Felice Anno Nuovo! Pizza Sfincione to greet the new year.

[norma427]

Here is some video of the American descendant of this sfincione:





They don't seem to be all that concerned about getting a highly open crumb. Indeed, they probably don't want one; L&B uses a sheeter, while Rosalia's pan-rises their dough. For all I know, there may be some practical advantage to having a tighter, more uniform crumb when there's huge slabs of mozz melting right on top of it.

Neither of their doughs looks all that heavily hydrated. It's a safe bet they're made with normal American flour and not Italian grades, or Semolina.

They dust the top with hard cheese (Pecorino) but not breadcrumbs, and nor do they use onions in the sauce. L&B will put anchovies on their pies as an extra topping.

The bake times of 15 minutes for L&B (whose cornicones and bottoms seem to by typically quite dark, often almost burnt) and 15-20 minutes for Rosalia would seem to correspond to a baking temp of ca. 500 and 450, respectively. If and when I get around to trying it, I'll use 450 and see how it goes.

JLP

Jose,

Thanks for the added videos.   I don’t think a lot of places that make Sicilian style pizza do care about the light and airy crumb.  I even had thought about going to a bakery near Phila. to try their tomato pies about a year ago to see if I could learn more about how they bake their pies, but don’t think I will go now.

Good luck if you want to try this style of pizza.  I am going to make another attempt to make a pizza like Pizzarium the next time.

Norma

[Jet_deck]

Norma- this is great reading material about Sfincione.

http://siciliancookingplus.com/delicacies/09_sfincione.html

What is the difference between Sfincione and pizza in teglia.  Or the Pizzaruim pizza ?  Or are they generally the same? Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the differences.

[norma427]

Norma- this is great reading material about Sfincione.

http://siciliancookingplus.com/delicacies/09_sfincione.html

What is the difference between Sfincione and pizza in teglia.  Or the Pizzaruim pizza ?  Or are they generally the same? Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the differences.

Jet_deck

I also agree the link you provided is really good reading about Sfincione.  Thanks for the link.

This is what I think sfincione is.  http://www.food-dictionary.com/definition/sfincione.html

This is also another definition:

Sicilian pizza, also known as Sfincione (or Sfinciuni in Sicilian language) is a variety of pizza that originated in Palermo, Sicily. Unlike the more familiar Neapolitan pizza, the cheese is placed beneath the sauce. An authentic recipe often calls for pecorino cheese and bits of anchovies.

In the United States, a Sicilian pizza is typically a square pie with dough over an inch thick. Often referred to as tomato pie, this pizza is popular in Italian-American enclaves throughout New York and New Jersey, and especially in Utica, New York, a city whose sizable Italian-American population is predominantly Sicilian. It is typically served in an aluminum baking sheet.

On all the pizzas I made in this thread, I never used anchovies because although I would eat them, I don’t like them on pizza.  This whole thread started when I saw a recipe on the King Arthur website to try.  I really liked the different kind of pizza and then tried my “wild yeast starters” in different pies.  I have really taken this whole thread off-topic because I never made a real sfincione, at least in my opinion.    I am not Italian, so I am not sure if I am right or not.

The way I understand pizza in teglia is what most people or pizza businesses strive for a light and open crumb, but not all of them do have a light and open crumb.  The Pizzarium pizza in teglia or roman pizza are really light and airy, although I never tasted a real pizza from their pizzeria.  That is why there are two threads about trying this kind of pizza.  My thread was just where I had started and that is why I posted most of my pies under this thread.  I still don’t know if my last attempt was really a pizza in teglia, but I put it under the Pizzarium thread because it was my best attempt.

I know, this whole thing is confusing.  Hope I could shed some more light on all this.

Norma

[Jose L. Piedra]

Sfincione and pizza in teglia (to which latter style Pizzarium belongs) are similar, but not exactly interchangeable. They can be differentiated along the following axes:

-Provenance: Sfincione originates in Sicily, where it has been made for centuries; pizza in teglia as it is known now originates in Rome and dates back to the mid-1970s.

-Characteristics: Sfincione should be soft all around; pizza in teglia should be soft inside but lightly crispy on the bottom and rim. Sfincione is also typically much thicker than pizza in teglia.

-Toppings: Sfincione is typically topped with caciovallo cheese, onions, sauce, dried oregano, and anchovies, and breadcrumbs and-or hard cheese such as Pecorino on the very top. Pizza in teglia is topped with whatever can be positioned on a pizza, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

-Dough ingredients: Sfincione is traditionally made with semolina, pizza in teglia with a blend that uses Manitoba flour as its base. Sfincione dough also contains more oil than its counterpart. Hydration levels tend to be high for both styles.

-Social and economic aspects: Sfincione is made in private households for personal consumption or made and sold commercially at general bakeries, or by street vendors. Pizza in teglia is almost exclusively made commercially, and in dedicated store-front slice shops.

JLP

[norma427]

Jose,

Thanks for the clarification of the differences in Sfincione and pizza in teglia.    I wasn’t sure myself what the differences were.

I surely didn’t know pizza in teglia only originated back to the mid-1970's.  Do you know what pizza business first started pizza in teglia? 

Norma

[Jose L. Piedra]

Norma:

I was a bit surprised to learn that, too. The info came from Marco in a post he made here some years back. I have no idea which business did it first.

JLP