The BEST Sicilian Pizza Recipe (Better Than Takeout) - Easy Method With Crispy Bottom, Fluffy Inside

Hi, welcome to the Kelly Kitchen. Today we are making Sicilian pizza from scratch. This is the ultimate comfort food and I am not kidding when I'm saying that when we started making this pizza it has put an end to us ordering delivery pizza. So I will make six of these pizzas at one time and then I freeze a whole bunch and then we'll just pull them out anytime we get a craving or just need a quick meal. The reason that this pizza is so good is because of the crust. It has a texture that is part crispy fried bread and part airy focaccia. It's on another level and the best part is that it is surprisingly very simple. Let's get started. For the crust ingredients you will need bread flour, salt, instant dry yeast, extra virgin olive oil, and warm water. As a side note for a full printable recipe with exact measurements you can click on the link in the description to visit our website thekellykitchen.com. Here I'm measuring all the ingredients with a kitchen scale. I prefer using one because it keeps my recipes consistent every time. I use bread flour for pizza dough because it has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour so that's going to give you that crispy exterior and a soft chewy interior that also has rise and lots of air pockets. I also want to note that I adjust the amount of water I use depending on the humidity levels. So in the summer I typically use the amount that I list on the recipe however in the winter when it's dry I will add maybe another tablespoon or so which is about 15 grams of water to the dough and this is because flour absorbs moisture from the air so you kind of have to feel your dough as you're mixing it and adjust accordingly. The kneading of the dough doesn't have to be for long it's just a few minutes to incorporate all the ingredients and as you can see it still looks a little bit dry there so you're just kneading it until it feels slightly tacky just a little bit sticky. Then you want to cover the bowls tightly and you're going to let them rest for two hours. I like to use press and seal over my bowls and sometimes to give the bowls a little bit more warmth if I'm letting them rest on the counter I will add a pot holder underneath just to keep them off of the cold countertop as they're proofing. After two hours you are going to add more olive oil to a baking sheet. The dough has doubled at this point and it should be slightly wobbly and very soft it has that kind of pillowy look so you're going to have to just be a little careful with it when you're getting it out of the bowl. This is the pan that you will be baking the pizza in so you will want to spread the olive oil around as best as you can and then turn the dough over into the pan. It might be slightly sticky as you're trying to get it out of the bowl so just do the best you can to gently guide it into the pan without tearing it. Right after you place the dough onto the baking sheet you will want to let it rest for a few minutes. I'm making multiple pizzas so I use this time to get the other dough onto their pans and the reason why we let the dough rest is because it'll make stretching it out easier. So I will usually dump the dough onto the pan and then let it rest give it a quick little stretch and then I usually go on to the other dough and do the same thing and then I'll make a second round and then stretch it out again and by that point it's rested enough so that it will start to keep the shape when I'm stretching it. So if you think about it when you're kneading the dough you're creating this network of gluten proteins and it's kind of like a workout. It makes the network strong and organized and tight and then this tightness gives the dough its structure and elasticity but if you try to stretch it out right away it's going to fight you and constantly try to like snap back to its smaller tighter shape. So given the dough just a short rest like you can do 5, 10, 15 minutes letting the gluten strands begin to unwind and release their tension so the dough loses some of its tight elasticity and then you are able to stretch it out. After stretching out the dough you're going to wrap the pans tightly with plastic wrap and let proof for four hours. So that was a time lapse we just did and you can see now the dough is fully proofed and it's ready to have all the cheese and toppings placed on it and bake it. Since the goal of Sicilian pizza dough is the light and airy crust by placing the mozzarella cheese slices down first we prevent the dough from absorbing that extra water in the sauce and then becoming heavy and gummy. I only use about 7 ounces of pizza sauce but everyone has different preferences so feel free to adjust to your tastes. For the baking time we begin checking around the 11 minute mark and sometimes we have to leave it in a minute or two longer but this will vary depending on your oven which rack you're using and also the baking sheets that you have. After removing from the oven I let the pizza cool in the pan for about five minutes before transferring to the cutting board to serve it. We love to freeze this pizza for quick meals later so I would recommend either airtight containers to do that or I use these aluminum 13 by 9 pans that I can fit about eight slices in and I just separate the layers with aluminum foil and then I'll take some press and seal and I will put it across the top put the lid on and freeze it for up to two months. However you want to make sure that before you seal the top with press and seal that the pizza is completely cooled so that it freezes properly. I have all the links to the products I use on our website along with the complete recipe and instructions. I hope that you and your family fall in love with this pizza like we have. It's really become a staple here in our home and if you enjoyed this video please consider liking and subscribing. Thank you so much for watching.