Pizza Capricciosa

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is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger.
Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.

You can find my ➽ Pizza Capricciosa recipe in this article.

The colorful classic from Italy is related to the Pizza Quattro Stagioni.

Quattro Stagioni means four seasons. A quarter of each pizza is topped with a main ingredient.

Each pizza quarter should represent a season.

The same ingredients are used for the Capricciosa, but distributed colorfully on the pizza.

I have summarized many new ideas and tips for you to ensure a successful result.

The following article provides plenty of information for interesting variants and a fine result.

1. Recipe Pizza Capricciosa

Elsewhere here in the foodblog you will find my pizza dough.

For an authentic pizza experience, I recommend a 24 or 48 hour dough.

If you want to go faster today, you can prepare the quick pizza dough.

After the recipe, below, you will find even more tips and ideas summarized.

You can send me your cooking question using the comment function at the bottom of the page.

I’m sure I’ll answer that.

Here we go:

Pizza Capriciosa

Baked, photographed and written down by chef Thomas Sixt

Servings 2
Calories 1167
Total Time 30 Min.
Preparation Time 15 Min.
Cook Time 15 Min.

Simple instructions for making pizza capricciosa yourself.

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Pizza Capricciosa
Pizza Capricciosa Recipe Image

Ingredients

500 g yeast dough (Pizza dough)
250 g canned tomatoes (Datterini or San Marzano tomatoes can)
primal salt
Pepper black, ground
brown cane sugar
2 Piece Mozzarella (Fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella)
8 Piece artichoke hearts
10 Piece fresh mushrooms
2 Stück glove of garlic (Or young garlic)
1/2 bunch basil
200 g cooked ham

Instruction

Pizza dough on the board with flour
Pizza dough on the board with flour

Pizza dough

Start preparing the dough 24-48 hours before making the pizza.

The dough stays in the fridge. Follow this guide:

–> Pizza dough

For better handling, leave the dough ready at room temperature 30 minutes before preparation.

Preheat pizza stone
Place the pizza stone in the middle of the grid in the oven at 280°C

Preheat oven

Preheat the oven to 280°C, lower and upper heat.

Pizza stone variant:

If you use a pizza stone, please insert it in the middle of the grid and preheat for at least an hour.

Baking tray variant:

Remove the baking sheets from the oven before heating.

Brush the baking sheets with olive oil and set aside.

Pass tomatoes for pizza tomato sauce
Pass tomatoes for pizza tomato sauce

Prepare tomatoes

Prepare a sieve with a bowl for the tomatoes.

Drain the tomatoes on the sieve.

Season the drained tomatoes with salt, pepper and a little sugar.

Mozzarella for pizza
Mozzarella for pizza

Prepare cheese

Dry the Fior di latte or alternatively Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP on kitchen paper.

Artichoke hearts in a jar
Artichoke hearts in a jar

Prepare artichokes

Drain the artichoke hearts from the jar.

Halve or quarter the artichokes depending on their size.

mushrooms
Light and dark mushrooms on the kitchen board.

Prepare mushrooms

Clean the mushrooms with a small knife or brush.

Using a slicer, cut the mushrooms into 1 mm thin, fine slices.

Young garlic sliced for pizza
Young garlic sliced for pizza

Prepare garlic

Finely slice young green garlic.

Alternatively, peel and finely slice the garlic cloves.

basil for pizza
basil for pizza

Prepare basil

Pluck the basil leaves from the fresh bunch and set aside for serving.

Shaped pizza dough
Pizza dough shaped on the cutting board.

Shape pizza

Place the pizza dough on a suitable surface.

Shape the dough with your hands using a little flour or ground durum wheat semolina.

Place the pizza dough on an oiled baking sheet and then finally shape it to fit.

pizza stone:

Alternatively sprinkle the pizza peel with durum wheat semolina.

Place the preformed dough on the pizza peel.

Cover the pizza dough with the tomatoes.

Pizza dough formed on the baking tray with tomato sauce
Pizza dough formed on the baking tray with tomato sauce

Top pizza

Cover the pizza dough with the tomatoes.

You could now put the thin slices of garlic directly on top.

You can also put young garlic on later.

