Sicilian Pizza
A thick, soft, rectangular pizza proved in an oiled tin, topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan and baked for 25 minutes.
Photograph credit: Sicilian pizza by LWYang from USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A Sunday dinner for a table of eight: one big tray, cut into squares, with a base like focaccia and a topping that goes right to the corner. Sicilian pizza is thick and airy with a crisp, oily base, and it feeds a crowd for little money. Think focaccia with toppings.
The dough is wetter than a standard pizza dough, which gives it the open, bubbly crumb. Mix it, let it rise once, then press it into an oiled tin and let it rise again until puffy. Do not punch the dough down hard. Press it gently with oiled fingers to fill the corners, so the air stays in the dough.
Be generous with the oil in the tin: it fries the base to a golden crunch. Top with sauce, mozzarella and a dusting of parmesan and bake on a low shelf so the base browns before the cheese does. Slide the pizza out of the tin onto a rack straight away, so steam does not soften the bottom. Move it out fast.
Quick Answers
How long does Sicilian Pizza take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour 45 minutes of Rising, so allow 2 hours 30 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
Sicilian Pizza: Step by Step
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Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and 1 tablespoon of the oil and mix to a sticky dough. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.
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Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into a 33 x 23 cm tin. Turn the dough into it, press gently into the corners and leave to rise for 45 minutes.
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Heat the oven to 230°C / 445°F. Spread the passata over the dough and sprinkle with the oregano.
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Add the mozzarella and parmesan, drizzle with the last of the oil and bake on a low shelf for 25 minutes until golden and bubbling.
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Slide out onto a rack and cut into 8 squares.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
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Worth Getting Right
- Use plenty of oil in the tin; it crisps the base.
- Press the dough into the corners with oiled fingers.
- Bake low in the oven so the base browns.
Changing the Recipe
- Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.
Pairs Well With
Green salad · Roasted peppers · Olives · Red wine
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Ciabatta, Citrus Fennel Salad, Fave e Cicoria.
Leftovers and Storage
Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Freeze slices for 2 months.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Vegetarian when made with a hard cheese made without animal rennet in place of the parmesan.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published .
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