Sfincione Palermitano · Sfincione

Sicily · pizza · serves 6 · 240 min total · medium

Palermo's pizza — thick, spongy, no mozzarella. Sold from carts on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, draped with onions and breadcrumbs.

Ingredients

• 500 g strong flour
• 50 g fine semolina
• 400 ml warm water
• 7 g fresh yeast
• 80 ml olive oil
• 500 g onions, thinly sliced
• 8 fillets anchovies
• 300 g tomato passata
• 150 g caciocavallo, cubed
• 6 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 12 g salt

Method

1. Make dough: combine flours, salt, yeast dissolved in water, 2 tbsp olive oil. Knead 8 minutes. Rise 2 hours covered.
2. Topping: sweat sliced onion in olive oil for 25 minutes — soft, sweet, melting. Add anchovies, melt them in.
3. Add passata, simmer 10 minutes to a thick onion sauce. Season with oregano.
4. Spread dough into an oiled rectangular tray (30×40 cm).
5. Press caciocavallo cubes into the dough. Spread the onion-anchovy sauce over. Scatter breadcrumbs and more oregano.
6. Drizzle olive oil generously. Bake at 220°C (430°F) for 30 minutes — top dark, bottom crisp.
7. Cut in rough squares. Eat warm or at room temperature.

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