Bake pizza on baking sheet
Place pizza on baking sheet in oven and bake

Pre-bake pizza

Bake the pizza for about 8 minutes, then remove from the oven.

Pizza Capricciosa pre-baked topped with ham, artichokes and mushrooms
Pizza Capricciosa pre-baked topped with ham, artichokes and mushrooms

Occupy Capricciosa

Top the pizza with slices or with plucked pieces of fior di latte or mozzarella.

Add the ham slices folded or twisted together.

Add the prepared mushrooms and artichokes.

Put the pizza back in the oven and finish baking for 4-8 minutes.

Pizza Capriciosa
Pizza Capriciosa

Serve

Take the crispy baked pizza out of the oven and arrange on plates.

Garnish with the basil and serve drizzled with olive oil.

Bon appetit!

Video

Courses

Cousine

Keyword

2. Calories And Nutritional Values

The Capricciosa Pizza calories and nutritional values are listed in the table below.

Depending on how much dough you use per pizza, as well as the amount of topping, the nutritional values vary.

A pizza with a diameter of 30 cm has an average of 800-1,000 calories.

3. Ingredients For Original Pizza Capricciosa

To make the famous flatbread pizza you need the following ingredients:

San Marzano tomatoes or alternative

Garlic (garlic clove or baby garlic to taste)

fior de latte or mozzarella

Cooked ham slices

Mushrooms

Artichokes

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Extra virgin olive oil

Basil leaves for garnish

Capriccioasa means “fickle” – the topping of the pizza also depends on the contents of the pantry.

At the top of the list you will find the typical ingredient of the Pizza Napoletane in bold.

However, you are welcome to show your creative side and exchange and add ingredients to taste.

Mozzarella for pizza
Mozzarella for pizza
Tomatoes for pizza tomato sauce
Tomatoes for pizza tomato sauce
Young garlic for pizza
Young garlic for pizza
mushrooms
Light and dark mushrooms on the kitchen board.
Finely grate the parmesan
Finely grated Parmesan on the cutting board.

4. Pizza Dough For Pizza Capricciosa

If you search for pizza dough recipes on the Internet, you will often find recipes with only one type of flour:

The typical pizza dough flour is wheat flour tipo 00 (W 260) or type 550.

After several weeks of daily preparation and testing in my test kitchen, I can tell you that most recipes with just one flour are simply not original.

In order to find out what is going wrong, I spoke to various pizza experts, pizzaiolos and my specialist dealer for Italian Alimentari and exchanged ideas.

For the perfect and authentic pizza dough, I recommend using 50% wheat flour (tipo 00) and 50% post-ground durum wheat semolina.

You can also try a variant with 75% wheat flour and 25% durum wheat semolina. But frankly, I think the 50/50 option is the best.

My dough recipe with durum wheat semolina is ideal for preparation at temperatures of 220-350°C.

If you only want to prepare dough from wheat flour, I recommend an oven temperature of 220°C.

The wheat dough rises better at this temperature and has a better consistency.

The following applies to both doughs: In general, slow dough processing is better.

Prepare the pizza dough two days before preparing the pizza and let it rise for 12-24 or 48 hours.

Once you try this pizza dough, you won’t like any other.

The great thing is that the “long-term” pizza dough is also more digestible and good for the stomach.

If you need more details on both variants, you can find them fully documented elsewhere:

Pizza dough by Thomas Sixt

Prepare quick pizza dough

Types of flour for pizza dough
Types of flour for pizza dough
Knead pizza dough with yeast
Knead pizza dough with yeast
Pizza dough risen after 24 hours
Pizza dough risen after 24 hours

5. Artichoke Pizza Capricciosa

When I think of artichoke pizza, I automatically think of the capricciosa or the pizza quattro stagioni.

Regarding the artichokes, I leave you with a recommendation.

We all know more or less the artichokes that are preserved in a jar or in a tin.

The typical and simple artichokes boiled in water, about medium-sized, are available in the supermarket.

Basically, these are not bad, but unfortunately they taste watery and are often fibrous.

My Italian dealer recommended small artichoke hearts preserved in oil.

These simply taste great and are the best choice for the gourmet.

