The pizza piena is pure, simple perfection – each mouthful serves as a celebration of Italian flavour.
Recipe and styling by Fortunato Mazzone
Photograph by Annalize Nel
Build your base: basic pizza dough
Pizza piena Napoletana
Ingredients
- 18 free-range eggs
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 400g home-made/store-bought standard pizza dough, rolled out thinly into 2 discs
- 650g mozzarella, sliced
- 250g Parmesan, grated
- 300g Parma ham, diced
- beaten egg, to brush
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Beat the eggs well and add the freshly ground black pepper.
Grease and line the sides and base of a 25cm springform tin. Line with 1 disc of pizza dough to form a pie crust on the base and sides.
Crumble a mixture of the cheeses over the base and sprinkle with the diced Parma ham.
Spoon over a large ladleful of the beaten egg mixture and repeat until the springform tin is filled to the brim with the different layers.
Use the second thin pizza base to cover the top of the springform tin, pinching the sides and top together to enclose. Brush the lid with a little beaten egg and bake in the preheated oven until the filling has set, about 1 hour 20 minutes.
Allow to cool a little and serve the pizza piena in generous slices.
Notes
There is no salt in the filling – the meat and cheeses are salty enough.
