Today we talk about sweet stuffed pizza, a fragrant and very soft pizza dough shell, naturally leavened, filled with fresh fruit. It’s extremely delicious, a pleasure to eat both for breakfast and as a snack. I chose Fuji apples because I wanted the filling not to release too much water, staying therefore firm and crunchy. However, nothing prevents us from using other types of apples or fresh fruit. We can also choose to slice the apples thinly, to have a softer filling, just like traditional strudels.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 12 Hours
- Portions: 12/15 slices
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 4.4 oz Sourdough starter
- 3 1/4 cups Manitoba flour
- 3/4 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Fine salt
- 7 oz Water
- 2.2 lbs Fuji Apples
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla paste or liquid
- 1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
Tools
- 1 Pie pan
Preparation
To make this delicacy, we can use a 28 cm (11-inch) pie pan.
Refresh the sourdough starter as you are already accustomed to doing.
When it has doubled, take the amount you need and put it in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
Sift together the Manitoba flour and all-purpose flour and pour it over the starter. Add half of the water, knead very coarsely, cover, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, resume the dough, add the remaining water, salt, vanilla, and sugar, and work it for about 8-10 minutes by hand or with the hook attachment. The dough will be ready when it becomes smooth and no longer sticks to your hands or leaves the bowl of the mixer clean.
Transfer the smooth and homogeneous dough ball onto a floured board and gently shape it into a square, without pressing too much.
Fold it (this will give structure and softness to the final product) using your hands or a wide, flat spatula.
Take one side of this “square” from underneath and bring it towards the center of the dough ball.
Do this operation on all sides of the dough ball, bringing them each time towards the center.
Repeat all the folds once again, then divide the dough ball into two pieces (one slightly larger than the other), round them with your hands and let them rise, separately and well-covered, until doubled (about 5/6 hours, depending on the room temperature).
While the two dough balls are rising, peel the apples and cut them into wedges.
Slice each wedge in half (or even thinner if you prefer a softer filling) and transfer them to a colander; sprinkle them with a little sugar and cinnamon, cover with a lid or a plate and let them drain the excess vegetation water, stirring occasionally with a spoon.
When the two dough balls are well-risen, grease a baking pan generously with soft butter.
Take the larger dough ball, which will serve as the base, place it in the pan and stretch it with your hands, covering even the sides.
Distribute the apple wedges on the bottom of the pizza.
Flip the second dough ball, which will serve as the “lid” and should be thin, onto a floured table and roll it out slightly, then transfer it over the apples and seal the edges of our sweet pizza.
Let the pizza rise well-covered until doubled (in my case, it rose all night).
Preheat the oven to 356°F.
When the oven is well-heated, bake the already risen sweet pizza on the middle rack for about 30 minutes.
Once baking is complete, immediately remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool, to prevent condensation that would make the base of the pizza soggy.
