I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: Is there anything more primally satisfying than fried dough? If there is, I haven’t come across it yet.

The Neapolitans have come up with all sorts of tidbits made from fried dough, of which we’ve already seen various examples including zeppole, calzoncini and pasta cresciuta, where the dough acts as a carrier for a savory or sweet filling.

Today we’re looking at pizzelle fritte, also called pizzette fritte. As the name implies, these are basically little round pizzas, fried rather than baked, topped with various savory combinations, perhaps mostly commonly with a bit of simple tomato sauce, grated cheese and fresh basil, a style of pizzelle also known as montanare, or mountain dweller’s pizzas. (Why you ask? Check out the Notes below.)

Fried pizza is a classic street food in Naples, as much a part of city’s culinary life as the baked kind for which it is so famous. This kind of pizza never fails to call to my mind Sophia Loren’s memorable portrayal of a street vendor in the second chapter of Vittorio DeSica’s 1954 fim Oro di Napoli. entitled “Pizza a credito” or “Pizza on Credit”…

Pizelle fritte are incredibly versatile. While the tomato, cheese and basil is a classic, you can top them with all sorts of things. (I’ve listed some other possibilities in the Notes below.) They make a wonderful snack or, made in smaller rounds, before dinner finger food with cocktails. If you make enough of them, you can even serve them as a light dinner.

So enjoy!

Ingredients

Makes 10-15 pizzelle, depending on size

600g (20 oz) pizza dough, preferably homemade
Olive or vegetable oil, or a combination of both, for frying

For the sauce:

1 small (400g/14 oz) can of tomatoes, passed through a food mill, or an equvalent amount of passata
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
A few fresh basil leaves
olive oil
salt, to taste

Plus for the topping:

Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
Fresh basil leaves

Directions

Preparing and rising the dough

Prepare the dough following these directions and let it rise until it has doubled in volume, about 2-4 hours at least. (You can also let it rise overnight, which will give it an even better flavor.)

Take the risen dough and form it into balls, each about 5-6 cm (2 or 2-1/2 inch) round, weighing about 50-60g (1.5-2 oz) each. (For use as finger food, make them a bit smaller.) Place them on a floured pastry board or cookie sheet and cover them with a tea towel. Let them rest again, this time for about hour.

Making the tomato sauce

In the meantime, add the milled tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt and a healthy glug of olive oil to a saucepan and let it all simmer for about 15-20 minutes until well reduced to a saucy consistency. Set aside until needed.

Forming and frying the pizzelle

In a large saucepan, add oil at least 3cm (1 inch) deep. Get it nice and hot, about 190F/425F, but not smoking.

Now, take each ball and flatten them out into thin rounds, anywhere between about 8-12cm (3-5 in) in diameter, leaving a slightly raised lip around the edges. Prick them here and there in the middle with a fork, then slide them gingerly into the hot oil.

Fry the pizzelle quickly on both sides just until they have puffed up and lightly browned, using a skimmer to press the rounds into the oil and turn them from time to time.

As they are finished frying, place your pizzelle fritte on a rack or paper towels to drain. If you’re making a large batch, you can keep them warm in a low oven while you fry the rest.

Topping and serving

In the well of each pizzella fritta, place a spoonful or two the tomato sauce. Then sprinkle with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and finally top with a couple of little fresh basil leaves.

Serve right away, while they’re still warm.

Notes on pizzelle fritte

All the usual tips on deep frying apply here. Make sure the oil is plenty hot and don’t overcrowd the pan. The pizzelle will puff up and brown very quickly. Don’t overcook them. Remove them as soon as they are light brown.

You want your pizzelle to puff up as they fry—hence the call for very hot oil. That said, you want to avoid them puffing up too much, especially in the middle, so they retain their slightly concave shape. This is why you should prick them with a fork, and then press them into the oil with a skimmer as they fry.

Traditionally you fry pizzelle fritte in olive oil or lard. But if that’s too rich for you, you can always use vegetable or seed oil. Or do as I do and use a combination of mostly vegetable oil with a good pour of olive oil for flavor.

There are various ways to go about flattening the dough balls into rounds: with your hands, the old school way, or with a rolling pin—or, if you have one, using a tortilla press. (This last approach is a little heretical but practical is you’re making a large batch.) If you use a rolling pin or tortilla press, you just need to use your fingers to form a little ridge around the edges by pressing outward from the center of each pizzella. And if you’re really pignolo (fussy) like me, you can use a pastry ring to ensure your pizzelle are uniformly round.

