This Italian pizza with anchovies is one of the most popular Italian pizza recipes, it requires simple humble ingredients and its flavor is incredible. It's crispy, topped with delicious tomato sauce, creamy mozzarella and flavor-packed anchovy fillets. Recipe yield 1 large pizza (2 regular servings).
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Proofing time:1 hourhr30 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr50 minutesmins
Course: Main Course, Pizza
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Pizza with anchovies
Servings: 1large pizza
Author: Katia
Ingredients
PIZZA DOUGH
1 ½ cup(190 grams)all-purpose flour or bread flour, plus more for dusting
½ tspfine salt
½ tspinstant yeast
¾(180 ml)luckwarm water
¾ Tbspolive oil
TOPPING
½ cup(120 ml)Tomato sauce
4 oz(110 grams)fresh mozzarella
8-10 anchovies in olive oil, fillets
1 tspdried oregano
1 Tbspcapers in brine (optional)
fine salt, according to taste
Instructions
PIZZA DOUGH
In a large bowl place flour, salt, yeast and mix until combined.
Pour over the water, the olive oil and mix using a spoon or a spatula. You want to incorporate the flour into the water until just combined. Add 1 extra Tbsp of water if needed, but keep in mind the dough looks pretty rough and sticky at this stage, it's not smooth.
Cover with a damp towel and let it rest in a warm place for 1 hour until it doubles in size.
When it's ready, using a spatula turn the dough onto floured surface and dust it with flour. Now the dough is soft and packed with air bubbles.
Stretch it gently and fold one side over toward the center. Do the same for the other 3 sides, then turn it down and mold gently into a bowl. Let it rest for 30 minutes. .
TOPPING
When the dough is ready, place the rack in the lowest position, preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C, and cut a large piece of parchment paper (if you use a pizza stone). Alternatively, grease or line with parchment paper a large baking pan.
Scrape the edges of the bowl with a spatula and pour the dough onto the parchment paper, dust with some flour and, starting from the center, gently press it out with your fingers until you get a large round pizza. Let it rest for 10 minutes until the oven gets hot.
Top with tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, anchovy fillets, oregano. Add capers and black olives if you wish.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden and crusty.
Serve immediately with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy!
Notes
FLOUR: OO flour, all-purpose flour and bread flour work fine. To increase the fiber content and make a healthier pizza, you can mix all-purpose flour with whole grain flour. I usually mix white white spelt flour and all-purpose flour, but my preference is to substitute not more than 30% of the total amount because whole grain flour might deliver a quite dense texture. WATER ABSORPTION: water absorption is the amount of water taken up by flour and may vary significantly depending on the flour, brand, and weather conditions. That being said, when you add water to the flour, start with the amount stated in the recipe. If the liquid is not enough to achieve that dough consistency as shown in the pictures above, just add gradually a little extra water until the flour has been incorporated.LUKEWARM WATER: it means mildly warm, when you touch it, it should feel slightly warmer than your body temperature, but definitely not hot.YEAST: you can use either instant yeast or active dry yeast in this recipe. Instant yeast can be mixed directly into the dry ingredients, while active dry yeast must be dissolved into the water before it's incorporated into the flour. PARCHMENT PAPER: make sure the parchment paper is resistant to high temperature as high as 450 degrees. Don't turn the broil on if the parchment paper is close to the heating element, the paper might burn.