Pizza fritta. Translate from Italian to English and you have fried pizza. It also translates to absolutely delicious. No exaggeration here. Imagine having your fresh pizza dough fried to a golden hue, topped with the basics …tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella & basil then finished off on a hot grill. Jamie Oliver’s Fried & Grilled Pizza is totally awesome.
This recipe comes from Jamie Oliver as featured in the Street Foods & Pizza section of his cookbook, Jamie’s Italy. He talks about his experience in Panzano in the Chianti region, where he first ate these fried pizzas. According to Jamie… “The chef fried the thin bases in oil, like pappadoms, then quickly topped them with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and a little bit of oregano and popped them straight under a hot grill. They were the lightest pizzas I’ve ever eaten – just incredible – and this is how the first ever pizzas were made.”
You can use any basic pizza dough for this, but I highly recommend Jamie’s recipe. It’s super easy and delicious. No special appliance needed. And it doesn’t require major resting time. Just 10 minutes of kneading and 15 minutes of resting. And you’re ready to roll it out.
Helpful Hint: When working with flour, I like to measure in ounces or grams instead of relying on the accuracy of a measuring cup. Depending on how you scoop your flour, the amount of flour in a cup could vary quite a bit. My digital food scale is always on hand.
Start off by mixing the yeast and sugar with the lukewarm water. Set that aside for a few minutes while you “dump” the flour and salt in a mound on a large clean surface. Make sure it’s all well blended then make a 7-inch well in the center. Pour the water mixture into that well …don’t worry, the fortress of flour will hold the liquid in place. With the tines of a large fork, pull the flour into the center. A little bit at a time. Keep going until it becomes too difficult to manage with the fork. Coat your clean hands with flour and finish the job of incorporating the ingredients.
Trust me on this…
It will become a pliable dough that’s easy to work with. After kneading the dough for about 10 minutes, flatten it out and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
This recipe will yield enough dough to make 10 small fried pizzas, each measuring about 6-inches in diameter. Each portion of dough should weigh in at about 5.5 ounces.
Or it can be divided into 6 equal pieces to make medium size pizzas. Today we’ll be concentrating on the smaller pizzas. You can use your favorite homemade or jarred marinara sauce ~ as I have here ~ or your own homemade version. I’ll include Jamie’s recipe for tomato sauce in case you’d like to try it.
Once again, my digital scale comes in handy when dividing the dough into equal portions. Once each piece of dough is rolled out into a thin disc of about 1/4-inch thickness, they’ll need to rest for a short time …about 10 minutes. I like to use a rolling pin like this one that has removable measured discs at either end. When rolling out any type of pastry or dough, you’re sure to have a uniform thickness.
In the meantime, heat the oil and you’re ready to fry up some total yumminess.
Have your toppings ready and get these guys dressed and ready for the final step. In the recipe, you’ll find instructions on how to finish them up on your grill. If you like a super crispy bottom crust, this is the way to go. But not the only way…
Actually, you could finish them for about 5 to 7 minutes in a very hot oven (500°F) placed directly on a preheated pizza stone or pizza metal. Or they can be placed directly on the oven shelf. Keep in mind that the lower the shelf is placed in the oven, the crispier the crust will be.
Once on the grill, these guys won’t take long. Don’t have the temperature set too high so that the cheese can be heated through without burning the bottom of each fried pizza. It’s important to go light on the toppings when finishing on the grill.
If you prefer to add an abundance of extras, it would be advisable to finish them off in your oven.
These guys are so light and airy. And the flavor of the fried dough coupled with the light topping of tomato and cheese is unbelievable. Jamie is right …this may be the lightest pizza you’ll ever make at home. Not to mention the tastiest.
This recipe will yield 10 mini pizzas …perfect for a crowd. It’s an easy fix if you want to make just a few for now. If you are making a batch of the Basic Pizza Dough, the excess dough can be frozen to be used at a later date. Just be sure to wrap it well before placing it in the freezer. I like to place each 5 1/2-ounce portion in its own sealed sandwich bag then add all of the smaller bags to a gallon-size Ziploc freezer bag. If you are using prepared dough from your local pizzeria or bakery, it usually is sold in one-pound packages …the perfect amount to make 3 mini pizzas. Of course, the rest of the ingredients can be easily adjusted. Whatever amount you make, keep in mind that these are at their best when enjoyed right away.
jamie oliver's fried & grilled pizza
Adapted from Jamie Oliver as featured in Jamie's Italy
The lightest tastiest mini-pizzas.
Ingredients
Basic Pizza Dough
- 6 1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour (28 ounces / 793 grams)
- 1 1/2 cups fine ground semolina flour (9.75 ounces / 276 grams)
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dried yeast (7 grams)
- 1 tablespoon granulated or super-fine sugar
- just over 2 cups lukewarm water
Tomato Sauce
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, peeled & finely sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
- 1 14-ounce can good quality plum tomatoes
- sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fried Pizza
- 1 batch Basic Pizza Dough (or about 3 1/2 pounds fresh pizza dough)
- flour, for dusting
- vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 batch Tomato Sauce (or 2 cups marinara)
- 10 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into small pieces
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Instructions
Basic Pizza Dough
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Pile the flours and salt onto a clean surface and make a 7-inch well in the center. Add your yeast and sugar to the lukewarm water, mix up with a fork and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork and a circular movement, slowly bring in the flour from the inner edge of the well and mix into the water. It will look like sticky porridge - continue to mix, bringing in all of the flour. When the dough comes together and is too hard to mix with your fork, flour your hands and begin to pat it into a ball. Knead the dough by rolling it backward and forward, using your left hand to stretch the dough toward you and your right hand to push the dough away from you at the same time. Repeat this for 10 minutes, until you have a smooth, springy soft dough.
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Flour the top of your dough, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 15 minutes at room temperature. This will make it easier to roll it thinly.
Tomato Sauce
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Heat a saucepan, add a splash of oil and the sliced garlic and cook gently. When the garlic has turned light golden, add the basil, the tomatoes, and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Cook gently for about 20 minutes, mashing the tomatoes until smooth, then taste, season again if necessary, and put to one side.
Fried Pizza
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Preheat your grill to a low-medium setting. Alternately, preheat the oven (and pizza stone, if using) to 500°F.
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Divide the dough into 10 equal round pieces of about 5 1/2 ounces each. Press them flat onto a floured work surface. Roll them out to about 1/4 inch thick and allow them to rest for 10 minutes or so. Heat a frying pan over a high heat, add about 3/4 inch of vegetable oil and fry each pizza for 30 seconds or so on each side. Remove with tongs and place on a baking tray.
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Once all the bases are fried, smear each one with a spoonful of the tomato sauce, add about a 1/2 ounce of torn mozzarella and a sprinkling of torn basil. Drizzle lightly with olive oil.
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Grill until the cheese is bubbling and the dough is lightly browned and cooked through. (Alternately, place the prepared pizzas in the oven, directly on the preheated pizza stone. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and the dough is lightly browned.) Serve immediately.
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