Pan Fried Sicilian Pizza feat. Lloyd Pans

The Pizza Kitchen is taking a trip to Northeast Pennsylvania to discover the wonders of Pan-Fried Sicilian pizza. Most of us have heard of Sicilian style, maybe even confused it for Grandma style a time or two, but this is a little different. It’s no secret though, the twist is in the name. This Sicilian pizza is fried… in the pan.
Until a few years ago, it was near impossible to find the size and style of pans needed to create this regional culinary curiosity. Lloyd Pan’s 14x14 inch Sicilian pans have a 2-inch wall that allows for maximum rise in all your Sicilian pies, Grandma pizzas, heck, even Detroit styles the size of Michigan itself.
Dough (780g Doughball)
1360g - All-Purpose Flour (100%)
870.4g - Water, 70°F (%64)
9.5g - Active dry yeast (%.70)
14g - Diastatic malt powder, or sugar (%1)
27g - Fine salt (%2)
54g - Olive Oil (%4)
Sauce
1360g - Whole peeled tomatoes (%100)
17g - Salt (%1.26)
8g - Black pepper (.63%)
5g - Garlic powder (.38%)
Pizza
Lloyd Pans 14”x14” Sicilian Pizza Pan
¼-¾ c. Peanut oil (or other high smoke point oil for frying)
6 oz. Sweet onions (rough chop)
12 oz. Sliced White Cheddar (or Mozz)
While a lot of dough recipes can work with this style, the key here is Process, Patience and Time. Once the dough starts to gas up, it will take a gentler hand while forming it to the pan. And only time will get you that rise, as well as the flavor you want. The dough proofing process itself can take up to 4 hours from fridge to oven.
Step one Mix your dough. Remember to do this about 30 hours before you actually need dough. Add your yeast to the water to activate it. Once the yeast is activated, add all the water, flour, malt powder and oil to the bowl and mix on low until a semi cohesive dough ball forms then allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Once relaxed and the dough is closer to full hydration, mix again on low speed and slowly add your salt. Once the salt is completely incorporated mix on medium for about 7 minutes. Once you finished mixing, cover your dough and let it rest for another 30 minutes, then you can portion your dough balls and refrigerate them for 24 hours. We need about 750-780g to fill our pan nicely.
Next you can prep the sauce. This goes a lot quicker so don’t worry. Basically, open your tomatoes, drain them, crush them with your bare hands, then throw in your salt, pepper, garlic powder, and mix thoroughly. Now….we wait.
30 hours later…
Now our dough is ready to start down the path to its fried destiny. Let’s hasten its journey, shall we? Pull the dough out of the cooler and allow it to get to room temperature for about an hour or so. First off, we’re going to use the “panning cheat code” suggested by Jim Mirabelli and dab some lard in the corners. This will aid the dough in sticking while stretching. While this isn’t necessary, it can be useful. Next add your peanut oil to the center of your pan, staying clear of the corners. Once the dough has warmed up, take it out of your tray and give it a pre-stretch before you put it in the pan. Form the square or rectangular shape of your pan and let it sit for about 3 minutes. Next, gently pick up your squarified dough and place it in your pan, (hopefully cleaner than my maladroit meat hooks can manage). Allow your dough to sit for an hour, then lightly stipple the dough with your fingertips, gently working the thick parts of the dough outwards towards the corners. Let it rest one more hour, then stipple again babay! After the 3rd hour of resting in the pan, you should be ready to go.
Next, we want to add a light layer of sauce to our pie. Sicilian sauce can be chunky so avoid large pile ups and make sure to leave about a ½” crust around the edge. Add your sweet onions, then parbake your pizza at 550° for 6 minutes to start that fry and get some rise out of your dough.
After the parbake, remove your pizza from the oven and add a little more sauce, then add your cheddar slices to cover the pie. Pro Tip from Jim: To be like the OG’s of PFS, you should use sliced Land ‘O’ Lakes White Cheddar. But he says any hand-sliced white cheddar should work. Even a nice melting mozzarella will do in a pinch. Place your pie back in the oven for about 5-6 minutes, or until the cheese is just starting to brown and the crust is thoroughly fried. You should be able to hear some sizzling whenever you open the oven. When your pie is finished, pull it out and set it on a cooling rack. There should be a good bit of drippage if fried just right. Finally, cut, serve and demolish.
While you’re surfing the AOLs, make sure you check out Lloydpans.com for these and other great products for your pizzeria. They’re always ready to work with you to fill all your pizza baking needs, whatever style you serve. Well that’s all the time we have today in the Kitchen folks, I’m your host Brian Hernandez and I’ll see you next time, but until then, stay crispy.
#DeepDish #PanFriedSicilian #PMQPizzaKitchen #LloydPans #SicilianPizza

[@r.llynch4124]

Most pizza shops that do this Sicilian style do 24-hour room-temperature bulk fermentation then a room-temperature rise for 8 hours in the pan, then par-bake without sauce for later sales. Ceresota flour is great for this and you can also use Crisco in the dough instead of olive oil.