Modern Baker: Pizza Chiena: Neapolitan Meat & Cheese Pie

      The third recipe I made from the Savory Tarts & Pies section of The Modern Baker  by Nick Malgieri, was the one for Pizza Chiena:  Neapolitan Meat & Cheese Pie, on page 151.  (We are not publishing recipes from the book, so if you like what you see, buy the book and bake along with or without us).    

      The ingredient list for the crust dough:  all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, eggs, olive oil, and water.   The filling ingredients:  ricotta, eggs, pepper, Pecorino Romano, parsley, prosciutto, Italian basket cheese, soppressata, fresh mozzarella, and capicola. 

      I made a half recipe as this thing is huge and weighs a lot.  I figured a little would go a long way when serving and I was right.  This was my first experience with an olive oil dough for the crust and while it was easy to make, easy to work with, and easy to roll out, I did not care for it at all.  It seemed heavy and oily and not at all tasty.  That said, Mark liked it just fine. 

      The filling was fun to make, layers of meat and cheese topped off with the top crust of dough.  It got a nice egg wash and went into the oven for an hour.  After an hour it was nicely browned.  We let it cool for a bit as the cheese was hot and loose, after about ten minutes it was cooled sufficiently to cut into slices/pieces without everything oozing out too much.
      Mark loved it.  He loves Italian cured sausages and things of that nature and also loves cheese, so the combination for him was a winner.  I am not fan of sausages so I only had a 50/50 shot at best at really enjoying this.  The cheese parts were good, the sausage and crust parts were not to my liking...not because of the recipe, but because of personal food preferences.  Would I make this again?  I would make it if Mark requested me to do so, otherwise, I think not, again, personal preference so don't let that deter you at all as it was fun to make.

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