Cheap Bastid's Foodie Tuesday: Middle Eastern Flatbread Pizza

Money’s been tight at Cheap Bastid’s place. So, occasionally I’ve been making homemade pizza. The hardest part of that is making the crust. It takes some practice to start getting the crust to come out edible. But it’s an inexpensive way to make pizza at about $1.00 for the crust (compared to about $3.50 for a Boboli).

I prefer my pizza crust thin and crispy rather than a “New York” style. But that’s a matter of taste. Recently though we came up with a really inexpensive and delicious way to get an almost perfect thin pizza crust really cheap (and of course I like the cheap part).

We’ve been enjoying Middle Eastern flat bread lately. I can pick up a bag of 8 pieces for 99 cents (at the 99 cent store, of course). The other night I decided to use pieces of it as a pizza crust. And it worked great!

Here’s how I did it:

Crust:
Use 4 pieces of Middle Eastern flat bread for plenty of pizza for 2.
Pre-heat oven to 400
Put the pieces of bread on a cookie sheet and brush a very thin coat of oil. Then pop that in the oven for about 2 minutes.

Toppings:
I use a small can (about 5-6 oz.) of tomato sauce and then add spices to it. Garlic powder, cumin & oregano. Then spread a couple of tablespoons on each crust.
Top with a small handful of shredded mozzarella or jack cheese (your preference).
Top with whatever else you want—pepperoni, ground beef, ground sausage, and other veggies.

Bake in oven at 400 for 8-10 minutes until done (I like to use the broiler the last 2 minutes to brown the cheese a bit).
Top with parmesan and red chili flakes if desired.

It’s just that simple. One of things I noticed though is that pepperoni runs about $7 a pound so it’s kind of pricey. I can do Italian sausage for about $2.25 a pound or hamburger for about $1.75 a pound. That way the cheese is the most expensive part. And by the way, the tomato sauce in the small can runs about 50 cents—lots cheaper than jarred pizza sauce or jarred spaghetti sauce.

So, for pizza for 2 the total price (if you use Italian sausage) will be about $3.75. And that’s generously topped and enough pizza to get stuffed. It's not fancy. It's not gourmet. And perhaps not even original. But it's inexpensive and it's good.

Now, here’s a bonus—Cheap Bastid’s All Time Favorite Pizza:
Pepperoni, sliced tomatoes, jalapenos and feta cheese! (No sauce!) It’s an incredible combination and because there’s no sauce, it’s pretty nutritious.

Enjoy!