Mini Pizza Fritta

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Ingredients

Pizza Dough

• around 4-5 cups bread flour (helps make the dough chewier and fluffier, but all-purpose will do in a pinch)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 6 g dry yeast (around 0.25 oz)
• 1 Tbsp salt
• around 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 cup warm water (40-45 Celcisus, 100-110 Fahrenheit)

Basic Filling

• pizza or marinara sauce
• mozzerella cheese
• basil and oregano (if not already in marinara, but a little extra never hurts)

I've never really done pizza by myself before so I decided to give it a try. But since I wanted to try something new I poked around the net for ideas and came across a dish supposedly famous in Napoli - pizza fritta. Basically it's a way to incorporate more calories into a long-standing nemesis of the diet. Add an extra layer of dough on top of your pizza, seal the insides, and fry in oil. Voila, you've a tasty snack that'll leave your arteries crying for mercy. Add some veggies and you can half-heartedly pretend you're being healthy.

Normally it's made closer to a normal pie size, but since I don't have a big vat to drop it into I miniaturized it.

1. Stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit for around 10 minutes.

2. Put about 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl along with the other dough ingredients and the yeast water. Stir together until it's combined enough to work with your hands.

3. Knead the dough adding flour until you've got a stiff dough that won't tear easily when stretched. You should be able to get it relatively thin when stretching. Knead around 10 minutes.

4. After kneading, coat with a little olive oil and let sit in the bowl for around 30 minutes or until it nearly doubles in size.

5. Make balls with the dough about 2-3 cm in size (about an inch). Smooth it out by making a circle with your thumb and index finger and pushing the center through, stuffing the outer lip into itself. Using your fingers start to flatten a couple into a small circle. Take a rolling pin or long, thick stick and flatten as much as you can get it without it tearing. It'll fry quite quickly so to make sure the dough cooks evenly you'll need it thin. To keep it circular roll over half and rotate the dough slightly (same idea as making gyoza wrappers)

6. Spoon on your sauce, cheese, herbs, and any other fillings you want. Add another round of dough on top and seal the sides firmly with your fingers so oil doesn't get it (that baby will splatter like Sylvester cat on crack if you don't).

7. Deep fry or pan fry in a few centimeters of oil. If deep frying, splash some of the oil on the top to more evenly cook it. If you've made it thin enough the insides should be cooked by the time it's browned, but if not turn down the heat down a bit so the dough can cook through.

8. Put on a drying rack or in paper towels to get rid of excess oil. Serve soon after.

Above is the basic cheese and sauce combo. Feel free to any other fillings to personalize.

• 
  theory says

  Did you just deep fry a whole bunch of mini pizzas? I like it. I like it a lot. I'll definitely try this recipe out after I buy some elastic-waisted pants and my sister becomes a cardiologist.

• 
  noisefuel says

  well, at first...pizza is an italian food, definitely not FRIED pizza... anyway, this seems yummy dude!! about the recipe, oregano and basil don't go so well together...pizza marinara original recipe consists in tomato sauce, garlic and oregano, no cheese or anything else, anyway mozzarella (italian white cheese) should fit well with the rest, and obviously you can fill your minipizzas with anything, i suggest sweet peppers, sliced onions and goat cheese definitely not a light food!!!

• 
  Sinbad says

  Pizza fritta (fried pizza) is supposedly a specialty in Napoli. As for basil, oregano - different strokes for different folks. I like the combo. But thanks for the suggestions and comments!

• 
  Kimmy says

  oh god that looks so good. nice job I can think of a number of fillings to use. thanks for the recipe, Cheers

• 
  Kimmy says

  sorry my fingers are a bit dsylexic today. Second line above meant to read. Nice job, I can think...'

• 
  dshafik says

  I made these tonight, they were yummeh! http://flickr.com/photos/dshafik/2099591806/ Many thanks, I would never have thought to fry it like this :) - Davey

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