Introduction: Pizza Fritta

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Home made pizza is great! Easy home made pizza is better!

Normally I am not a huge fan of hmp, due to results from the past. Usually people make 1 big square pizza (as it fits nicely in most ovens), and put waaaay too much stuff on it. Then the crust is doughy and too thick, and after 15 minutes out of the oven it starts to get mushy with all the wet toppings people put on their pizza... BLEEGG

Not with the Pizza Fritta!

Basically it's a deep fried pizza base, with a few toppings, finished under a hot grill.

I make these (6 at a time) at least once a month!

Let's get started!

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

I just use stuff from the fridge. Anything will do, combine and experiment.

For the dough I use 500 grams of plain flour and a little sachet of yeast (7 grams). Also half a spoon of sugar and half a spoon of salt.

Step 2: Making the Dough for the Base

Measure 500 grams of plain flour and add the half spoon of salt, mixing lightely with a fork.

Step 3: Preparing the Dough - Mixing

Take 325 ml of lukewarm water and add the yeast and the sugar, stirring it to dissolve (most of) it. Add it to the flower. Make a dent in the flour to pour the watermixture in.

Then start stirring it with a fork. Stir in more and more flower until it get's really hard to stir any further and all the fluids are absorbed by the flour.

Scrape it out of the bowl and start kneading it into a nice and elastic feeling ball (10-15 minutes). The ball can feel a tiny bit sticky, bot not wet. If wet, add more flour.

Place the ball in a flour coated bowl (so it wont stick after rising), cover it with plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes.

Step 4: Prepare the Tomato Sauce

Cut the garlic into thin slices and add them to hot olive oil. Add the stems of the basil, cook for a few minutes until the garlic starts to brown just slightly. Then add a can of tomatoes (I use whole plumb tomatoes) and the basil leaves. Also I like to add a splash of balsemic vinegar. Let this simmer for 10 minutes, taste, maybe add some sugar/pepper/salt, taste again and mash the sauce in the pan with a fork. Leave it on a low heat for a couple of minutes then set aside.

Step 5: Prepare Toppings

Cut, peel, strip, bake, chop, set aside.

Step 6: Prepare for Frying

Heat a frying pan, add 1 inch or 2.5 cm oil (I use peanut oil). Meanwhile get the dough out of the bowl and divide it into 6 lumps. Roll them out to just about the size of your pan (they will shrink a bit after rolling). Make sure to lay them on a floured surface or they will stick and mess up the process.

Step 7: Start Frying the Bases

Starting with the first base you rolled out (so that they all get the same amount of post-rolling-rest). Carefully slide the base into the oil. Press the base down a bit with a wooden spoon to get oil on top of it. After about 1 minute turn the base and fry the other side until both sides are slightly browned. Set aside on a piece of paper and continue with the second base. Make all bases.

The steps up to here can be done on beforehand, although immediate preparation is always better. Sometimes it's nice to do the toppings and grilling with your guests to get their appetite going =] The smells are irresistible!

Step 8: Top Your Bases

With a spoon spread out a sixth of the tomato sauce per base then add toppings. Usually I start with some slices of mozzarella, then add the rest, sticking to 1 or 2 major flavours per pizza. Less is more when you have good products!

Step 9: Grill It!

This usually takes about 4 minutes per go. So for the guest it seems you are cramming out 6 fresh pizza's in under 20 minutes =]

Step 10: Nom Nom Nom!

Before serving I shave some fresh Parmesan over the pizza's and drizzle some high quality olive oil and add some dried oregano.

Hope you enjoy!