Sicilian Pizzolo 

Pizzolo di Sortino, the original recipe of the famous Sicilian pizzolo. Sicilian pizzolo seems to have its origins in Sortino, a small town in the province of Syracuse, lying on the Anapo valley and also known as the village of honey. The origins of pizzolo sortinese are ancient and linked to the poor and peasant tradition, in fact it happened that the housewives who made the bread had pieces of dough left over and that they made focaccia that they enriched with oil, salt and wild thyme. Only much later was born the tradition of stuffing pizzoli with seasonal vegetables and typical products, the same tradition that now inextricably binds Sortino to pizzolo. But forms of "pizzolo siciliano" exist throughout the region and with different names, for example in Catania they prepare the "facci di vecchia", an almost identical focaccia, which should not be stuffed inside and seasoned only with salt, oil, pepper and pecorino cheese on the surface. This focaccia, unlike pizzolo, was created for the purpose of "testing the oven", that is, evaluating its temperature before baking the bread.

As I told you, pizzolo sortinese is a sort of low focaccia cooked in a stone oven and stuffed, finished with oil and parmesan (or pecorino). There is no single version of Pizzolo, but there are an infinite number of them, because they are closely linked to the filling, which can be made in a thousand ways, following imagination and seasonality. In Sortino, Syracuse and beyond, there are the "pizzolerie", equivalent to the common pizzerias, where you can taste the pizzolo by choosing the filling as if you were choosing a pizza. If in the past pizzolo was made only with re-milled durum wheat semolina, now it is also made with ancient grains and new flour mixes, such as 5-grain flours. In this recipe I will prepare a basic version with re-milled semolina and flour, and I will stuff it with speck, provolone cheese, rocket, parmesan cheese and tomatoes, of course you can let your imagination guide you and stuff it with grilled vegetables, mortadella and pistachio and even with hazelnut spread: there are no limits to your imagination. Let's go to the kitchen now, I'll tell you step by step how to make Sicilian pizzolo, I'll use the stone oven, if you haven't used the classic pan.

Ingredients

250 g re-milled durum wheat semolina

250 g flour 

1 tsp sugar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3.5 g dry brewer's yeast 

14 g salt

300 g water (lukewarm, but you may need a little more)

Ingredients for the filling

300 g speck

400 g provolone cheese (sweet or smoked, sliced)

rocket to taste

Parmesan cheese (or Grana Padano) to taste

3 tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil to taste

oregano to taste

grated Parmesan cheese (or Grana Padano) to taste

Preparation

In a large bowl, collect the two flours, make a well and add the yeast, pour a little water, sugar (it will be used to activate the yeast) and stir to dissolve everything. Mix and in a small corner add the oil, salt and the rest of the water. Mix everything in a bowl using a spoon, if the dough seems too dry, add a little more water, it all depends on the ability of the flours to absorb it. Let it rest for 15 minutes, then turn the dough over on a pastry board, better not to add flour and knead making "slap and fold" folds. Once you have obtained a rather elastic dough, it does not need to be smooth and homogeneous, place it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place until it triples. Time is relative and depends on many factors, in summer 50 minutes may be enough, in winter 3h may not be enough. Once the dough has risen, turn it over on a floured pastry board and if it divides into three pieces without deflating it too much, turn each piece into a ball, rolling it well.

Let the loaves rise in a warm place for 30 minutes and in the meantime place the refractory stone in the upper part of the oven and turn it on at the maximum temperature that your oven can reach, mine reaches 240°C. Let the stone heat up well, until the thermostat of your oven tells you that the temperature has been reached. Take the loaves and, one at a time, spread them with your hands forming discs a little thicker at the edges and about half a centimeter thick in the center. Proceed as the pizza maker does, but leaving everything a little thicker. Open the oven, move the stone out and quickly place the disc of dough that you have previously pierced with the tines of the fork on top. This is a bit of a difficult maneuver, but if you are quick and the disc of dough is sufficiently floured, you will succeed well. Bake for 7-8 minutes at maximum temperature and remove from the oven when the pizzolo is cooked, but still light. Heat the stone before proceeding to the next firing. Once the pizzoli are out of the oven, divide them in half, being careful not to break them, drizzle with oil and fill with whatever you prefer. I chose speck, provolone cheese, rocket, parmesan cheese, tomatoes and I added a sprinkling of oregano. Cover everything with the other half of the disc, give a generous drizzle of oil on the surface, a sprinkling of grated cheese and another of oregano and sauté for 5-6 minutes in the oven or until golden brown. Proceed with the other pizzoli. The recipe is ready and the pizzolo is perfect to be enjoyed immediately. The bases of the pizzolo are not yet stuffed and after the first cooking phase they can be frozen and thawed as needed.