Pizza Fritta Montanara Fried Pizza Dough

Pizza fritta Montanara is small pizza dough deep-fried and topped like a pizza. This classic Neapolitan street food is a savory dough with a crispy outside and a warm, gooey center, served topped with mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil, and freshly grated Parmesan. They are very popular as appetizers as they are simple to make and easy to serve at parties, as these fried pizzas are small and can be eaten by hand.

Jump to:

• Different types of fried dough recipes
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Variation
• How to serve it
• FAQ
• More of my favorite fried recipes
• 📋 Pizza Fritta Montanara Fried Pizza Dough

Pizza Fritta, a fried pizza, became popular after World War 2 due to the destruction of wooden ovens.

Baked pizza was considered a luxury, so women sold fried food on the streets to supplement their family income.

It was affordable and often filled with pork crackling, earning it the nickname "pizza of the people."

In the 1954 film L'oro di Napoli (Gold of Naples translated in English as Every day's a holiday) directed by Vittorio De Sica, Sofia Loren sold "Pizza a credito" or "pizza a otto" - eat now and pay in eight days.

Naples is famous for its street food, particularly the fried finger foods sold in friggitoria (frying shops).

There were already a dozen of these shops in the town in 1807.

Traditional Neapolitan fried foods include Crocche (fried breaded potato mash), Arancini (fried rice balls), Zappole (fried pasta), Fiorilli (fried zucchini flowers), Cagliozzi (fried polenta), and Cuoppi di pesce (mixed fried fish) served in paper cones.

For more Italian street food you can read the article: Italian street food by region (30 recipes)

Different types of fried dough recipes

Numerous recipes in Italy utilize fried dough, and it's important to distinguish them as each has its unique recipe and dough.

These are the most common in the South of Italy:

Ingredients

To make this fried pizza Montanara, we use the same dough as regular pizza.

You can make it from scratch or use store-bought pizza dough.

You can also make fresh pizza dough in a bread machine if you have one.

You can find the instruction here: Authentic Italian pizza dough (bread machine)

To make the pizza dough, you will need:

• Flour
• Lukewarm water
• Salt
• Sugar (needed only to activate the yeast)
• Yeast

Tip: The best flour to use is All purpose in USA, Plain in UK, Type 0 in Italy, Type 55 in France.

Find the quantities in the recipe card

The rest of the ingredients

• Vegetable oil for frying
• For the classic topping:
• Tomato sauce
• Garlic
• Fresh mozzarella (fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella)
• Fresh basil leaves
• Parmesan cheese

For more pizza toppings, you can find some inspiration in the article: 10 vegetarian pizza toppings full of veggies.

Instructions

For best results, make the dough the day before

How to activate the yeast

1. Mix the yeast with ¼ cup of water.
2. Make sure the water is lukewarm.
3. Add ½ teaspoon of sugar
4. Let it rest until it becomes foamy

Preparing the pizza dough

Once the yeast is activated, you can start making the dough:

1. Strain the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl, ensuring that they are thoroughly mixed.
2. Make a ‘well’ in the center of the flour mix
3. Combine all the wet ingredients: water and the frothy yeast.
4. Slowly pour them into the ‘well’ of the flour and mix them with the wet ingredients using your fingers.
5. Once thoroughly mixed, you can either continue mixing the flour with your hands or put it into an electric mixer with a dough hook.
6. Mix it until the dough becomes a smooth ball
7. Shape it into a smooth ball and place it in an oiled bowl with a wet towel to rest.
8. Let it rise for 1.5 hours in a warm place
9. Let the dough rest overnight (or at least 8 hours) in the fridge covered with cling film before making your pizza

Hint: the pizza dough should rest overnight; In Naples, they say that otherwise the pizza will keep rising in your stomach, making you bloated and thirsty!

Frying the pizza

1. Bring the sought to room temperature the next day and divide the dough into balls. They should be around 2 oz - 60 gr
2. Place them on a lightly floured surface, cover them with a kitchen cloth and let them rest for 30 minutes
3. In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce with garlic and basil and let it simmer away.
4. Flattens the balls into circles, with the center thinner than the sides.
5. Place the pizza dough balls into the frying pan

6. Turn the balls on each side for 2 minutes until golden brown
7. Remove them from the frying oil and put on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil

Toppings for the fried pizza

1. Once cooked, lay the pizzas on a tray and push down the centre with a spoon
2. Season each fried dough ball with the tomato sauce
3. Place a slice of fresh mozzarella on top
4. and a fresh basil leaf
5. Sprinkled them with fresh Parmesan cheese
6. They can be eaten immediately or warmed up before serving.

Variation

While the classic pizza fritta Montanara is topped with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella, you can also top it with your favorite ingredients.

In Naples, you find the classic with sausage and broccoli rabe, but you can also top it with burrata and olive or scarole and provola.

For more ideas, you can read the article: 10 vegetarian pizza toppings full of veggies.

For a sweet version, you can serve them with sprinkled sugar or drizzled honey, although you will not find this version now a day in the friggitorie in Naples.

Although a version of sweet fried dough existed in the sixteenth century, and the poet Giovanni Battista del Tufo called them Zeppolelle.

How to serve it

The advantage of frying the pizza is that it does not have to be eaten immediately, like a pizza cooked in a wooden oven.

The pizza dough is fried ahead, then topped with tomato and mozzarella.

You can warm up the pizza fritta in the oven before serving it. 

In Naples, it is the perfect meal when the family is reunited to watch a football match. 

They make it ahead of time, and it is warmed up and served during half-time.

FAQ

More of my favorite fried recipes

If you are craving fried food, you may want to check out these other recipes:

• Deep-Fried Eggplant Balls
• Deep fried mozzarella sticks and balls
• Fried Zucchini Flowers Recipe
• Homemade chicken nuggets recipe
• Pasta a Frittata: Italian Fried Pasta
• Classic Veal Milanese
• Rissole à la Dauphine

For more pizza recipes, check out the category: Pizza

• Pizzette Mini Pizza Bites
• Italian flatbread Piadina
• 10 Pizza with Fresh Vegetables
• Pissaladiere Nicoise
• Focaccia Pizza
• Pizza with Nutella

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