Pizza fritta literally means fried pizza in Italian — and it also promises incredible flavor. Picture fresh pizza dough fried until golden, topped simply with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil, then finished on a hot grill. Jamie Oliver’s Fried & Grilled Pizza delivers exactly that — crisp, light and utterly delicious.
This version is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Street Foods & Pizza chapter in Jamie’s Italy. He recalls tasting these in Panzano in Chianti, where thin bases were fried like pappadoms, quickly topped with tomato, mozzarella and oregano, then placed under a hot grill. The result was the lightest pizzas he’d ever eaten — simple and unforgettable.
You can use any reliable basic pizza dough, though Jamie’s recipe is easy and dependable. No special equipment is required, and the dough needs only a short rest: about 10 minutes of kneading and 15 minutes of resting before rolling.
Helpful hint: Measure flour by weight (ounces or grams) for consistent results. A digital food scale gives much better accuracy than a cup measure.
- Start by mixing the yeast and sugar into lukewarm water.
- Mound the flour and salt on a clean surface and make a 7-inch well in the center.
- Pour the water mixture into the well and, using a fork, gradually pull the flour into the center until it forms a sticky mass.
- When it’s too stiff for the fork, flour your hands and finish combining the dough by hand.
Trust me on this…
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, then flatten and let it rest for about 15 minutes. The dough will become pliable and easy to roll thin.
Yield: This recipe makes enough dough for ten small fried pizzas (about 6 inches each), with each portion weighing roughly 5.5 ounces. You can also divide into six pieces for medium pizzas.
For toppings you can use your favorite marinara or Jamie’s tomato sauce included below. When dividing dough, a digital scale helps make even portions.
- Roll each dough portion into a thin disc about 1/4 inch thick and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Heat oil for frying while you prepare toppings.
Have toppings ready so you can dress the fried bases and finish them on the grill. If you prefer a very crispy bottom, finishing directly on a hot pizza stone or on a low oven shelf at 500°F for 5–7 minutes also works well. On the grill, use a moderate heat so the cheese melts without burning the base, and go light on toppings. If you plan to add many toppings, finish in the oven.
Why this is special
The fried dough is light and airy, and when paired with just tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil the flavor is remarkable. These are best eaten immediately while the crust is crisp and the cheese is warm. The recipe makes ten mini pizzas — great for parties — and any leftover dough portions freeze well when wrapped individually and stored in a larger freezer bag.
Jamie Oliver’s Fried & Grilled Pizza
Adapted from Jamie Oliver, Jamie’s Italy
The lightest, tastiest mini-pizzas.
Ingredients
Basic Pizza Dough
- 6 1/2 cups unbleached white bread flour (28 oz / 793 g)
- 1 1/2 cups fine semolina flour (9.75 oz / 276 g)
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dried yeast (7 g)
- 1 tablespoon granulated or superfine sugar
- just over 2 cups lukewarm water
Tomato Sauce
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
- 1 14-ounce can good quality plum tomatoes
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fried Pizza
- 1 batch Basic Pizza Dough (or about 3 1/2 pounds fresh pizza dough)
- flour for dusting
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1 batch Tomato Sauce (or about 2 cups marinara)
- 10 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
- extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
Basic Pizza Dough
- Pile the flours and salt on a clean surface and make a 7-inch well. Mix the yeast and sugar into the lukewarm water, let it sit a few minutes, then pour into the well. Use a fork with a circular motion to bring flour from the inner edge into the water until a sticky mass forms. When too stiff for the fork, flour your hands and shape into a ball. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and springy.
- Flour the top, cover with plastic wrap and let rest at least 15 minutes to make rolling easier.
Tomato Sauce
- Heat a saucepan, add a splash of oil and the sliced garlic and cook gently until lightly golden. Add torn basil, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Simmer gently about 20 minutes, mashing the tomatoes until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning, then set aside.
Fried Pizza
- Preheat a grill to low-medium, or preheat the oven and pizza stone to 500°F (if using oven finish).
- Divide dough into ten equal pieces (~5 1/2 oz each). Press flat, roll to about 1/4 inch thick and rest 10 minutes. Heat a frying pan over high heat, add about 3/4 inch vegetable oil and fry each base for ~30 seconds per side. Remove with tongs to a baking tray.
- Spoon tomato sauce onto each fried base, scatter torn mozzarella (~1/2 oz per pizza) and torn basil, and drizzle lightly with olive oil.
- Grill until cheese bubbles and dough is lightly browned and cooked through. Or bake on the preheated pizza stone for 5–7 minutes until cheese is bubbling and crust is lightly browned. Serve immediately.
If you prepare a large batch of dough, freeze individual portions wrapped tightly, then store them together in a sealed freezer bag for easy future use. Prepared dough from a bakery often comes in one-pound packages — about enough for three mini pizzas — and ingredients can be scaled accordingly.
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