The Scily Site Logo, with map of Sicily in background
left end of menu


Marianna's Pizza

The recipe below will make a lot pizzas. We made 60 mini ones last time we did this. You could set aside a morning and make lots of fresh pizzas and then freeze them. They are ideal for snacks and are easy to reheat. To do this grill the underside for a short while and then turn them over and grill the top for a second or two. You may note there is no mozzarella cheese on these pizzas, obviously you can add loads of different ingredients and make a few different varieties. If using mozzarella, Marianna recommends adding it to the Pizza after it is at the half way stage of its cooking in the oven. Please email us and let me know if you have followed this recipe and let me know how you got on. If you have any questions you can also ask us and we will try to get an answer for you.

 Ingredients

  • 1.5 Kilos of strong white flour
  • 25g Salt
  • 70g White Flora or Trex
  • 900 ml of very warm but not hot water
  • 40g of fresh yeast (you can get this for free from some good supermarket bakery sections)

For the sauce

  • One large onion
  • 2 or 3 tins of chopped tomatoes
  • Bicarbonate of Soda
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper

 

Method
  1. Put flour, salt and fat in a large bowl
  2. Rub the fat into the flour
  3. Mix yeast and water together
  4. Add the yeast/water mix to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix with your hands until you have a dough
  5. Put on a floured surface and knead very lightly for about one minute
  6. Return it to the bowl and cover with cling film and a tea towel
  7. Keep it warm - not a problem in Sicily, but it might help to use a blanket or keep it near a radiator

Now make the sauce

  1. Finely chop your onions and add to a very good glug of olive oil that you have heated in a sauce pan
  2. Fry until they are translucent
  3. Add chopped tomatoes (either fresh without skins, or from a tin). Add around a quarter of a tin at a time and heat on a high flame to rapidly reduce the sauce. Keep stirring and be careful not to burn it.
  4. Add tomato slowly in this way until you have enough sauce to cover your pizza
  5. If the tomato tastes bitter add some bicarbonate of soda to the pan.
  6. You may need to use a potato masher take out large lumps of tomato.
  7. Add salt and pepper to taste

Now roll out and make your Pizzas

  1. After one hour turn the dough out onto a floured surface and kneed lightly for one minute , return it to the bowl and cover again while you make the pizzas
  2. Roll out balls of dough to form little pizzas and don't worry about the shape.
  3. Stud each one with little bits of raw garlic
  4. Cover with the tomato topping, strong italian cheese - Parmesan or Padano and some basil
  5. Drizzle on some good quality olive oil and then press the mix gently into the dough
  6. Cover and leave to rise for another hour
  7. Bake on at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes
 
** PLEASE DESCRIBE THIS IMAGE **