Hey, pizza is like chocolate layer cake, Chinese food, and macaroni and cheese: you can eat it your whole life, and somehow never get tired of it.
Still, variations on the theme are always welcome. And Pizza Sfincioni, with its thick layer of crunchy bread crumbs on top, is unusual indeed.
Alternately called Palermo Christmas pizza; Sfincione di San Giovanni; or just plain Sfincione, this thick, soft, Sicilian-style pizza is traditionally served on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, Good Friday, and on the feast of San Giovanni, June 24.
This recipe is on the King Arthur Flour website. I decided to try this recipe because it had Japanese Bread Flakes as a dressing. Since I haven’t tried much with Sicilian pizza and the King Arthur Flour website said this pizza was a favorite for New Years Eve, I thought the pizza is fitting for tonight.
The crunchy crust was very tasty. The Japanese Bread Flakes gave this pizza a totally different crunch on top. We enjoyed the pizza. The cheese goes on the dough first, sauce with onions, more cheese and Japanese Bread Flakes on top.
This thick, Sicilian-style pizza ? "Pizza Sfincione" ? is filled with a simple mixture of tomato sauce, onions, and cheese. Sounds familiar so far, right? Here comes the twist: it's sprinkled with bread crumbs bathed in olive oil, which bake into a crunchy, tasty topping.
Sfincione, loosely translated as "thick sponge," refers to the pizza's thickness and texture. Soft and just mildly chewy, it's a Sicilian tradition on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Good Friday. The rest of the year, it's a staple at bakeries, where it's prepared in large rectangular pans, and sold by the square.
Ingredients View by: Volume Weight
Crust
* 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 2 teaspoons instant yeast
* 4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional but delicious
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons to 1 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water*
* *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.
Topping
* 2 large sweet onions
* 28-ounce can chopped or diced tomatoes
* 2 teaspoons Pizza Seasoning, optional
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella
* 4 ounces provolone, shredded
* 3/4 to 1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
* 3 cups coarse dried bread crumbs, such as Panko
* 6 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon Pizza Seasoning, optional
Crust
* 12 3/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 2 teaspoons instant yeast
* 4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional but delicious
* 7/8 ounce olive oil
* 7 to 9 ounces lukewarm water*
* *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.
Topping
* 2 pounds sweet onions
* 28-ounce can chopped or diced tomatoes
* 2 teaspoons Pizza Seasoning, optional
* 8 ounces shredded mozzarella
* 4 ounces provolone, shredded
* 3 to 4 ounces freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
* 6 ounces coarse dried bread crumbs, such as Panko
* 2 5/8 ounces olive oil
* 1 tablespoon Pizza Seasoning, optional
Directions
1) To make the crust: Combine all of the ingredients and mix and knead to make a smooth, soft dough, using a stand mixer, bread machine, or your hands.
2) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or large 8-cup measure (or leave it in the bread machine), and let it rise till it's very puffy, about 90 minutes.
3) While the dough is rising, prepare the toppings. Start by peeling and slicing the onions, and frying them with a bit of olive oil till they're golden brown. This will take about 20 minutes. Midway through, add salt and sugar to taste, if desired; about 1 tablespoon sugar will heighten their flavor.
4) Add the tomatoes to the fried onions, along with the Pizza Seasoning, if desired. Simmer and stir for a couple of minutes. If the sauce seems overly liquid, continue to cook till it's firmed up a bit. You don't want it totally dry, like scrambled eggs, but neither do you want it swimming in liquid. Use your judgment. Turn off the heat, and let the mixture cool while the dough rises.
5) Stir together the bread crumbs, oil, and Pizza Seasoning, if you're using it. Set it aside.
6) Spray a large rimmed baking sheet (a 13" x 18" half sheet pan is perfect) with non-stick vegetable oil spray. Drizzle it with olive oil, tilting the pan so the oil spreads out a bit.
7) Gently deflate the risen dough, and stretch it into an oval in your hands. Plop the oval onto the baking sheet, and press it towards the edges. When it starts to fight back, walk away for 15 minutes. When you return, you should be able to press it to the edges and nearly into the corners. If you can't, give it another short rest, and try again. You want the dough to cover as much of the pan's bottom as possible (without making yourself too crazy about it).
Cover the dough, and let it rise till puffy, about 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425̊F.
9) Uncover the dough, and sprinkle it with the shredded mozzarella and provolone. Then spread the tomato/onion sauce over the cheese.
10) Top with the Parmesan, then the bread crumbs.
11) Bake the pizza for 35 minutes, or until the crust and crumbs are brown. Remove it from the oven, and serve it hot or warm. Hint: to prevent a soggy bottom crust, cut the pizza in half crosswise, then lift each half onto a cooling rack. Cut individual slices with a pair of scissors.
Yield: about 12 servings.
I tried to look for the recipe on King Arthur Flour homepage under recipes. I couldn’t find the recipe with a link. I received a newsletter in my email from King Arthur Flour and it linked me to this recipe. I also tried to copy the link and paste on word. It still didn’t work. If anyone is interested in this recipe, here are the directions to make the pizza.
The changes I made to this recipe were to mix the yeast, water, and about 3 tablespoons flour (from the volume measurements ) first and let that rest for about 45 minutes. Didn’t use the Pizza Dough flavor. Used 9 ounces of warm water. Sea salt for pizza dough. Only one large sweet onion, and added some crispy toasted onion bits near the end of frying the sweet onion. No pizza seasoning in the topping. Used Italian seasoning added to the Japanese Bread Flakes with oil. Used provolone, mozzarella, grated Parmesan and shredded Parmesan. Pam to spray baking sheet, then more olive oil drizzled on baking sheet than they called for. Didn’t bake over a stone, just on the middle oven rack. The dough was very sticky and tried to open it like a pizza. That didn’t work, so just put it in pan and pushed with my fingers until the dough was spread on the pan. When the dough was rising the second time on the pan, it rose to about double in size. Added some Italian seasoning, sugar, and sea salt to tomato mixture. Kneaded the dough by hand.
Some of things I like about this pizza were the really crunchy crust, blend of cheeses, and I really liked the crunchy top made with the Japanese Bread Flakes mixed with Italian seasoning and olive oil. Will have to try those on another pizza.
Happy New Year!
Norma
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