Sfincione Scorpione

Hey there! Have you ever made your own pizza from scratch? Us, neither! So we teamed up with "pizza genius" Natalie DeSabato of TRAZE here in Queens, NYC for a special, somewhat advanced, Sicilian style Sfincione pizza recipe made with our spicy Sicilian Scorpion sauce 🍕🔥

Sfincione is a traditional Sicilian pizza featuring a thick, spongy, focaccia-like crust topped with a savory sauce of tomatoes, onions, and a crunchy layer of toasted breadcrumbs and grated cheese  topped off with oregano

(You can also substitute the Sicilian Scorpion for the Red Habanero & Black Coffee hot sauce, if you'd like!)

DOUGH

Poolish:

3/4 cup lukewarm water

½ teaspoon active dry yeast

½ teaspoon honey

1 cup bread flour

Prepare the poolish: Combine water, yeast, and honey in a 4 qt container. Stir vigorously. Add flour, mix well, about 4 minutes, until flour is completely hydrated. Cover and let sit for 1 hour at room temp. Move covered poolish to the fridge for 18-24 hours.

Final Dough:

1 cup cold water

½  teaspoon yeast

3 ½ cups bread flour

2 ½  teaspoons salt

Poolish

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the bowl

NOTE: YOU WILL NEED A DOUGH ATTACHMENT FOR YOUR MIXER OR KNEAD BY HAND on a clean, lightly floured counter. Use the heel of your hand to push the dough away from you, fold it back over itself, give it a quarter turn, and repeat. Knead continuously for 8 to 12 minutes until the dough feels smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky

Make the dough: Remove poolish from fridge. In a bowl, combine water and yeast. Set aside. Put flour and salt to mixer, mix for 1 minute on low. Add poolish to dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on low. Next add the bowl of water and yeast. Mix for another two minutes. Finally, add the olive oil, and mix for seven minutes. Let dough rest in mixer for 10 minutes. Mix again for five minutes followed by another 10 minute rest. Shape dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover and let sit for a minimum of 48 hours, up to four days.

TOPPINGS

Sauce:

2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 T salted butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 yellow onion, finely diced

1 bay leaf (optional)

1/2 t dried basil

1 t dried oregano

¼ t black pepper

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

1 t honey

1.5 t Queen Majesty Sicilian Scorpion sauce, more for added heat

Salt to taste

Make the sauce: In a 4 qt saucepan over medium-low heat add olive oil and butter. Once melted and hot add the garlic and onion, along with the bay leaf and spices. Cook for five minutes on medium, stirring occassionally. Place tomatoes directly from the can into a food processor and pulse until mostly smooth, about 20 seconds. Pour the tomatoes into the pot and cook for 20 minutes over low-medium heat, stirring occassionally. Stir in Queen Majesty Sicilian Scorpion sauce and salt to taste. Transfer to container and allow the sauce to cool completely. Extra sauce can be stored in the fridge for up to five days.

Onions:

3 T extra virgin olive oil

5 small yellow onions, about 1.5 lbs, diced

Sauté the onions: Add olive oil to a large fry pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add onions. Let the onions cook over medium for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow onions to cook and get some burning bits at the bottom of the pan before stirring, then scrape up the browned fond into the onions. Allow the softened, caramel colored onions to cool completely, then transfer to the fridge until ready to use.                 

Breadcrumbs:

3/4 loaf italian style bread, cut into ¼ inch slices

1.5 oz semi-hard/hard caciocavallo or pecorino, grated

3 T extra virgin olive oil

Make the breadcrumbs: Preheat oven to 300. Place bread slices on baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes or until you see some browning. Let the bread cool on baking sheet, then transfer to food processor. Pulse for 10 seconds until morsels form. Add the cheese and olive oil pulsing a few more seconds until the mixture is ground into crumbs. Transfer to a container and refrigerate. Leftover breadcrumbs can be refrigerated for up to five days.

EXTRAS

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 oz semi-hard/hard caciocavallo or pecorino cheese, grated

Fresh oregano 

SFINCIONE-MAKING TIME!

Remove dough from the fridge and spread 3 tablespoons of olive oil on a half sheet tray. With greased hands, gently place the dough in the middle of the baking sheet, being careful not to deflate it. Spread 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top of the dough, cover dough loosely with plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours. During this time take sauce and onions out of the fridge and combine in a large bowl. Return sauce and onion mixture to the fridge until it’s time to top the pizza. After two hours, remove plastic wrap from dough and gently pull (don’t push or press) the edges of the dough towards the corners of the pan. If it’s still too elastic, let it sit another 15 minutes uncovered, then pull the dough again. Do this until the dough has filled the entire pan. Place a baking stone or steel if you have one in the middle rack of the oven and preheat oven to 450. Let the dough sit another 30 minutes. Spoon sauce over dough, leaving about ¼ inch border. You will most likely have leftover sauce. Sprinkle cheese over the sauce followed by a thick layer of breadcrumbs. You may have leftover breadcrumbs. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 12 minutes. Remove tray and add a few more sauce dollops and a thin layer of breadcrumbs if desired. Rotate tray and bake for another 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown and to desired crispiness. Using a spatula, remove sfincione from tray and transfer to a cooling rack for 8 minutes. Slice, garnish with fresh oregano, and enjoy!!