Montanara Pizza

Published on July 12, 2020 in Italian By Vincenzo Prosperi

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How to Make Montanara Pizza

Montanara Pizza is a mouth-watering, crispy fried pizza dough with its origins in the mountains of pizza heaven – Naples. Cooked until perfectly golden brown, the montanara pizza is served hot yet fresh on the palette with the toppings lathered on once it has been fried. Be warned, the textures on your tastebuds might just go into melt down when you take a bite of this one!

This video recipe takes you through the making of the montanara pizza vs classic Neapolitan Pizza Margherita – which will you choose?

Watch Montanara Pizza video recipe:

How to Make Montanara Pizza – Deep Fried Pizza from Naples

Vincenzo’s Top Tip To Make Montanara Pizza

CUT to reduce

You can also make smaller size Montanara Pizza portions, just cut the dough ball in half to reduce the size.

Montanara Pizza

Vincenzo's Plate

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Equipment

Large mixing bowl
Table or Bench space
Scales
Large Spoon
Your hands!
Deep fryer or saucepan for frying

Ingredients

1 kg Le 5 Stagioni Pizza Napoletana Flour 4.25 cups
600 ml Water 2.5 cups. Room temperature
2 grams Fresh yeast 0.03oz. or half teaspoon of dry yeast
30 grams Sea salt 2 tablespoons
1 tin San Marzano Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Handful pecorino romano cheese
80-100 grams Buffalo Mozzarella 3.53oz
Vegetable Oil for frying

Instructions

STEP ONE: HOW TO MAKE THE PIZZA NAPOLETANA DOUGH FOR MONTANARA PIZZA
Montanara Pizza starts is made with an authentic Neapolitan pizza dough.
Pour 600ml water into your mixing bowl and dissolve the sea salt by mixing it in with your hands.
Add 100g/3.53oz of flour to the water and mix using your hands.
Once the flour has dissolved, add the fresh yeast, breaking it down into the water again, until it disappears!
At this stage, add the flour gradually, mixing as you go and once your dough is thicker and starts to form, transfer it on to your bench (don’t forget to line the bench with flour first!)
Rub the excess sticky dough from your hands, letting it drop into the mix and knead it through the dough.
To knead, press forward and fold back, repeating this process and working the dough until you get a soft and elastic consistency.
Once you are happy with the dough, cover it and leave it to rest for 18hr at room temperature.
After this time, create pizza balls that weigh 270g/9.05o. Put them into a tray then cover them too and leave to prove for another 4-6hr.
STEP TWO: STRETCHING THE MONTANARA PIZZA
Spread some flour over the top of your board.
Get one of the balls out from the tray using a small amount of flour on the sides to prevent it from sticking – to your hands and the tray – and place it on the bench.
This dough is very elastic so will stretch easily. Start to create the round base by working your fingertips from the bottom all the way up, gently flattening the whole base and leaving no edge around it at all.
Make sure the middle section is left thicker than the rest.
STEP THREE: HOW TO COOK THE MONTANARA PIZZA
To cook the montanara pizza, using a fork, make several pricks in the base, all over, this will help to make sure the pizza doesn’t blow up when it’s cooking.
Heat up the oil in either a deep fryer or saucepan until it reaches 180°C/356°F.
Once the correct temperature is reached, place the pizza base into the hot oil and gently move it around until it starts to become golden brown.
Try to cook it until it is crispy on the outside and then turn it once only before cooking the other side.
Once the fried pizza dough is ready, place it onto kitchen paper to strain out any excess oil.
E ora si mangia, Vincenzo’s Plate….Enjoy!

Video

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How to serve Montanara Pizza

Get a large scoop of blended San Marzano tomatoes and lather it all over the top of the fried pizza dough along with a generous sprinkle of pecorino romano cheese.
Cut the Buffalo mozzarella into strips and place them over the sauce before adding fresh basil leaves on top.
Cut and enjoy while hot for ultimate crispness!

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