By Big Green Egg

Il Maiale (The Pig) is a pizza that celebrates all things piggy, topped with smoky pepperoni, spicy nduja, and three classic Italian cured meats

Overview

Created in partnership with our friends at Alfa Forni, a family-run pizza oven maker based in southern Italy, our Pizza Boxes contain all the dough and toppings you need to make authentic Italian pizzas on your EGG .Il Maiale (The Pig) is a celebration of all things piggy. There’s a robust, smoky Italian pepperoni, soft, spicy nduja di Spilinga from Calabria, and three classic cured meats: prosciutto crudo, matured for nine months, plus Milanese salami and Roman spianata. Top it all off with the sweetness and gentle warmth of teardrop-shaped chilli peppers.

The dough: frozen or fresh

Frozen: depending on how many guests you are cooking for defrost 1 - 2 dough balls efore it can be pressed out, the frozen dough ball first needs to reach room temperature, then spend a few hours proving. Remove the ball from its plastic bag while still frozen. Place in a bowl or proofing pot, cover with clingfilm or a lid, and leave to defrost and prove. In the summer, this can take as little as 4 hours. In the colder months, it can take up to 12 hours.

Fresh: Remove the dough balls from their plastic bag while still chilled. Place in a bowl or proofing pot, cover with clingfilm or a lid, and leave to prove for 2 to 6 hours, depending on the weather. The dough needs to be loose, airy and malleable before it can be pressed out.

Set up your EGG

Set up your EGG for indirect cooking, with the ConvEGGtor legs down, a Stainless Steel Grid on top and a Baking Stone on top of that. Light your EGG, and bring the temperature up to 300˚C.

Shape the dough

Dust your work surface with semolina flour mix. Using your fingertips, press out the dough ball firmly, starting at the centre and working out to the edge. Ensure you leave 1cm around the rim of the pizza untouched. Turn the dough ball over and repeat the pressing out process on the other side. Try to move quickly with the dough, as it can stick to the work surface if left too long. If you’re generous with the flour and keep adding a little more as you go along, you shouldn’t end up in a sticky situation.

Take the newly flattened dough ball on the back of your hands, ensuring the weight is on your knuckles and that your fingertips and nails are not going to poke a hole in the dough.

The New Yorker Pizza box | Pizza | Experiences | Big Green Egg & Alfa Forni ovens

Using the back of your hands, stretch the dough out as far as you can without tearing it. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this stretching. Do this a few times.

You should now have a disc of dough around 10 inches in diameter, consistently thin but with a slightly thicker rim.

Transfer to a well-floured Aluminium Pizza Peel, or our bamboo peel and mesch screen then get ready to add your toppings.

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For the toppings

Place a spoonful of tomato sauce in the center of the dough, using the back of the spoon sprial the saucea around the pizza leaving a good rim around the edge. Evenly distribute the fior di latte across the pizza. Finally place slices of pepperoni around the pizza, do not be tempted to overload with toppings as your pizza will not cook evenly!

The New Yorker Pizza box | Pizza | Experiences | Big Green Egg & Alfa Forni ovens

Baking

Take care to burp your EGG, then transfer the pizza carefully onto the Baking Stone. Close the EGG dome.

The New Yorker Pizza box | Pizza | Experiences | Big Green Egg & Alfa Forni ovens

After a few minutes, burp your EGG and check the cheese is melting and that the dough is blistering. Close the EGG again if it looks like it needs longer, it may need turning if you are developing hot spots. It should take about 6 minutes for the pizza to cook, during which time you start preparing your next one.

The New Yorker Pizza box | Pizza | Experiences | Big Green Egg & Alfa Forni ovens

To finish

Using the Aluminium Pizza Peel, remove the pizza from the EGG. Divide into even slices with our Ultimate Pizza Wheel and eat straight away.

The New Yorker Pizza box | Pizza | Experiences | Big Green Egg & Alfa Forni ovens

Top tips

If you over-stretch your dough and it gets too thin, you can sometimes end up with small holes in your pizza base. But don’t fear, all is not lost - just squeeze these gently back together before you put any toppings on.

To avoid a soggy bottom, use less tomato sauce.

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