The Capsule Pantry: Roman Pizza, Bonci-Style

AKA the only way to make oven-baked pizza at home

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Last week I spent an hour and a half in line for a pizza.

Not even a fancy Neopolitan pizza. A Roman pizza, the lesser-known, much less revered style.

But it was a pilgrimage nonetheless because I was in line for Bonci Pizzarium, the home of Gabriele Bonci’s glorious pizzas in Rome.

Roman pizza comes in a few different forms but Bonci is all about al taglio - by the slice. Square sheet pans are filled with dough that — once baked — is similar in style to focaccia, then topped with everything from fatty mortadella to bitter green leaves.

However much I adore Neopolitan pizzas, you can’t make them at home without a proper pizza oven. But Roman pizzas? It turns out they work great in almost any type of oven.

Which is exactly what I did this week in my Airbnb.

I used Gabriele Bonci’s dough recipe, a no-knead recipe with a slow 24-hour prove in the fridge.

When it comes to making pizza at home, this is a game changer. Fluffy insides, cripsy bottom, fresh toppings, as if Bonci (or at least his extremely inexperienced intern) had made them himself.

The original recipe

Makes enough pizza for four people

It’s really important for the measurements to be precise here, so I’m going to give you them in grams rather than ounces or cups.

• 600g flour - the best you can find, ideally 00 pizza / pasta flour

• 420g lukewarm water - this is 70% hydration (the weight of water amounts to 70% of the weight of flour). It doesn’t matter how much flour you use - for more or fewer people - if you keep to the 70% hydration rule

• 6g dry yeast

• 12g sea salt

• 24g olive oil

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, water, and yeast. When it’s mostly mixed, add the salt and oil.

It’ll be wet. Very wet. Which is fine.

Wet your hand (it will help to stop the dough sticking to you) and start to “stretch and fold.” Grab underneath the shaggy dough, pull it up and over itself. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Do this until you have done two turns of the bowl (8 stretch and folds).

Rest for 15 minutes. Perform another round of stretch and folds.

Repeat this three more times - so an hour in all. You’ll notice that the dough will start to become smoother, stretchier, and much easier to handle every time.

Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.

On the night of pizza-fest, take the bowl out and let the dough come back to room temperature. This took about an hour and a half to two hours.

Pre-heat your oven to very hot - 250C / 480F is ideal.

Oil a sheet pan. This recipe will make 2 x 30x40cm size pizzas worth but you can be flexible. The pan I have in my Airbnb is tiny so I made more.

Carefully tip the dough out onto a very floured surface. Cut in half.

Take one part and very carefully start to shape into a rough rectangle to fit your pan. You want to keep as many of the air bubbles as possible to keep the dough light and fluffy, stretch carefully and whatever you do, don’t use a rolling pin. Here’s a video of Bonci shaping his dough, to give you an idea.

Transfer the dough into the oiled pan, top with some good quality crushed tinned tomatoes (seasoned of course) and put in the oven. You could top with fresh mozzarella here too but in Rome, the cheese is often added after cooking.

This will take anything from 10-20 minutes to cook depending on your oven and its temperature. Keep an eye on it. Once it’s browned, it’s done. I have to admit, the picture at the top of this article was a little overdone thanks to an unknown oven (it was a hot one!) You want to aim for something more akin to the picture below.

And there you have it - Roman pizza. All you’ve gotta do now is top it.

Topping ideas

Pizza bianca with mortadella - this is what’s in the photo above. I mixed ricotta with chopped-up mozzarella for the base. When it came out of the oven, I topped it with slices of buttery mortadella.

Cime di rapa - this was the best pizza I had at Bonci’s place. Cime di rapa - also known as broccoli rabe - is sauteed with garlic and placed on top. You could also use spinach, beetroot tops, nettles, cavolo nero or any other green leaves.

Slow-roasted cherry tomatoes and grated pecorino.

Thinly sliced roasted potatoes with rosemary.

Ricotta and salami.

Spicy Nduja.

Sun-dried tomatoes and roasted artichoke hearts.

Ham and pineapple (yeah, I said it).

Roasted aubergine and courgette.