The escarole pizza is to Christmas what the Casatiello is to Easter!!
In Naples, in fact, escarole pizza is one of those dishes that cannot be missing during the holiday season!!
I generally prepare it in generous quantities to serve as an appetizer on festive days or as a lunch on Christmas Eve, when you want to stay light in view of the big dinner without giving up something good.
The traditional recipe includes a bread dough shell filled with Neapolitan-style escarole seasoned with black Gaeta olives, capers, and pine nuts.
Of course, there are various alternatives to the traditional recipe, which include the use of mozzarella in the filling or other doughs for the outer shell such as mad dough or puff pastry as in the case of the puff pastry star with escarole that you can find here on the blog.
Now take a moment to read the recipe and then… let’s cook and eat!!
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 3 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients (for a 28 cm diameter pan):
- 14 oz all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water (warm)
- 0.21 oz fresh yeast
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 0.35 oz fine salt
- 2 heads smooth escarole
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 3.5 oz black olives (pitted Gaeta)
- to taste capers (to desalt)
- to taste pine nuts
- to taste fine salt
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Pan
- 1 Skillet
Steps
To prepare the escarole pizza, start by washing and draining the escarole.
Meanwhile, work on the dough. First, in a bowl, collect the warm water and dissolve the yeast in it, then add the oil, half of the flour, and start mixing with a fork. Then add the salt, continuing to mix to let it absorb, and the remaining flour. Once the dough has taken shape, transfer to a work surface and knead it by hand for a few minutes until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough.
Put the dough back into the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise until doubled (this will take about 2 hours). Meanwhile, in a skillet, add a drizzle of oil and sauté the garlic along with the pitted olives, pine nuts, and desalted capers.
Add the escarole and let it cook, turning it occasionally, until completely wilted and soft. Adjust the salt and set it aside to cool.
Take the risen dough, divide it in half, and create two loaves, one slightly larger than the other. Shape them and let them rest for 20 minutes covered with a cloth. After this second resting phase, roll out the loaves with the help of a rolling pin. First roll out the larger one and line a pan (I used the one for pastiera) previously brushed with oil. Prick the base of the pizza with the tines of a fork, fill it with the escarole, and roll out the second loaf. Close the escarole pizza and remove any excess from the edges and pinch them well to seal properly.
Finally, prick the surface as well and brush it with a drizzle of oil.
Bake the escarole pizza in a preheated static oven at 375°F for about 30 minutes.
Once out of the oven, let it cool slightly before serving 😉.
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Storage
Escarole pizza keeps well for 3 or 4 days, wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator.
Variations
For a quicker version, instead of the leavened dough, you can use either puff pastry or shortcrust pastry.
Notes
With the reported yeast dose and the lower temperatures of the season, the dough took about 2-3 hours to double. You can choose to use less yeast by increasing the rising times.
With the reported yeast dose and the lower temperatures of the season, the dough took about 2-3 hours to double. You can choose to use less yeast by increasing the rising times.