Below you will find some photos:

Artichoke hearts in a jar
Artichoke hearts in a jar
Artichoke hearts on the cutting board
Artichoke hearts on the cutting board
Sliced artichokes
Sliced artichokes

6. Bake Twice: Best Pizza Capricciosa

I always bake my pizzas twice with high-quality ingredients.

The taste of the topping is simply better and the pizza becomes a work of art.

In the first step I only bake the pizza with the tomato topping.

I always drain the tomatoes well in a sieve with a bowl underneath.

I only season the tomatoes gently with a little salt, pepper and very little sugar.

In the home oven, I create a temperature of 280°C top and bottom heat.

A pizza oven reaches a temperature of up to 400°C.

Accordingly, the baking time at home in the oven is a little longer.

I compensate for the missing high temperature by topping the pizza.

➽ Shape the pizza dough and cover with tomatoes

➽ Bake the pizza for a good 8-12 minutes

➽ Finely finish the pizza with the remaining toppings and finish baking again.

➽ Arrange and serve the pizza.

Below are some pictures from the pizza manufactory 🙂

Pizza dough formed on the baking tray with tomato sauce
Pizza dough formed on the baking tray with tomato sauce
Bake pizza on baking sheet
Place pizza on baking sheet in oven and bake
Pizza Capricciosa pre-baked topped with ham, artichokes and mushrooms
Pizza Capricciosa pre-baked topped with ham, artichokes and mushrooms

7. Pizza Stone Or Baking Tray For Pizza Capricciosa

The pizza stone is a practical tool for the home oven.

You can look for a pizza stone at your stove manufacturer or at a hardware store.

I recommend a thicker pizza stone, it retains the heat better.

When using the pizza stone, preheating is the order of the day.

I do this at 280°C top and bottom heat and place the stone on the middle shelf of the oven.

After a good 60 to 90 minutes you can insert and bake the first pizza.

Alternatively, you can use your baking sheets.

Preheating the oven then only takes 30 minutes, you remove the trays beforehand.

I like the baking tray pizza, which saves electricity and is faster compared to the pizza stone method.

You first shape the pizza dough and then place it on the oiled baking sheet.

You can shape the dough better on the baking sheet.

Then it’s time to cover with the tomatoes and then into the oven.

Pizza stone with pizza peel
Pizza stone with pizza peel
pizza stone
pizza stone
Preheat pizza stone
Place the pizza stone in the middle of the grid in the oven at 280°C
Pizza dough shaped baking sheet
Pizza dough shaped baking sheet
bake pizza
bake pizza

8. FAQ Pizza Capricciosa

The questions I have collected so far about the popular fickle pizza are below:

What does the word Capricciosa mean

Capricciosa comes from the Italian and means “capricious”, “changeable”, “fickle”.

How to make the Pizza Capricciosa perfect at home?

Prepare a 24 or 36 hour pizza dough and bake the pizza with the tomatoes and garlic first.

Then top the pre-baked pizza with high quality ingredients: Fior de latte, cooked ham, mushrooms, artichokes, Parmegiano reggiano and finish the pizza.

Finish the pizza after baking with olive oil and basil leaves.

Which pizza dough is right for original Neapolitan Pizza Capricciosa.

Prepare a pizza dough with 25-50% reground durum wheat semolina.

Which tomatoes are ideal for Pizza Capricciosa?

Use San Marzano tomatoes or alternatively Datterini tomatoes from Sicily. Drain the tomatoes well.

What special cheeses can you recommend me for Pizza Capricciosa?

Usually for pizza Capricciose Fior di latte is used. You can also use Mozzarella di Bufala Campana D.O.P. and Burrata.

Very fine and extraordinary becomes the pizza with Camembert di Bufala or Stracciatella.

Should I bake the cheese right from the start with the pizza?

For a fantastic taste experience, I recommend you bake the pizza without cheese first, add the cheese later and bake the pizza a second time.

In this way you achieve a better taste experience, the individual ingredients come into their own better.

What artichokes can you recommend with for Pizza Capricciosa?

Look for small artichoke hearts pickled in oil. These are better tasting compared to artichokes pickled in water.

Pairs balsamic with pizza Capricciosa

The traditional balsamic is not a typical pizza ingredient, you can add a few drops of Aceto Balsamico tradizionale and taste. This tastes really fine!

9. More Pizza Recipes

Comments, Cooking Questions and Answers

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