Pizza Rossa Romana aka Pizza Rossa in Italian, ‘Red Pizza’, is one of Rome’s best-loved street foods, a pizza with a thin and crispy crust base topped only with tomato sauce and Oil, no mozzarella. That’s why it’s called ‘red pizza’, because it only has tomato and a drizzle of raw oil to complete the goodness. It is sold cut into squares and wrapped in paper so that it can be enjoyed in the best possible way while walking through Rome alleys. The tomato sauce should be neither too rich nor too little, it must have that balance between acidity and flavour. Here’s how to make it at home. We added a sprinkling of dried oregano just for our tastebuds.
Makes about 8 pieces of pizza, Preparation 10 min + 2 hours rising, Baking 20 minutes
- 400 g plain flour or Italian flour 0
- 7 g dried yeast
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- salt, 1 heaped teaspoon + a pinch
- 250 ml lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil + a drizzle for seasoning at the end
- 200 g of tomato puree
- Dried Oregano, optional
Method
Pour the sifted flour into a bowl together with the sifted dry yeast and the 2 teaspoons of sugar, mix with a wooden spoon.
As you stir, add the warm water a little at a time and continue stirring, add the olive oil and finally a heaped teaspoon of salt. Continue to mix.
Now start kneading with your hands until you get a slightly sticky and not too uniform dough.
Place it in the bowl just with a light dusting of flour, cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas 5 / F 375.
Cover a flat baking tray with baking paper, grease it lightly and place the dough stretching it with the fingertips, no rolling pin needed, season with a good quantity of tomato puree, a drizzle of oil, a pinch of salt and if you like also a sprinkling of dried oregano.
Bake in a static oven for 20 or 25 minutes.
As soon as it is cooked and taken out of the oven, season it with a drizzle of raw oil and let it cool a little at room temperature.
This pizza is even more excellent eaten cold!
7 Comments
Sounds wonderful! Is the tomato purée you use the same as passato?
Ugh – can’t believe that typo – passata!
Tomato Passata will be more than ok, David 😉
Grazie Fiorenza! I just got some passata this weekend and hope to make this very soon.
Ah great news David! I look forward to your feedback then!
I did this yesterday in my outdoor pizza oven….after getting the timing wrong on the first one ( I literally turned away to get a beer and ended up burnt – yes I am idiot) the rest were really good. Fresh oregano from the garden didnt work during cooking , so added some finely chopped over the cooked product. Thank you for something different!
ah, I feel you! One moment of distraction and you’re burning a pizza or overcooking pasta in no time at all (yes, that’s me sometimes! haha)
The use of fresh oregano is curious, good that the experiment with it was successful by adding it at the end.
Thanks for your feedback, it’s important to me!
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