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Pizza bianca romana
Roman olive oil flatbread
Pizza bianca: Rome's long bakery flatbread with olive oil and salt
Walk past any Roman forno at eleven in the morning and you'll see pizza bianca coming out of the oven in planks a metre long: crisp on top, chewy and full of holes inside, brushed with olive oil and scattered with salt. Romans buy it by the slice for children's snacks after school, or split it open and fill it with mortadella or fresh figs in late summer. The dough is very wet and needs only folding, not kneading. Chef's tip: stretch the dough with oily fingertips straight onto the tray; dimpling it presses big bubbles into the dough that puff up in the oven.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
- 1 ⅛ lb strong white bread flour
- 1 ¾ cups cool water
- ⅓ oz fine salt
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oildivided
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- 1 sprig rosemary leavesopt
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 1 ⅛ lb strong white bread flour, 1 ¾ cups cool water and ⅛ oz fast-action dried yeast with a spoon into a sticky dough. Rest for 20 minutes, then add ⅓ oz fine salt and squeeze it in with wet hands.
20 minStep 2: Every 30 minutes for 2 hours, stretch and fold the dough over itself four times in the bowl with wet hands. It will become smoother and bubbly. Cover between folds.
120 minStep 3: Heat the oven to 475°F (450°F fan) with a large baking tray inside. Pour 2 tablespoons of 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil onto a sheet of baking paper.
Step 4: Tip the dough onto the paper and stretch it with oiled fingertips into a long rectangle about 1.5 cm thick, dimpling it all over. Common mistake: pressing out all the bubbles; be gentle. Brush with the rest of the oil and scatter with 1 tsp flaky sea salt and 1 sprig rosemary leaves, if using.
Step 5: Slide the paper onto the hot tray and bake for 18–20 minutes, until deep golden and crisp on top and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
20 minStep 6: Cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then cut into long strips. Eat the same day.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 48 g
- Fat
- 8 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does pizza bianca romana take?
- About 50 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of strong white bread flour?
- Plain flour, same amount (the dough will be softer and rise a little less).
- What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?
- Fresh yeast, three times the weight.
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