Not really a pizza. Chilli, anchovies, mozzarella, parsley and tomato on a thicker base.
John Drummond
Mise en place
Tick each one off as it goes in.
Makes 4 serves
This is the Sicilian one, and it is a cheese bread rather than a pizza — a thicker, softer base that goes under the toppings rather than disappearing beneath them.
Chilli, anchovies, mozzarella, parsley and tomato. It is close to the Napoli but the parsley takes it somewhere else entirely, and the thicker base means it will take a longer, slightly gentler bake.
The method
Not the ferocious heat of a Neapolitan base: a thicker crumb needs time to cook through before the top burns. About 220°C, or 200°C fan, not the very top of the dial, and longer.
One ball of my pizza dough, rested: the flour, wine and oil above make one batch, four bases, as the Pizza Dough recipe says. Knuckles, not a rolling pin. A pin drives the air out of the rim and it never comes back. Middle out, outer two centimetres left alone, then pick it up and let gravity finish it. If it fights you, it is not rested: walk away for ten minutes rather than force it.
Leave it thicker than a pizza and prove it again in the tin for twenty minutes before it is topped. Bread underneath, not a cracker.
Oil the base, then the mozzarella straight on. No sauce on this one; the tomatoes do that job. Anchovies spaced out, then the sliced chilli.
Sliced tomatoes over the cheese, not under, so they roast instead of steaming. A pinch of salt flakes over them.
Twelve to fifteen minutes, until the base is cooked through. Lift a corner and look: pale underneath, back in it goes.
Most of the chopped parsley goes on after it comes out. Cooked parsley tastes of nothing much; raw parsley over hot cheese is the whole point.
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