Vinos — Sicilian Cheese Bread
Not really a pizza. Chilli, anchovies, mozzarella, parsley and tomato on a thicker base.
Start cookingIn JD’s words
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
Cook it unhurried.
- 01
Oven, Lower
This one does not want the same ferocious heat as a Neapolitan base — a thicker crumb needs time to cook through before the top burns. Hot oven, but not the very top of it, and give it longer.
- 02
Base, Stretch
Knuckles, not a rolling pin. A rolling pin drives the air out of the rim and you will never get it back. Work from the middle out, leave the outer two centimetres alone, and let gravity do the last of it — pick it up and let the weight of the dough pull it round. If it fights you, it is not rested. Walk away for ten minutes rather than force it.
- 03
Base, Thicker
Leave this one thicker than you would a pizza and let it prove again in the tin for twenty minutes before it is topped. You want bread underneath, not a cracker.
- 04
Oil, Cheese, Anchovy
Oil the base, then the mozzarella straight on — no sauce layer on this one, the tomatoes do that job. Anchovies spaced out, then the sliced chilli.
- 05
Tomato, On Top
Sliced tomatoes on top of the cheese rather than under it, so they roast rather than steam, and a pinch of salt flakes over them.
- 06
Bake, Longer
Twelve to fifteen minutes. You are waiting for the base to be cooked through — lift a corner and look. Pale underneath means it goes back in.
- 07
Parsley, After
Most of the chopped parsley goes on after it comes out, not before. Cooked parsley tastes of nothing much; raw parsley over hot cheese is the whole point of it.
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