Fried Pizza is a delicious take on the Napoleon street food, Pizza Fritta. This Fried Pizza starts with a homemade pizza crust, flatted by hand, then deep fried, topped with sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese, then baked until the cheese is melted. Finish your Fried Pizza with fresh basil and you’ll have a delicious and unique pizza dinner!
Italian Street Food at Home
Have you ever had pizza fritta? It is a street food version of pizza in Naples and it is so delicious!
Typically, pizza fritta might look like a fried pizza dough pocket stuffed with cheese, meat, and other yummy things. It’s just the perfect street food because it’s grab and go. It might be served to you wrapped in paper so you can walk and eat or sit at a small table for a quick meal.
Since I can’t go to Naples on a Tuesday night for pizza fritta, I decided to make my own, admittedly Americanized version at home. It turned out wonderfully and I know you’ll love it too!
Making Fried Pizza
To make fried pizza, you’ll start with a homemade pizza crust. This process begins with a mixture of warm water, sugar (or honey), and yeast. Allow the yeast to proof, then add it to flour, salt, and olive oil.
Mix the ingredients well until a soft, sticky dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth.
Next, oil a bowl and place the dough in the bowl, turning it once to oil all sides of the dough. Cover and place in a warm place until the dough has doubled. I like to set my oven to 100 degrees, then turn it off and set the bowl of dough inside, leaving the door slightly open. The dough seems to rise nicely this way. If it seems to be going slowly, heat the oven up just a little bit and turn it off again; that should get the dough rising.
Cut the dough into six equal portions and flatten each one into a circle, about 8 inches across.
VERY carefully, fry the dough in hot oil. Now, the dough does like to spit. I very gently lower the dough into the hot oil, then stand back. Allow the dough to fry on one side until it begins to brown, about 1 minute. Then flip and fry on the second side until slightly browned.
Place each freshly fried pizza dough round on a clean kitchen towel or a baking rack to drain off any excess oil.
Top your pizza crusts with sauce and slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.
Bake the pizzas to melt the cheese. This takes 5 minutes for just slightly melted cheese, or up to 10 minutes for well melted, bubbly cheese (that’s how I like mine!). Finish the pizzas with torn pieces of fresh basil.
Yum!
A note about reheating: These pizzas are the best when fresh. If you want to store any leftovers in the refrigerator to eat later, I suggest reheating in the oven. I heated my oven to 350 degrees, placed the pizza on a cookie sheet, and baked just for a couple of minutes until hot.
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Fried Pizza Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
- Yield: 6 personal size pizzas 1x
Description
Fried Pizza is a delicious take on the Napoleon street food, Pizza Fritta. This Fried Pizza starts with a homemade pizza crust, flatted by hand, then deep fried, topped with sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese, then baked until the cheese is melted. Finish you Fried Pizza with fresh basil and you’ll have a delicious and unique pizza dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups warm water (approximately 110F degrees)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 package (.25 ounce) instant yeast
- 4 cups flour, divided
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Vegetable oil or canola oil for deep frying
- Pizza sauce
- 2 8-ounce balls of fresh mozzarella cheese
- 12 fresh basil leaves
- Other pizza toppings if desired
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Set aside for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 ½ cups of the flour and the salt. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Mix with an electric mixer until the dough is smooth.
- Turn the dough out onto a surface floured with some of the remaining ½ cup flour. Knead for 8 minutes, adding more flour a little at a time, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough into an oiled mixing bowl, turning once to oil both sides. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled, 60-90 minutes.
- Heat vegetable oil to 350F degrees in a heavy pot on the stove over medium to medium-high heat.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Flatten one piece of dough by hand into a circle 8-inches across. Very carefully lower the dough into the hot oil. *Use extreme caution when frying. The oil does tend to spit, so stand back and keep children away.
- Fry the pizza dough on each side until it begins to brown, approximately 1 minute per side. Remove the pizza crust from the oil with metal tongs and set on a cooling rack.
- Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the remaining dough.
- Heat the oven to 400F degrees.
- Top the pizza crusts with pizza sauce, slices of the fresh mozzarella cheese, and any additional toppings you choose.
- Bake the pizzas on a cookie sheet in a 400F degree oven for 5-10 minutes, depending on your desired level of doneness.
- Tear the basil leaves into bite size pieces, then top the pizzas before serving.
- Prep Time: 90 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian American
Keywords: pizza, dinner, fried pizza, pizza fritta, Italian
Tell Me About Your Pizza!
When you make fried pizza, come back and tell me how you like it! You can leave a comment and recipe rating below, tag me in a post on Instagram @MomNeedsChocolate, or snap a picture of your pizzas and add it to the pin on Pinterest. Can’t wait to see how they turn out for you!
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