This sourdough Sicilian pizza recipe is sure to become a family favorite! One of the best parts about Sicilian pizza is that it is so easy to feed a larger group with it. Instead of having to crank out a bunch of pies, you can make one big sheet and be done with it. All you have to do is divide the topping by section or even slice, and you’re good to go.
What makes a great Sicilian pizza
With Neapolitan pizza, you get the light fluffy, airy rim (or cornicione, if you’re fancy). With New York-style pizza, you the crispy crust. But, with Sicilian pizza, you get the best of both worlds: a light airy crumb and a crispy fried bottom.
Sicilian pizza is highly underrated. When done right, it’s up there with the best. In fact, the perfect corner slice just might be the best.
Anything else that makes it great?
Of course! Another thing that makes it so great, the same thing that makes focaccia bread so great, is that it’s super easy to make. You don’t need to learn how to stretch the dough or slide it off of a peel.
All you have to do is mix the dough, let it rise, stretch it on a baking sheet, and then bake it. It’s that easy.
Also, while Neapolitan has a super short shelf life and New York style pizza is okay cold or reheated, Sicilian pizza it’s kind of like lasagna in that it is almost even better the next day. The crust only gets crispier when you reheat it. Speaking of the crust…
A little trick for making Sourdough Sicilian Pizza
Since the crust for Sicilian pizza is almost the same as my simple Focaccia bread recipe, I use the same trick for both.
Normally when making a Sicilian pizza or focaccia bread, you’d just grease the baking sheet with olive oil; however, because the dough has to proof in the pan longer than an instant yeast dough, you can’t do that. Trust me, I’ve tried.
When the dough proofs for a few hours, the oil ends up getting absorbed by the wet dough and then, instead of frying the bottom, it sticks to the pan.
The solution? Add a little saturated fat in the form of melted butter. Since it’s solid at room temp, it thickens and creates a barrier that won’t get absorbed. Plus, butter is way better than olive oil anyway, if we’re being honest.
That’s more than enough backstory. Time for my sourdough Sicilian Pizza Recipe…
Sicilian Pizza Recipe
Cuisine: Italian12
servings25
minutesThis is a super easy recipe that produces amazing pizza. The recipe for is a half baking sheet, but you can also cut the recipe in half and make a quarter sheet. Of course, you’d just end up with less pizza. You can also customize the pizza however you want, but I am going to describe the instructions for a classic cheese pizza. I also prefer the L&B Spumoni Gardens move of having the sauce on top of the cheese, but you can flip them if you want.
Ingredients
- Levain
50 grams of Simple Sourdough Starter
75 grams of bread flour
75 grams of water
- Final Dough
400 grams of bread flour
250 grams of water
15 grams of salt
200 grams of ripe Levain
- Tomato Sauce
28 oz can of high-quality plum tomatoes (e.g., San Marzano)
8 grams of sea salt
- Cheese
8 oz of low-moisture whole milk mozzarella
Fresh mozzarella, and pecorino
- Recommended Baking Tools
Food Scale
Half baking sheet
Directions
- Using 50 grams of your starter, 75 grams of flour, and 75 grams of water, make your levain.
- Once your levain is ready (about 6-12 hours later), use a 6-Qt Food Tub or similar plastic container to mix 400 grams of flour and 250 grams of water with the 200 grams of levain and 15 grams of salt.
- Use the pincer and fold method to make sure all of the flour and water are incorporated and then let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, use the stretch and fold method to develop the gluten in the dough. And then let it rest for another 20-30 minutes until the dough has relaxed and spread out to the sides of the container.
- Repeat step 4 a minimum of two more times. Note: I usually do an average of 4 folds. I stop when I see the dough is nice and smooth and really starting to rise.
- Let the dough continue to ferment until it has doubled. This will usually take about 4 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Once the dough is ready, heat two tablespoons of butter in the microwave just enough to melt and then add two tablespoons of olive oil. Mix and pour onto baking sheet to cover completely.
- Carefully dump the dough onto the baking sheet and then let rest for 20-30 minutes before stretching to fill the sheet. Most likely, you won’t get it to cover the sheet in one stretch. If that’s the case, let it rest for another 20-30 minutes and then stretch again. It should only take three stretches at most. Note: Be sure to cover your dough while it’s proofing. The pans that I have came with a nice plastic cover.
- Let the dough proof for at least two hours after fully stretched before baking.
- Baking Directions
- When your dough has just one hour left to proof, set your oven to the highest temp to preheat. Now is a good time to get your sauce and cheese ready too.
- Parbake your dough until it is just starting to turn a light golden brown. This will be about six minutes and 550 and closer to eight/nine at 500.
- Add sliced low-moisture mozzarella to cover the pizza. You can also add a little fresh mozzarella if you have it, but don’t add too much.
- Bake the pizza for another six to ten minutes depending on the temp of your oven.
- Add the sauce, pecorino, and any other toppings you’d like, and then bake for another six to ten minutes.
Notes
- There’s a chance that it might take a little longer to bake at the end. Every oven is different and everyone likes their crust differently. So, use my baking directions as a guideline but feel free to modify until you figure out your favorite way to cook this pizza.
- One thing I like to do to make the bottom crust extra crispy is remove it from the pan after it’s done baking and then put a couple of slices on tin foil and cook them for another minute or two on my baking steel. If you do this, you’ll want to be really careful because they can burn quickly.
- One tweak that I like to make to this is to make Kenji Alt Lopez’s version of Prince Street’s sauce. I highly recommend it, but also recommend going lighter on the red pepper if kids will be eating this because it can get pretty spicy.
- I’d love to see the Sicilian pizza you make. If you post it on Instagram or Facebook, be sure to tag me. And if you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.