The panzerotti are one of the oldest street foods in Italy. They say they were created in the Salento area, when a baker decided to use some leftover bread dough to prepare small fried pizzas folded into the shape of a crescent, with a stringy heart of mozzarella and tomato. The panzerotto has different names in different regions. In Puglia, it’s called calzone - not to be confused with the calzones you find in American pizzerias, which are baked rather than fried. In Naples and its surroundings, it’s pizza fritta (fried pizza). But wherever you may be, it’s always a pocket of dough filled with tomatoes or vegetables or meat sauce, fried in seed or peanut oil, with an unmistakable aroma.
Tomato and mozzarella origins
The first panzerotti, precisely because they were spinoffs of leftover food, were stuffed with tomato and cheese, two common ingredients that are easy to find in every kitchen. Over time the fillings have become more elaborate, with different combinations even in the areas where they originated. In Naples, for example, they’re filled with ciccioli (compressed pieces of aged pork) and ricotta cheese, while in Puglia with broccoli rabe and caciocavallo cheese. What hasn’t changed, on the other hand, is the composition of the dough, always made with flour, oil, yeast and water.
The sweet panzerotto
Although it was born as a savory street food, over time the panzerotto has been made into a sweet – perfect as a snack or as a dessert, or even as a typical Carnival treat. In addition to jams and chocolate creams, the sweet panzerotto is often filled with sheep’s milk ricotta cheese or chestnut spread and always dusted with powdered sugar.
The recipe for 10 perfect panzerotti
Ingredients:
For the dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups Manitoba flour
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
½ cube of brewer’s yeast
9 oz water
salt
For the filling
9 oz mozzarella cheese
4 oz peeled tomatoes
fresh basil leaves
peanut oil for frying
Method:
Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water. Meanwhile put both types of flour in a bowl. Add the yeast to the flour, plus a little water, and start to knead. Add the remaining water, oil, salt and continue to work the dough until it has a soft elastic consistency. Now divide it into 10 small balls of about 3 oz each, which you will place well spaced from each other on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let them rise, covered with a cloth, for about three hours, until they have doubled in volume.
Meanwhile, cut the mozzarella into cubes. Take the peeled tomatoes, cook them for ten minutes in a pan with a little oil, salt to taste and once you’ve removed them from the heat, add the fresh basil leaves. At this point take the balls of dough and roll them out with a rolling pin on a floured pastry board making a circle. Place a tablespoon of tomato sauce and a few cubes of mozzarella in the center and then close it, forming a crescent and pressing the edges well, to make the dough stick. Fold the edge inward and press it down with the tines of a fork.
In a pan, heat the oil and then fry two panzerotti at a time, waiting for them to turn golden before turning them over. Drain them on a sheet of absorbent paper and serve them very hot.
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