Have you heard about “Margherita Sbagliata” ?
A short story about “a kind of Pizza Margherita” …
In Caiazzo village (about 40 km from Napoli - Italy of course :)…) there is a place where ( according to some “experienced people” ) you can find one of the best pizza in the world… It is the place where Franco Pepe (representing a third generation of family bakers) “tells” his own pizza story bringing his ideas to life in a way that provokes and respects “tradition” in the same time … This story is presented in a documentary on Netflix (“Chef’s Table - Pizza - Franco Pepe”), and is about combining a handmade pizza dough with delicious local ingredients with passion, heart and history … It is about food, but also about values … So if you happen to be in the area, put “PEPE In Grani” on your list and if you are not maybe you can start thinking of a trip :) …
This story brings in focus many aspects about dough and pizza but one pizza caught my attention: “Margerita Sbagliata” or in other words “The Mistaken Margherita”… Why ? because the traditional order of adding the ingredients is reversed. Instead of putting a first layer of tomato sauce on the dough, “they” put the mozzarella with olive oil and only after the pizza is taken out of the oven it is “decorated” with a reduction of a fresh tomato puree (I have a feeling that I used too much words :)…) and a paste made of fresh basil and olive oil. The reason ? Well Franco didn’t want to burn the tomatoes at 400C in the oven in order to keep their fresh flavour alive (it is about local “riccio” tomatoes) … And because he noticed that many people remove the basil from the Margherita before eating it he decided to “make” a basil and olive oil reduction which he places on the pizza near the tomato puree …
What I did …
I had some quality homemade tomato juice so I decided to apply the same principle - make the tomato sauce and add it to the pizza only after taking it out of the oven. So I slowly reduced the tomato juice at low heat and :)… I tried to make something that looks like “Margherita Sbagliata”. I used the same dough I use at my sourdough bread … a little “chewy” but gives a more rustic experience :) … (In a future article I intend to write about it )
Feel free to use any pizza dough recipe you like, with yeast or if you are advanced in this field why not with sourdough… If you are a beginner I recommend a simple and happy pizza dough recipe from Gennaro Contaldo … ( you will have a good time watching it ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SJGQ2HLp8&t=203s
For the tomato puree you have some options also … If you can find delicious local tomatoes feel free to make it yourself at low heat but if you can find a good quality one it is still ok. You can also blend some quality dried tomatoes with olive oil and add them to the sauce.
The ideea is to create such a delicate and delicious tomato sauce ( with gentle cooking techniques ) that you’ll feel sorry to burn it in the oven :) … (joking…)
Note :) …
This article is not a “Margherita” recipe. There are a lot of sites and blogs and vlogs that present this recipe a lot better than me. I just wanted to bring some focus on “Margherita Sbagliata”, to spread some fun around and make you look a little bit different at this pizza. In case you want to try it you have down below all the ingredients and the steps I took while preparing this recipe. It is hard to achieve 100% success rate with a recipe but with this one I can guarantee 100% fun, especially if you let the kids make the final touch… (decorating the pizza with tomato sauce and basil paste or reduction…). And don’t forget that your “Sbagliata” will be unique …
INGREDIENTS
The dough for cca. 5 medium pizza’s
For the pizza dough
Bread flour 650 type - 500 grams
Dried Yeast - 7 grams (or read the label )
Warm Water - cca. 330 ml
Salt - 1 tsp
The topping for cca. 5 medium pizza’s
For the topping
Best you can get mozzarella cheese - cca 500 grams
Good quality extra virgin olive oil - 15 ml
A pinch of salt
The sauce for cca. 5 medium pizza’s
For the sauce
Organic / Best you can get tomato juice - 500 - 600 ml
Organic / Best you can get garlic - 2-3 garlic cloves
Good quality extra virgin olive oil - 10 ml
A pinch of salt
Basil leaves - optional
The basil paste for cca. 5 medium pizza’s
For the basil paste
Organic / Best you can get fresh basil leaves - a handful leaves
Good quality extra virgin olive oil - 5 ml
A pinch of salt
The steps
Prepare the pizza dough
Prepare the tomato sauce by gently reducing the tomato juice at low heat. Add to a heavy pan the chopped garlic, the salt and the olive oil and wait 5 to 10 minutes to allow the oil to extract some flavour from the garlic (without heating the pan). Add the tomato juice (and a few leaves of fresh basil or 1/2 t spoon of dried basil if you consider ) and gently simmer until you reach the desired consistency
Prepare the basil paste by fine chopping the leaves and mix them with olive oil and a pinch of salt
Cut the mozzarella in small pieces or better tear it with your hands for a more rustic look :) …
Cut the dough and prepare the portions for the pizza or the “pizza balls”
Gently stretch the pizza balls with your hands and shape the pizzas
Distribute even the mozzarella over the pizzas, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake at 250 C for about 10 minutes or until you like the look :) …
After taking the pizza out of the oven decorate it with the tomato sauce and the basil paste
Have fun :) …
