This crispy pan-fried Sicilian pizza from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania is a regional recipe that entails cooking pizza dough in a layer of peanut oil to create a generously crunchy crust with a pillowy inside. Topped with easy tomato sauce, candy onions, mozzarella and cheddar, it’s like a mashup of pizza fritta and Grandma-style.
Initially invented by Victory Pig Pizza and BBQ in Wyoming (the Luzerne County city, not the state), this pizza’s beloved in its specific nook of Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA). So cherished, actually, that almost 50 extra pan-fried Sicilian pizzerias have popped up in Luzerne County, many branching off the Victory Pig household tree in a technique or one other! Jim Mirabelli, the proprietor and chief pizza officer of NEPA Pizza Evaluate (a information to all issues Northeastern Pennsylvania-style pizza) says, “Since having my first ‘trays’ (as locals name a full pizza) from locations like Pizza L’Oven, Pizza Excellent and Victory Pig, I’ve been fascinated by every crispy and splendidly flavorful chunk.“
We requested Jim to share his recipe for re-creating this pizza at residence. The important thing to genuine taste is a wholesome dose of frying oil — Jim likes peanut oil, however you need to use canola or sunflower oil as a substitute —and sliced, chopped candy onions sprinkled on high of the sauce.
This recipe seems in A Love Letter to Northeastern Pennsylvania-style Pizza by Jim Mirabelli.
Notes: We advocate utilizing gasoline for this recipe, because the bake requires manipulation of temperature that’s best with a gasoline flame.
Time
5 hours, half-hour
5 hours passive
half-hour lively
Yield
Makes 2 x 10 by 14-inch pizzas
Serves
2 to 4
Tools
Ooni Pizza Dough Scraper
10 x 14-inch metal pizza pan
ladle
Ooni pizza oven
Ooni Infrared Thermometer
Ooni Pizza Peel
Ooni Pizza Oven Gloves
offset or steel spatula
Pizza Cutter Rocker Blade or Ooni Pizza Cutter Wheel
cooling rack
Elements
2 x 500-gram Pan-fried Sicilian-style Dough Balls
28 grams (2 tablespoons) peanut oil (or most well-liked substitution), to grease the pan
extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle over and coat the dough
260 grams (a beneficiant cup) Pan-fried Sicilian-style Pizza Sauce (or extra for a saucier tray)
80 grams candy onion (about ¾ of a medium onion), finely sliced then chopped
200 grams (1 ¾ cups) shredded mozzarella
160 grams (1 cup) thinly sliced white cheddar
Methodology
Utilizing the Pan-fried Sicilian-style dough recipe, make dough and portion into 2 x 500-gram items.
Form into clean dough balls and place in a lined container. Enable to relaxation at room temperature for two to three hours, or till dough balls double in dimension.
Put together the pan. Pour in half the peanut oil and work it round to coat the underside and sides, then place dough within the pan. Coat your fingers with olive oil to forestall them sticking to the dough, then stretch the dough out by urgent it gently and creating dimples in it together with your fingers — just like what you’d do when making focaccia.
Drizzle and rub olive oil on high of the dough, then cowl it with plastic wrap. Enable to relaxation for 1 hour at room temperature.
Take away plastic, then press your fingers into the dough in a random solution to make dimples and push among the air out. Cowl once more for 1 hour.
Take away the plastic, dimple the dough one final time and press the skin of the dough in opposition to the perimeters of the pan to create a barely raised-edge crust.
Spoon half the sauce excessive of the dough, protecting all the things apart from a ½-inch border for the crust. Then, high the sauce with half of the onions.
Preheat your gasoline oven to 800°F (425°C) measured with an infrared thermometer pointed on the heart of the stone.
As soon as preheated, flip your burner flame to low and place the pan within the oven for 4 minutes, rotating 90 levels each 60 seconds. (When you’re working in a 12-inch oven, rotate 180 levels after 2 minutes, then cook dinner for two extra minutes.)
Take away pizza from the oven and switch flame to excessive till the middle of stone returns to 800°F (425°C).
Apply extra sauce to any dry areas of the pizza. Sprinkle frivolously with half the shredded mozzarella and cheddar.
With the flame nonetheless on excessive, return the pizza to the oven for two minutes. Flip off the flame, then depart the pizza inside with the door open (if relevant) for 4 to five minutes. The residual warmth of the stone will proceed to “fry” the underside of the pizza within the pan. It’s best to hear the crackling and popping of oil.
Retrieve the pizza from the oven and use an offset or steel spatula to take away it from the pan to a cooling rack to empty any extra oil.
Verify the underside of the pizza to make sure it’s golden brown and crispy.
If it isn’t crispy sufficient on your liking, refire the oven to 800°F (425°C), put the pizza again within the pan and place it again within the oven for 1 to 2 minutes with the flame turned off.
In case your pizza is crispy sufficient (it ought to appear like fried pork rinds), let it cool, then use a rocker cutter blade (or pizza cutter) to slice it into 8 “cuts” and luxuriate in!
Repeat the method for the second tray.
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