Italian Cities: Naples - Pizza Fritta

 

Pizza Fritta (or fried pizza) became popular during World War II when wood fired pizza was unavailable. It was known as 'Pizza of the People.' It was more filling due to the frying process making the dough swell up. Nowadays it's a popular street food in Naples.

Ingredients:

360g 00 flour

1 tablespoon yeast

Pinch salt

280ml warm water

150g ricotta

100g grated parmesan

1 ball mozzarella

Fresh basil

Whatever pizza toppings you like

Start by making up the pizza dough. I use my stand mixer for this but you can do it by hand too. Mix the flour, yeast and sugar then add the water a bit at a time until a dough forms then knead for a few minutes until it's smooth and elastic. Cut the dough into 8 pieces and leave to rise while you get your fillings ready.

Mix the ricotta and parmesan in a bowl. Cut the parmesan into eight pieces and lay out any other fillings. I'm using pepperoni and ham. The most traditional fillings are ricotta and pork rinds!

Roll out each piece of dough into a rough circle and spread some ricotta mx onto each one. Add your fillings and some ripped up mozzarella then top with a couple of torn basil leaves. Fold each parcel up, you can do it more of a calzone shape or like me into a rectangle. Place on an oiled plate until ready to fry.

Heat up some vegetable oil in a frying pan about an inch deep. When it's hot enough to instantly cook a small piece of dough, you're ready to fry. Place half of the frittas in the pan and fry for 2 minutes on each side (or until they're golden brown in colour). Remove to a plate lined with kitchen towel to soak up any extra oil.

Serve with some marinara sauce for dipping and enjoy!

It's funny how much like a pizza doughnut this was. The cheeses in the frittas had melted giving a lovely gooey centre and the outside was doughy but crisp too. Just like a doughnut. They tasted so good with the marinara sauce, a perfect combo. Very filling though, I could only manage one of them. I can see how they were so popular during the war when filling food mattered. The creamy ricotta was such a nice addition to this that I'm tempted to make calzones this way the next time I make them. I don't think I'd fry pizza again though, I'm more a fan of baked dough for savoury things!