My Best Sicilian Pan Pizza
A simple pizza dough technique that yields a super crispy crust and a light, airy center. The flavor is outstanding too. Fermentation is room temperature so there’s no refrigeration needed.
Sweat the garlic in olive oil over medium heat until soft and lightly brown. Stir in the Aleppo pepper (or red chili flake), dried oregano and fennel seed. Cook the mixture for another minute or two. Finally, add the can of San Marzano tomatoes, sugar and sea salt. Stir the mixture again to thoroughly combine all of the ingredients and simmer the sauce for an hour or until it has reduced by 1/3. Process the sauce to break up the tomatoes, but don't totally liquify it.
Dissolve the sea salt in warm water, then sprinkle in the yeast and reserve the mixture. Please note, this will absolutely NOT kill your yeast. There's just not enough salt in this recipe to do that so don't be concerned. Add the flour to a large bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the water/yeast mixture along with the extra virgin olive oil.
Mix the ingredients together with your hands until it forms a solid, evenly hydrated mass. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for about 3 minutes. When done, it'll be smooth and silky in texture. Any time it feels too sticky, just sprinkle the dough with a tiny bit of flour and continue kneading (watch my video for the technique).
Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl. Wrap it tight with plastic film and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
Gently turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and cut it into four equal-sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball, place them into individual, greased containers with a lid and store them overnight in your refrigerator. Pull the dough and let it rest at room temperature two hours before you plan to make pizza.
Coarsely grate both the white cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and mix them together. **Please purchase block cheese and not the pre-shredded stuff. The later is covered in anti-caking agents and starches, that causes it to brown quickly and melt kind of weird. Block cheese is far superior in quality and it'll produce a much better pizza.
Pre-heat your oven to 500°F with a pizza stone toward the top and a rack at the bottom.
Grease a round 10 or 12 inch pan with some olive oil and carefully add one pizza dough. Lightly oil your hands and start pressing the dough out from the center to the side of the pan. Finally, "dock" the dough to the edge by pressing it firmly against the side of the pan. I typically place my thumb on the outside and my middle and index fingers on the inside of the pan, then press together.
Apply an even coating of pizza sauce all the way up to the edge of the pan. This is indicative of bar pizza. It'll give you that nice burnt, "laced" crust that this style in known for.
Top the pizza with cheese, about 8 ounces per pie, and run it right up to the edge just like you did with the pizza sauce. Finish the pizza up with any additional topping that you'd like to add.
Bake the pizza for about 8 minutes on the lower rack, then transfer it from the pan to the stone and continue cooking for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. This extra step helps to crisp up the crust.
If you enjoyed this recipe, take a look at my version of Detroit-Style Pan Pizza.
A simple pizza dough technique that yields a super crispy crust and a light, airy center. The flavor is outstanding too. Fermentation is room temperature so there’s no refrigeration needed.
