Pizza ebraica – Jewish sweet “pizza”
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Pizza ebraica: Jewish sweet “pizza”
This delectable item is not pizza at all, but an unleavened pastry crammed full of whole almonds and candied fruit and cooked until it looks rather burnt but is in fact absolutely perfect, with the nuts crunchy and fruits bursting with flavour.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 30
Ingredients
- 1 cup marsala wine (or sherry)
- 2?3 cup raisins
- 4 cups (450g) flour
- 3?4 cup (170g) cup sugar
- 12 tbsp (200g) unsalted butter, ?softened
- Good pinch of salt
- 1 whole egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup (50g) whole almonds
- 1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)
- 1/2 cup (50g) ground almonds
- 1 cup roughly chopped candied citron, cherries and other candied fruit
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 475ºF/240ºC.
- Put the raisins to soak in the marsala/sherry. Leave them at least 20 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugar and softened butter, until everything is uniform.
- Add the 1/2 cup (50g) of almond flour, then the beaten egg. Combine well.
- Add the wine and raisins, candied fruit and whole almonds. Mix well to combine.
- Spread onto parchment paper on a baking sheet, an inch think.
- Cook for 25 minutes, until crisp outside but still soft inside.
- Leave to cool a little, then cut into strips (large cantuccini size).
Hi,
I have not yet made this recipe but it sounds great. Thank you for this great recipe; I look forward to trying it the next time I have an inclination to bake.
Best,
Barbara
Hi,
I can’t rate this recipe quite yet. Although I was originally going to wait until the holidays to bake this wonderful, historic recipe, I decided to experiment a bit. I am substituting/experimenting with some of the ingredients and, sadly, could not get candied orange peel or candied orange (which I think would have added a lot to the flavor, I love the taste of citrus in things), but it should still be good. Perhaps I can more easily obtain the candied orange peel around the holidays. (I’ve also cut the overall recipe in half since I’m only baking for one.)
Anyway, I’m experimenting a bit now to determine whether I can make this and include it as a possibility in my holiday baking list. I hope I am not making so many changes that the recipe doesn’t turn out – some recipes lend themselves more easily to being cut in half or having other modifications made.
In any case, we will see what happens. Will submit a follow up post and let you all know how my substitutions, etc. go. Shalom.
Best,
Barbara
Hi,
Just to follow up from my prior post. Well, unfortunately, I think my dough was a little too wet! I did remember to cut the liquids as well as the dry ingredients in half but I suspect the biggest problem was not using the almond flour. (I don’t bake too often and didn’t want to get stuck with a lot of left over almond four; it’s also an expensive ingredient), so I foolishly just substituted the equivalent amount of regular flour.
I thought the dough looked a little wet and I even tried adding in a little extra flour while forming the dough into a loaf shape. Long story short? It just didn’t work. I think this recipe really needs the almond flour to help absorb the liquid ingredients and/or problems may (or may not?) have been exacerbated by cutting the recipe in half.
In any case, I originally baked the loaf for the time noted – 25 minutes and it looked perfect on the outside but was, unfortunately, far too heavy and damp on the inside. Tried putting it back in the oven for another 10 minutes but this didn’t work either. (One other thing: Like most baked goods, this smells great when baking in the oven!)
I might (?) be able to salvage it by cutting one piece of it at a time and toasting it in the oven. I did try a small taste of the end of the underdone loaf and at least the flavor was lovely – just the right amount of sweetness without being too sweet.
In any event, I may try this recipe again sometime around the holidays, just to see if I can get it right but the next time I try making this baked good, I will NOT omit the almond flour. I expect that the almond flour probably helps to balance out the liquid in this recipe.\
I hope anyone else out there who tries this for the first time better luck. (However, I’m not giving up. Will give it a try again in the future! Thanks for the recipe.) Take care.
Best,
Barbara Day
P.S. Any thoughts or advice for trying this again are welcome. I’d be especially interested in knowing if others have tried cutting this recipe in half. Has anyone else tried this? If so, were you successful?
P.P.S. – I’m giving the recipe 5 stars just for the flavor alone. Also, I wouldn’t feel right about giving it anything less than that since I modified the ingredients plus played with the amounts.