Other toppings

In her classic tome La cucina napoletana, Jeanne Caròla Francesconi suggests these other interesting toppings for her pizzelle fritte:

tomato sauce with oregano and bits of anchovy, no cheese
fresh uncooked tomato, finely cubed and well drained, then mixed with bits of fresh basil leaves, seasoned with salt and pepper
fresh anchovies, boned and sautéed with a bit of garlic and oil and seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper
ceccinielli (tiny fish) not boned but otherwise treated like the fresh anchovies

As for me, here are a few of my favorite toppings for pizzette fritte:

tomato sauce topped with shredded or chopped mozzarella. Add a bit of basil on top just before serving—basically a mini-pizza margherita
mozzarella topped with bits of anchovy, with or without tomato sauce
tomato sauce and little fried cubes of eggplant
tomato sauce, mozzarella and capers
mozzarella and little cubes of salame, no sauce

And, of course, you can mix and match these and other ingredients to your heart’s content…

NB: Though not part of the usual recipe, if I’m using mozzarella in particular, I sometimes like to pop my pizzelle fritte in a hot (200C/400C) oven for a minute or two so the cheese melts.

Other variations

You can also fold over pizzelle fritte over into a half moon shape, enclosing the filling. In this case, you have a pizzella fritta ripiena also known as calzoncini (“little calzones”), which you can read more about in this post.

You can also make pizzelle fritte with no knead bread dough. Just add a drizzle of oil to the dough, then leave it to rest overnight as usual.

Making pizzelle fritte ahead

The dough, of course, has to be made ahead. Like all fried foods, these pizzelle fritte are best straight out of the frying pan. As the old Neapolitan adage goes, fijenne magnanno—in Italian frigge e mangia, or “fry and eat” right away. That’s especially true of pizzelle fritte, as the topping can make them soggy if you leave them too long. Better to make the base only, rehead them (sans topping) in an oven or air fryer, then top them and serve.

How montanare got their name

There are various explanations as to why montanare, or ‘mountain dweller’s pizzas’ got their name. One story has it that the pizzelle swells up while frying it resembles a mountain. Another has it they were inspired by a tomato and cheese sandwiches the country folks who descended on Naples to sell their wares would bring with them as a snack. The local pizzaioli turned them into little fried pizzas.

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Pizzelle fritte (Little Fried Pizzas)

Ingredients

600 g pizza dough, preferably homemade
Olive or vegetable oil or a combination of both, for frying

For the sauce:

1 small (400g) can of tomatoes, passed through a food mill, or an equvalent amount of passata
1-2 cloves of garlic peeled and slightly crushed
A few fresh basil leaves
olive oil
salt to taste

For the topping:

Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
Fresh basil leaves

Metric – US

Instructions

Preparing and rising the dough

Prepare the dough following these directions and let it rise until it has doubled in volume, about 2-4 hours at least. (You can also let it rise overnight, which will give it an even better flavor.)
Take the risen dough and form it into balls, each about 5-6 cm (2 or 2-1/2 inch) round, weighing about 50-60g (1.5-2 oz) each. (For use as finger food, make them a bit smaller.) Place them on a floured pastry board or cookie sheet and cover them with a tea towel. Let them rest again, this time for about hour.

Making the tomato sauce

In the meantime, add the milled tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt and a healthy glug of olive oil to a saucepan and let it all simmer for about 15-20 minutes until well reduced to a saucy consistency. Set aside until needed.

Forming and frying the pizzelle

In a large saucepan, add oil at least 3cm (1 inch) deep. Get it nice and hot, about 190F/425F, but not smoking.
Now, take each ball and flatten them out into thin rounds, anywhere between about 8-12cm (3-5 in) in diameter, leaving a slightly raised lip around the edges. Prick them here and there in the middle with a fork, then slide them gingerly into the hot oil.
Fry the pizzelle quickly on both sides just until they have puffed up and lightly browned, using a skimmer to press the rounds into the oil and turn them from time to time.
As they are finished frying, place your pizzelle fritte on a rack or paper towels to drain. If you’re making a large batch, you can keep them warm in a low oven while you fry the rest.

Topping and serving

In the well of each pizzella fritta, place a spoonful or two the tomato sauce. Then sprinkle with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and finally top with a couple of little fresh basil leaves.
Serve right away, while they’re still warm.