Recipe: Sicilian Pizza

Make this for guaranteed joy this weekend 🍕

Pizza is just the GOAT isn’t it?

It’s so versatile, and just for me, the perfect food. If you want have pineapple, go for it. You only eat Domino’s? You’re missing out on a whole world of pleasure, but yeah it’s still good init. You want steak and seafood on your pizza? Whatever floats your boat, pal.

You may think you’ve tried them all, but Sicilian style is horribly underrepresented in the North East. A certain Cal’s Own might be doing something interesting with them in 2021…but otherwise, you’ll be hard-pushed to find a good thick square of sfincione.

Never had it? It’s an Italian-American creation, thick crunchy crust, plentiful in toppings, and more like a heavily topped, double-baked focaccia. It’s traditionally baked with cheese, then tomato on top — so you get this beautiful orange mottling.

Anyway, I’ve been loving making them recently and always get a few shouts for a step-by-step on social media, so here you go. It’s a pretty forgiving recipe; as long as you proof the dough properly, and bake it as hot as you can, you’ll still enjoy it.

Sicilian Pizza Recipe

240ml cold water
120ml recently boiled water
1x 7g packet of instant yeast
10g sugar (any type)
25ml olive oil

600g bread flour
10g fine salt
2tb olive oil

350g-ish pre-grated cheese (a mozzarella and cheddar mix works well)
50g parmigiano reggiano/grana padano
1x 400g tin tomatoes (best you can afford)
2tb olive oil
1/2 an onion
1ts sugar
3 garlic cloves
1ts oregano
1ts chilli flakes
Handful fresh basil leaves

Special equipment: deep, strong baking pan approx. 12″ x 18″

Method

1. Mix the hot and cold water in a glass or bowl, add the sugar, the olive oil, and the yeast and stir well. Leave this for 5 minutes and check for foaming, indicating that your yeast is still alive.
2. In a large bowl, sift in 600g bread flour, and 10g salt. Roughly mix.
3. Once the yeasty water is frothing away, add it slowly to the flour and salt, mixing thoroughly. Combine until all the water is absorbed into the yeast and you have a shaggy dough. Leave for 5-10 minutes to rest.
4. Knead the dough for ten minutes until smooth. it should feel supple, and not crack. You can’t really over-knead this dough, so keep going until it feels right. It starts sticky, but will come together. Oil your bowl, and the dough. Something like this. Then cover.

5. Leave to prove for a couple of hours or even better in the fridge overnight. If you can, make the dough a few days ahead and it will have more flavour. It’s very flexible though. Make the dough and sauce in the space of a 90mins on a Saturday night? Go for it. Prep on a Wednesday and eat four days later? Even better.
6. Tomato sauce: make this as simple or as complex as you like — this is not a margherita. Add fennel, bay, chipotle chilli, whatever you like. Here’s my current take: Add 2tb of olive oil in a hot pan. Grate or slice in 3 cloves of garlic, and add 1ts each of dried oregano and chilli flakes. Stir until very fragrant and before the garlic colours. Add the onion, and one tin of tomatoes. Add salt and pepper and reduce to a simmer. Crush the tomatoes if you can be bothered but they will break down over time. Simmer for an hour or so to extract some sweetness. Lazy version, just spoon some crushed tomatoes right into the pizza when ready. This is fine. Leave aside and allow to cool once it tastes good. 
7. Thoroughly grease a baking tin with olive oil. When you think it’s oiled enough, add more. This oil is critical to prevent sticking, and ensure a good golden crust. 
8. Plonk your dough into it, and drizzle with oil. More oil is better in this recipe. Flatten and form into the shape of the tray. The dough might start elastic and not want to play, but give it time and it will eventually be coaxed to the corners and slightly up the tray. Leave it to prove like this for another hour or so to get the maximum rise and lightness from your dough. We’re looking for well over an inch in stature, but if you want an easier/lighter eat, remove 100g of the plain flour at step 2.

9. Preheat your oven to as hot as it will go (~240°C). When the dough looks to have risen sufficiently, add half of your cheese to cover the base. Then spoon over your sauce, generally plopping it rather than trying to achieve neat edge-to-edge coverage. Repeat. What you’re aiming for is half cheese & half tomato on the top, not like a traditional NYC pie. Distinct layer of cheese then tomato blobs. Scatter over some grated Parmesan and your topping(s) of choice. Honestly it’s great as is, but wild garlic worked well, you could throw on some asparagus and peas, or cured meats.

10. Bake for about 20mins or until the pizza seems to move in the pan when shaken, and upon a quick peek, the base is golden brown. If it doesn’t want to come out, it’s not fully baked. If the top is colouring too quickly, cover with tinfoil to protect until done. You want this golden brown where possible.
11. Remove from tray and let cool for as long as you can manage. Drizzle with your best oil, throw on some fresh bail, chilli honey, whatever you like. Slice into eight hefty slices and enjoy immediately. It’s quite a wet pizza, but who’s gonna stop you putting some aioli out? The pizza reheats well the next day, but if you wanna eat the whole thing in one go? You do you, hun.

Enjoy!