Fried Neapolitan pizzas
These fried Neapolitan pizzas are a very famous delicacy from the Naples region of Italy. If the pizza is native to Naples, these delicious pizzas, or ‘pizzelle’ as they are called there, are even more so. Indeed, they represent a tasty reinterpretation of the traditional pizza. You can prepare them in large quantities for children’s birthday parties, a buffet or party to which you are going to invite a number of guests. With one kilogram of flour you will be able to make a large number; if you are able to use a professional deep-fat fryer, you will save even more time.
Ingredients
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plain flour 200 grams Pasta flour, from durum wheat
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strong flour 100 grams
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water 150 millilitres at room temperature
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brewer's yeast 7 grams
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salt 5 grams
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sugar 5 grams
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oil 20 grams
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mozzarella cheese 100 grams
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passata 50 grams tomato
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garlic 1 clove
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oregano To taste
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salt To taste
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Preparation
Prepare all the ingredients. Make the pizza bread dough by combining the flour, salt and water and with the help of a mixer knead the resulting dough well, having dissolved the yeast in warm water first (unless fast-action). Remember to add salt. Put the dough in a warm and sheltered place to rest and rise. When it has doubled its volume, knock it back and roll into a sheet, not too thin. Cut out thirty round disks and let them rest and rise for another half hour or so. Meanwhile prepare a fairly thick tomato sauce (if necessary, boil it lightly), adding garlic, oregano and salt. After the pizzas have rested for a second time, set the electric deep-fat fryer to 170 °C. When the oil is hot, fry the pizzas a few at a time. Pat dry with a paper towel, then place them on baking parchment. Garnish with tomato, a cube of mozzarella and oregano. Cook for 5 minutes under the grill. Serve.
Tips
Keep an eye on the oil temperature so as not to burn your pizzas. Also, when you reheat your pizzas under the grill, do so quickly to avoid drying out the mozzarella and the resulting pizzette.
Trivia
The history of ‘pizzelle’ is intimately bound up with the poorest neighbourhoods of Naples. To supplement their income, the wives of the pizza-makers prepared these little fried pizzas with scraps of dough left by their husbands. Pizzelle were then sold in the most humble neighbourhoods of the city. Often, those who bought the pizzelle could not pay right away, but only after about eight days: for this reason they were also called ‘a ogge to otte’ – ‘in eight days’ time’.
Step by step
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Add the topping to the pizzas, having first put them on baking parchment
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Add a little cube of mozzarella to each pizzetta
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Prepare all the ingredients
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Get a mechanical mixer with kneading attachments, or knead directly by hand
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Add the yeast to a little tepid water
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Put all the ingredients in the mixer, salt last of all
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Operate the mixer until you get a smooth, well-combined mixture that does not stick to the edges of the container.
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Cover and let the dough rise in a sheltered place. After a couple of hours, the dough should have doubled in volume.
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Roll out the dough and divide it into many pizzas. Leave to rise for another half an hour.
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Set the deep-fat fryer to 170 °C
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Fry the pizzas a few at a time, then pat them dry with absorbent kitchen towel.
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**Click on the photos to access full step by step!