The pizza wreath is a cute, alternative, and above all scenic idea for serving pizza during the Christmas season.
Perfect to share with friends on the evenings leading up to Christmas or, why not(?), as a dish to include in the New Year’s Eve menu, perhaps among the appetizers along with the more classic escarole pizza, reinforcement salad and cauliflower fritters… making your table even more beautiful for the occasion.
Preparing it is easier than it seems, and the ingredients for topping it are those typical of a classic margherita pizza: tomato, mozzarella, and basil.
The dough is slightly different and involves using a mix of flour and semolina to be kneaded with milk, while the fat part of the dough is lard instead of extra virgin olive oil.
Now take a minute to read the recipe and then…let’s cook and eat!!
See also
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Base Dough Ingredients:
- 1 cup cup Manitoba flour
- 1 cup cup remilled durum wheat semolina
- 1 tsp tsp dry yeast (or 9 g of fresh yeast)
- 5.75 oz oz milk (warmed)
- 1 tbsp tbsp sugar
- 1 oz oz lard
- 1 tsp tsp salt
- 5 oz oz tomato sauce
- 5 oz oz mozzarella (drained)
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- A few leaves basil
Tools
- 1 Work surface
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pizza cutter
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Parchment paper
Steps
To prepare the pizza wreath dough, place the two flours, dry yeast, and mix in a bowl.
Dissolve the sugar in the milk that you have warmed by microwaving for 30 seconds.
Drizzle the flour mix into the milk and start kneading the dough with a fork. Add the lard and salt.
When the dough has taken shape, move to a floured work surface and knead by hand for a few minutes until it’s smooth and homogeneous.
Place the obtained dough ball in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it doubles in size (this will take about 3 hours).
Meanwhile, season the tomato sauce with oil, salt, and basil.
At the end of the first rise, take the dough, roll it out with a rolling pin to form a disk half a centimeter thick, and place it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Starting from the center, use a pizza cutter to make cross cuts to create 4 sections, which you will further cut to make 8 triangles.
Spread the seasoned tomato sauce along the entire circumference of the dough disk, making sure to leave both the outer edge and central sections free of sauce. Add diced mozzarella.
At this point, lift the tip of each central triangle and fold it back until it touches the outer edge of the dough disk. Let the pizza wreath rise for an hour, then brush the surface of the dough triangles with extra virgin olive oil and bake in a preheated static oven at 392°F (200°C) for 15-20 minutes.
Once your pizza wreath is out of the oven, decorate it with fresh basil leaves 😉.
