Pizza in Greece

Most Greeks use more olive Oil than Italians on their pizza, and they also use a different type of Tomato for the base. Greek pizzas are usually cooked in an electric not wood fired oven, and cooked at lower temperatures.

Take a look at some of the other pizzas from Greece here.

Metaxa Pizza at a glance
Origin Greece
Type Meat
Sauce Gyros Sauce

Metaxa Pizza Recipe

Below we’ve put together a recipe for you to make your own homemade Metaxa Pizza either in your wood oven or the oven in your kitchen.

Preparation time
Dough 2 hours
Assembly 10 minutes
Baking 12-20 minutes

Metaxa Pizza Ingredients

Choose enough of the pizza toppings for the amount of pizzas you plan to make. The pizza sauce and dough ingredients below are designed for 3-4 pizzas, so scale up or down, based on your requirements.

Metaxa Pizza

Simple Pizza dough

  • 7 grams (2 tsps) dried yeast
  • 250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
  • 2 2/3 cups (400 grams) 00 fine flour
  • 2 tsps salt
  • 1/4 cup (3 tbsp) olive oil

Metaxa Pizza Toppings

Toppings used in this pizza recipe, are;

  • Gyros Meat
  • Feta
  • Onion
  • Olive Oil
  • Metaxa
  • Garlic

Tomato Pizza Sauce

  • 1 can (6oz/170g) tomato paste
  • 1 can (15oz/420g) tomatoes, whole or crushed
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1/4 a small onion
  • 1 tbsp dried Italian herbs
  • 1 tsp salt

Want to try a different sauce? See our article on the different types of pizza sauces.

TIP

You can click on any of the tags at the bottom of this page, to find other pizzas besides Metaxa Pizza, that use that topping.

Homemade pizza dough

Pizza Dough Method

Either make your own pizza dough following the simple steps below, or buy a premade pizza base at your local store.

  1. Whisk the lukewarm water and yeast in a plastic or glass jug. Let the mixture stand for approx. five minutes.
  2. Add salt and flour in a large bowl. Create a hollow well in the middle and gently pour the liquid yeast mixture and oil.
  3. Using dough mixer or hands, gently mix dough until smooth. Place pizza dough on a lightly floured work surface and then knead by hand for five minutes.
  4. Lightly oil a bowl, and place mixture in and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place to rise until the dough doubles in size.
  5. Pour dough mix out onto a clean, floured surface. Now hand knead gently for another five minutes.
  6. Sprinkle a little flour on the bench before rolling to prevent dough from sticking.
  7. Divide dough mixture into equal sized balls. Hand stretch or roll out the bases to the expected size.

TIP: We have other dough recipes if you would like to try your hand at sourdough, poolish or more.

Tomato Pizza Sauce

Tomato Pizza Sauce Method

You can either make your own tasty pizza sauce following the simple steps below, or you can purchase a pizza sauce at your local supermarket.

  1. Add ingredients in a large bowl, and stir or blend well.
  2. Ensure all ingredients are mixed together well.
  3. Keep mixture sitting for five minutes.
  4. Your sauce is now ready. Enjoy!
  5. Keep sauce in fridge or freeze for future use.

Use a ladle or back of a serving spoon to spread the sauce onto your freshly made dough, ensuring you don’t damage the dough.

Preparing Metaxa Pizza

Switch oven on to at least 450 degrees and preheat for at least 30 minutes.

Stretch out dough into a circle, on a floured surface.

If you are using a pizza steel or stone, make sure it is preheating in oven.

Now it’s time to add the sauce. This recipe calls for Gyros Sauce. Spread the Gyros Sauce around the pizza base, leaving a gap at edges.

Add your ingredients in size, from the largest to smallest.

Cheese should be sprinkled on at the end.

Toppings for this pizza are;

  • Gyros Meat
  • Feta
  • Onion
  • Olive Oil
  • Metaxa
  • Garlic

This pizza is very good by itself, yet why not enjoy it with a simple side dish?

Cooking

Put the Metaxa pizza on the middle shelf in oven, and wait ten minutes.

After approximately 10 minutes, open oven door and check on pizza.

The pizza should be done within roughly 15 minutes. Always cook to personal tastes.

About Feta

Popular for its salty, tangy taste, Feta ranges from very soft to semi-hard in texture. Feta was invented by the Greeks, however modern Feta can be found being made all over the globe.
Feta gets its taste from being salted through immersion in salty water, maturing for a minimum of two months. Blocks of Feta are often stored and sold still in the brine.

Pizza Tools

When making Metaxa Pizza, it’s always handy to have the right pizza making tools. Here’s what items I always recommend…

Quality Food Containers

Leftovers need to go somewhere, and I don’t enjoy using aluminium foil or plastic wrap all the time. A couple of good air tight containers should be in every home.

Pizza Peel

Sometimes called a paddle or shovel, a pizza peel is a vital tool for those who make pizza regularly.

Wooden Rolling Pin

Many people prefer hand stretching, however every cook really should have a good wooden roller nearby too.

 

Gyros Meat

Gyros meat is typically made from lamb, sometimes a combination of beef and lamb, or even chicken. The meats are then heavily seasoned with herbs, spices and salt to create the unique gyros taste.

Gyros meat is usually quite high in Iron. Iron is an important nutrient for your metabolism and it helps with the production of red blood cells in the body.

Pizza Storage

What to do with leftovers?

Leftovers after the meal? Here are some tips.

There are many ways to reheat pizza. We cover seven of them in this article.

Can you freeze pizza?

You can freeze pizza for up to three months, however I’d suggest consuming it within the first few weeks, ideally.

Chill in the fridge

You can keep pizza in plastic wrap or a container for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Pizza making FAQ

Want to know how to make great pizza at home? Here are some helpful answers to the most frequently asked questions.

How to eat pizza with acid reflux?

Try eating low fat pizza, and reduce the amount of cheese and tomato sauce; the two worst culprits for acid reflux in a pizza.

How long to air fry pizza?

You can air fry a pizza in around 7-8 minutes, if your air fryer can cook at 380 degrees.

What is double cut pizza?

A double cut pizza is exactly as it sounds. Say your large pizza normally gets cut into 8 slices. A double cut pizza will be 16 slices. So double the cuts (and resulting pizza slices).

Have you made Metaxa Pizza?

Let us know what you think of Metaxa Pizza! Tag us on our Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter and let us know what you thought of it! I’d love to know.

 

Featured image: Source