Pizza Milanese is a tricky one. It exists in the wierd, and wonderful world between a fluffly cheesy bread and a pizza. Whatever you call it, don’t call it a deep dish pizza. Deep dish is a style claimed by Chicago.
Pizza Milanese is a fluffy, thick base, cooked in a pan with a lot of olive oil crisping the bottom and the sides, with a minimal amount of toppings. Chicago style deep dish on the other hand has crispier, thicker crust and a denser, more bready base. Chicago style deep dish is also weighed down by a large amount of ingredients (in the case of lou malnoti’s a large disc of sausage under the cheese!).
Me and Mrs Sambar first had Pizza Milanese in.. well.. Milan :). We had just arrived in the city, and were famished. We were booked into a small local hotel, and we asked the front desk guy (who looked like he knew food!) where we could get a good pizza. He looked at us, and sort of assessed us, before leaning over like he was sharing a state secret. He gave us directions (by landmarks) to a local pizza place. Didn’t give us a lot of detail. Mrs Sambar was skeptical to say the least.
I followed his circuitous directions and some time later, we arrived at a little hole in the wall. Took a seat and the menu was pointed out to us. On the wall, naturally. The menu was :
- Pizza
- Pasta
- 8 different wines listed
- 6 beers listed
<end> thats it.
The waiter chap rocks up, looking nothing like a waiter, looks like he’s just another regular. Being the American, I’m like, “what kind of pizzas do you have”.
Guy deadpans : “Pizza”. Points at the menu – “Pizza or pasta”. I’m like, “yeah, but what kind, like pepperoni?”.
Guy cocks his head to one side looking confused. “Pizza.” That sounded like the finishing blow on Tekken. PIZZA, PERIOD. <K/O>.
I’m defeated, and hungry. I’m like “Ok, pizza”. Mrs Sambar is looking ever more skeptical and now giving me the eye. I have a feeling she’s thinking “I guess we’re gonna end up at McDonalds again at some point”.
Some time later, Mrs Sambar is starting to make noises about hamburglars, but I’m saved by the arrival of the pizza.
And what a pizza – it was a masterpiece. Just sauce and cheese, but it was like a soft pillow of mildly sweet chewy air with just a dusting of sauce and the thinnest layer of beautiful chewy cheese. Literally THE BEST pizza I’ve ever eaten. EVER. My tubby Italian friend (whose name I never got), you were right, we needed “pizza.”
Since then, I’ve been all around the world trying to find the same “pizza.”(tm) It never occured to me to search for Pizza Milanese. I didn’t even know it was a thing.
Each region has its own style of pizza, and I love a pizza napoletana, but Pizza Milanese reigns supreme. After you try this, I bet you would agree.
Recipe :
- Pizza Dough ball (supermarket one is absolutely fine – imo theres very little to be gained by making your own)
- Pasta Sauce – we use the Rao’s 4 cheese, but honestly this is to your taste, get whatever pasta sauce you love
- Can of Tomato Paste – to thicken the sauce to pizza sauce consistency
- Sugar (for the sauce, to taste)
- Block of good mozzarella, sliced or shredded – critical that you don’t get pre-shredded cheese, it just wont melt correctly (due to stabilizers added to keep the cheese from sticking together in the bag).
- Olive oil
Method :
First get the dough out of the bag and knead it out a bit. Put some oil on your hands so the dough doesnt stick and adjust the consistency of the dough ball.
Its hard to put into words, but make sure the dough is sticky enough that when you roll it, it incorporates back into the dough ball. If its too dry, and the ball doesnt reincorporate back into a dough ball, add some oil to the dough ball and keep kneading till it can be rolled back into a single ball. If its too wet, add a little bit of flour, till you get to a slightly sticky consistency. It takes some practice to get the right feel of dough.
Next, find a nice flat pan, often a nice stainless steel pan will work. About a 10″ pan should work perfectly for this. You can also get a dedicated aluminum pizza pan on Amazon.
Oil the pan generously on the bottom and sides.
punch down the dough and spread it out with your hands (instead of a rolling pin – this creates the texture that I think makes a handmade pizza really nice). With the oil, it shouldn’t stick. If the dough ball keeps retracting (pulling back in) when you spread it, just let it sit for a minute, it should relax and be more malleable after.
Once its spread out along the bottom of the pan, let it sit in an oven with the light on (aka slightly warm) and let it rise for about an hour. You can also hit the preheat to 150, and stop it when it gets warm.
Once it’s risen/doubled in size, and very fluffly, take it out and cover the pan. Preheat the oven to 550f or as high as your oven allows with a pizza stone in it.
In the meantime, pour some of the pasta sauce into a saucepan and heat it up. Add some tomato paste to thicken up the consistency (just so the sauce is not too watery). Then add sugar to taste. You can add a dash of cholula (sacrilege I know) for heat or some red pepper flakes or some black pepper.
Once its preheated, spread some of the tomato sauce on the very fluffy base, and pour a little bit of oil around the inside sides of the pan, and stick it in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce looks set and the sides look to be crisping. At that point, take it out of the oven and check the base by using a knife to lift up the sides (it shouldnt stick with all the oil). If the base looks golden brown (not dark at this point!), then top it with the slices of mozzarella. Thin layers! Don’t overdo it! Then pour some more oil around the inside sides of the pan.
Put it back in the oven, until the mozzarella has melted (approx another 10 minutes). You know its done with the mozzarella just starts bubbling, and the crust looks crispy. The mozzarella shouldnt brown like a traditional pizza.
Slice it and enjoy the fluffiest, best pizza in the world.
Happy cooking, my friends.