Kissed pizza, a simple pizza baked without topping, folded in half, using the trick of oil to prevent sticking and closing. Once out of the oven, it is opened and topped raw, with ingredients that can vary and be chosen according to personal taste. I chose stracciatella as the cheese filling; its creaminess and taste pairs well with the cold cuts I chose for my kissed pizza. I used both Pistachio Bologna Mortadella and Parma Prosciutto, but instead of cold cuts, you can also use grilled or even more flavorful fried vegetables. Preparing kissed pizza is very easy, but like all leavened products, it requires the right attention to achieve soft and, at the same time, crunchy, light, and digestible leavened products. It’s very important to start with a good dough and a good rising process. Even the baking makes a difference, which is why I wanted to use a baking stone. I had bought one for less than 10 euros and hadn’t tried it yet, and I must say the result was exceptional. For the dough, I made a simple pizza dough, worked almost entirely in a bowl with a spoon, so with minimal effort, I achieved a magnificent result. I’ll explain everything better in the recipe. Read here my review on the Indesit oven I used for baking.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 5 Hours
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 2 pizzas
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Kissed Pizza
- 7 oz cups all-purpose flour
- 7 oz cups bread flour
- 1 cup cups water
- 1 tsp tsp yeast
- 1.5 tsp tsp salt
- 7 oz cups stracciatella
- 3.5 oz oz pistachio mortadella
- 3.5 oz oz prosciutto
- to taste arugula
- to taste yellow and red cherry tomatoes
- to taste pistachio granules
- to taste olive oil
Tools for Preparing Kissed Pizza
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Work surface
- 1 Oven
- 1 Baking stone
Steps to Prepare Kissed Pizza
Let’s start preparing the dough. In a bowl, put fresh or dry yeast with water and mix with a spoon.
Then add 2/3 of the flour and mix well with the spoon. Add the salt, mix, and then add the remaining flour in two parts; work first with a spoon, take breaks, and then work by hand when all the flour is used because the dough becomes harder.
Work for a few minutes on a lightly floured work surface to obtain a nice dough ball. Put back in the bowl, wait a few minutes, give more folds, you can even repeat three times, and then let it rise covered with plastic wrap for 3-4 hours in a fairly warm environment, around 78°F. You can also reduce the amount of yeast and increase the rising time to about 8-10 hours using only bread flour.
Take the risen dough, deflate it, and turn it onto a floured surface, spread it out, and close it with a series of folds.
Divide the dough into two equal balls, round them well, and let them rise for another hour covered with a damp cloth.
When the dough balls are well-risen and ready to bake, place in the oven the baking stone, halfway up the oven on the rack, preheat the convection oven to the highest temperature, mine seems to go over 482°F, but I’m not sure, anyway always use the highest temperature of the home oven or if you have a pizza oven even at 662°F. Of course, if you don’t have the stone, the classic oven tray is fine, better if covered with parchment paper, in that case, just turn on the oven about 5-10 minutes before to bring it to temperature, with the stone it takes at least half an hour.
On the work surface, put some semolina flour that will help us spread the dough balls without sticking to the stone, or the tray, or the peel.
Stretch one dough ball at a time, I spread them as done for Neapolitan pizza, moving the air toward the edges of the pizza, pressing from the center outward, then I turn the disk from one hand to the other so in no time it is well spread, to a diameter of 12-13 inches.
Once the pizza bases are spread, pour some olive oil on half of the base, and with your hands spread it all over the base to ensure that when folded in half, the two parts do not stick.
Then, fold the bases in half and bake in a hot oven for about 10 minutes; the times may vary depending on your oven, always adjust by sight, it should be golden and puffy.
To insert into the oven I used very handy small paddles, the ones that come with the Ferrari pizza oven, perfect for kissed pizza because they have the same shape, while for the oven you have to use both to move the pizza, alternatively you can use an aluminum lid, or a cardboard cut in half-moon shape, cover it with parchment paper and place it in the oven.
Once the kissed pizza is baked, mine seems to have had a couple of lip injections :), we open it and fill it with a layer of stracciatella, abundant mortadella or prosciutto, and then with the mortadella we can add a bit of pistachio granules and with prosciutto, arugula, and cherry tomatoes.
Close and enjoy our delicious kissed pizzas, I cut them in half so my husband and I could try both, and I must say both were delicious, and we really liked it a lot, a great alternative to the classic topped pizza.
