The crunchy pizza tongues are the most viral recipe of the moment: they are everywhere, and you know I’m not one for “hype.” If everyone has already done something, what’s the point of proposing it? By now, you’ve probably seen them in every version. But someone was waiting for my take, so here they are: cooked, eaten, and super crunchy! For my crunchy pizza tongues, only tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Taggiasca olives, but really, you can top them any way you like. However, in my opinion, crunchy pizza tongues are best enjoyed with just tomato. Well, it’s up to you. In the meantime, let’s go to the kitchen to prepare the dough, which is very easy and can be done in a few hours. Yes! Hours. Because a bit of rising is necessary here.
Not to be missed
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 4 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven, Electric Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Caputo Pizzeria)
- 1/3 cup flour type 0 (I use Caputo Nuvola)
- 7 oz water
- 1 tsp fresh yeast
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 14 oz tomato pulp
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste oregano
- to taste extra virgin olive oil (for the baking trays)
- 7 oz pizza mozzarella
- to taste Taggiasca olives
Tools
- 1 KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Reusable Fabric Lid
- 1 Dough Cutter
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 2 Pizza Baking Trays
Steps
In the bowl of the stand mixer (but you can simply use a regular bowl and proceed by hand), add the water with the salt. Add the flours and the crumbled fresh yeast. Start mixing to combine the ingredients. When the dough is almost formed, add the oil and let it absorb while continuing to work. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form a ball. Cover it with an inverted bowl and let it rest for ten minutes. After resting, take the dough and do three sets of strengthening folds (just lift the dough and fold it over itself as shown in this video), with ten-minute intervals of rest under the bowl. After the final fold, place the dough inside the bowl, cover it, and let rise until doubled. It will take about two hours. Bring the dough back to the work surface, weigh it, and divide it into four equal parts (130/150 grams each, depending on the weight of your dough). Form four balls with a little semolina, place them on a baking tray, cover with a cloth, and let them rest for an hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce: in a bowl, season the tomato pulp with extra virgin olive oil, oregano, and salt. Dice the pizza mozzarella.
Grease two baking trays with oil (you can also use parchment paper, but you’ll still need to grease it generously if you want a nice crispy base). Take the dough balls and stretch them by hand to form tongues about 12 inches long: they should be thin. Place them on the trays (two per tray) and top with tomato sauce and a drizzle of oil.
Preheat the oven to 446 °F. I used the pizza function with crisp finish, which removes moisture from the cooking compartment, making the food even crispier, but don’t worry if your oven doesn’t have this function, the pizza tongues will still turn out crispy. Bake the pizza tongues on the bottom rack for 15/20 minutes. Add the mozzarella, olives, or other toppings as desired, and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and enjoy the hot pizza tongues.
