Vegan pizza fritta

This pizza belongs to Napoli like the chaos on the streets of the city. It is typical streetfood and comes from the postwar period. Even firewood was luxury back then, and the Neapolitans had to get creative and started to simply deep-fry the pizza dough. The result was amazingly good and soon the pizza fritta was sold on the street by the Neapolitans to earn some extra money. Originally, pizza fritta was baked without a filling, but today there are many different variations – and there are hardly any limits to creativity, as with a baked pizza. To prepare streetfood at home, all you need is a little patience and, as always with cooking, lots of passion, some good music and good company.

Ingredients dough

  • 1 sachet yeast 30g (or dry yeast)
  • 250 ml lukewarm water
  • 1 pinch of sugar
  • 500g flour (type 405)
  • ½ tablespoon of water (or fresh milk for a non-vegan version)
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt

Ingredients topping

  • 400g tomatoes (fresh or canned)
  • 1-2 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • Some fresh basil
  • 300 ml sunflower oil for frying

Method

  1. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the yeast, a pinch of sugar and some of the lukewarm water. Stir very gently without adding the flour. Wait about 3 to 5 minutes until small bubbles form and the yeast mixture has almost doubled. 
  2. Add the rest of the lukewarm water, milk, salt and olive oil and mix slowly from the edge with a fork or your fingers  
  3. When the dough can be formed into a coarse ball, place it on a floured work surface and continue kneading by hand for about 15 minutes until the dough is smooth, shiny and elastic. 
  4. Lightly dust the dough with flour and leave to rise in a bowl in a warm place, covered with a cloth, for about 1 ½ hours  
  5. Then divide the dough into balls of about 100 g (about 10) each, place them on a baking tray allowing enough space in between as the dough will double in volume. Cover and let them rise for another hour.
  6. In the meantime, continue with the filling, starting with the tomato. There are two different options: The first is to leave the tomato in a bowl with the oregano and some basil leaves. The second (which I use) is to cook the tomatoes for about 10 minutes with a dash of extra virgin olive oil, which I think takes away the taste (of raw tomato). In both cases, keep them covered until you use them.
  7. Press each ball with your hands on a lightly floured surface into a disc of dough about 0.5 cm thick and 15 cm in diameter. Tip: Do not leave too much flour on the dough, so that it does not contaminate the oil.
  8. Heat sunflower oil in a deep frying pan. Dip the pizzas without any topping in the oil at 180°C and fry them for a few minutes, turning them frequently, until they are completely golden brown. 
  9. Take them out and spoon about 1-2 tbsp. tomato sauce and plenty of fresh basil onto the pizza.
  10. Place the pizzas on a double sheet of kitchen paper to dry, and eat them piping hot.

Pizza fritta non-vegan

As an extra ingredient use provola cheese or mozzarella cut into thin slices.

Method
  • Continue at 8. Fry the dough without topping and after the last turning, still in the pan, spoon 1-2 tbsp. tomato sauce and some cheese slices onto the pizza dough.
  • Drizzle a little bit of hot oil on it to melt the cheese.
  • Remove from the pan and  leave to dry on kitchen paper.
  • Serve hot with plenty of fresh basil.

Pizza fritta ripiena

Another spectacular variation is the stuffed pizza fritta. You don’t want to miss this.

Instead of the tomato sauce make a filling with:

  • 100g provola cheese (can be replaced by young cheddar)
  • salt, pepper
  • Optional: 100g salami
  • 250g ricotta (can be replaced by mozzarella)
  • 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Method
  • Continue at 6. Cut the provola cheese and the salami into cubes (if you use both) and put them together in a bowl, add the ricotta, the parmesan cheese, the pepper and a pinch of salt and mix everything with a spoon.
  • Press each ball with your hands on a lightly floured surface into a disc of dough about 0.5 cm thick and 15 cm in diameter. Tip: Do not leave too much flour on the dough, so that it does not contaminate the oil.
  • Fill the dough slices by putting a few spoons of the provola/ricotta mixture and the basil leaves in the center of the dough. Cover them by folding the dough into semicircles. Press the edges well.
  • Heat sunflower oil in a deep frying pan. Dip the stuffed pizzas in the oil at 180°C and fry them for a few minutes, turning them frequently, until they are completely golden brown.
  • Take them out and leave the pizzas on a double sheet of kitchen paper to dry.
  • Serve them piping hot.

 

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