Pizza diavola
Prep 30 mins (plus resting)
Cook 10 mins
Makes 2-3 pizzas
Difficulty 3
“From the start it was important that we had the right style of dough to form the base of all our pizzas,” says Carlo Grossi. “We wanted more of a Roman style of pizza, a lighter, crisper end result than the softer Neapolitan-style base that tends to droop in your hands! We experimented with different fermentation times and ultimately found the best time to be 48 hours. It gives the best crust with just the right amount of chew and great blistering, while also allowing the pizza to stand the weight of the toppings. Noteworthy here is that we always use the purified water that we serve in the restaurant, which I believe makes a very big difference to the end product in both flavour, density and texture. These elements gave us a great starting point for our pizza program.
Cooking pizza at home is like making pasta: it’s tactile. Once you start rolling it out, everyone starts to get involved, getting their hands into the dough and making all sorts of shapes and rustic-looking bases. It’s most fun because it really brings people together, and the satisfaction of making something together that you’ll then eat as a group is a truly fulfilling feeling. The ‘devil’s pizza’ is another spicy pizza and one of the favourites of Ombra’s regulars. It’s got just enough kick to satisfy even the most discerning of our chilli lovers.” You’ll need to start this recipe 2 days ahead to make the pizza dough.
Coarse semola flour, for dusting
150g San Marzano tinned tomatoes, blended
300g fior di latte, torn into small pieces
90g thinly sliced hot salami
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
Olive oil, for drizzling
PIZZA DOUGH
2g fresh yeast, crumbled, or 2 tsp dried yeast
250ml water
400g good-quality strong pizza flour
2 tsp salt
1. For pizza dough, dissolve the yeast in ¼ cup of the water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the flour, salt and remaining water and mix on low speed until combined, then increase the speed slightly and mix for 10–15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a container, cover and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours.
2. The next day remove the dough from the fridge, then cut and divide into 2-3 pieces. Roll into balls and leave them on a floured tray, covered with a clean tea towel, to prove for another 24 hours in the fridge. The next day the dough will be ready to use.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan-forced). Lightly oil a large pizza tray or preheat a pizza stone.
4. Lightly dust the workbench with semola flour. Stretch the pizza dough using your hands ensuring the edge is thick enough to form a crust. Transfer the dough to the prepared tray or the preheated pizza stone using a paddle.
5. Spread the tomato sauce over the dough with the back of a spoon. Scatter with the cheese, salami and chilli, then drizzle with olive oil. Bake in bacthes for 5–7 minutes until crisp and golden.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
N O T E
For another take, try prosciutto and gorgonzola. Swap out the tomatoes, salami and chillies, and replace with 150g prosciutto and 90g Gorgonzola.
This is an edited extract from Ombra: Recipes from the Salumi Bar by Carlo Grossi, published by Lantern, RRP $39.99, on Tuesday 30 March 2021.
