Top This: Montanara (Ã la Forcella)
Learn how to work a new topping onto your pies.
[Photographs: Erin Mosbaugh]
What's better than pizza? Fried pizza. Or this is the thought that popped into my head when I took my first bite of the montanara pizza at Forcella in Williamsburg (reviewed here). It was one of those hit-you-over-the-head good, oh, man, I need more sort of reactions.
Giulio Adriani is the mad creator of Forcella's montanara pizza, which he deep-fries in vegetable oil and then finishes in the oven to achieve a light and airy crust with the perfect chew, and a crispness only achieved by frying at 375°F. He tops the montanara simply with crushed San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella that he makes in house, grana padano cheese, and fresh basil leaves.
The thing is, Adriani isn't really a mad scientist of pizza at all. Neapolitan grandmothers have been making fried pizza for ages, frying the dough in a pan filled with hot oil and then topping it with a scant film of tomato sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan.
Pizza. Fried. Neapolitan grannys do it, and there's no real reason we can think of that you shouldn't make this fun and fantastic variation on a classic. Click through the slideshow to find out how.
What You'll Need (for one pizza)
- 1 dough portion
- Vegetable oil for frying (preferably sunflower oil)
- Canned, whole San Marzano tomatoes
- Fresh mozzarella or Fior di Latte
- Grana padano, grated
- 1 bunch fresh basil
- Salt
- A deep cast-iron frying pan (or a deep fryer)
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