Pizza Ebraica (“Jewish pizza”) is an Italian Jewish pastry, filled with nuts, raisins, and other candied fruit. It might look like I left it in the oven too long, but that’s actually one of its distinctive features—it’s dark, almost charred, outside. The inside is soft, and the contrast - as well as the slightly burned fruit on the outside - give it its unique flavor. (The pictures aren't doing justice to how dark it is, but you can - and should - definitely take it further than it looks in my pictures.

I have not had the original Pizza Ebraica, which is sold in only one store in the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. But I was sent this recipe (attributed to Rina Piazza and Hamos Guetta) by an Italian friend. I then read and watched every recipe I could find, and I hope it is as close to the original as possible.

One difficulty I ran into was finding the candied fruit. Candied fruit is NOT dried fruit. It’s a big part of Italian cuisine, but not as common in the US. I’m sure it is available in specialty and international food stores, or online, but at my local supermarket the closest I found was a “holiday mix” - for use in fruit cakes. It was already diced quite finely, and included some fruits that are not typical for pizza ebraica. Ideally, they would be in bigger chunks. So if you want to go authentic, and you have easy access to candied fruit (or the determination to hunt some down) - you want to look for citron and melon, in particular.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup white wine
  • ⅔ cup raisins (100 grams)
  • 9 tbsp. Sugar (120 grams)
  • ⅓ cup oil (70 grams)
  • 1 ½ cups flour (210 grams)
  • ½ cup pine nuts (75 grams)
  • ¼ cup whole almonds (25 grams)
  • ¾ cup mixed candied fruit, typically melon, citron, and cherries (100 grams)

Directions

  1. Soak the raisins in the white wine for at least 30 minutes. Do not discard the wine; you will need it later.
  2. Preheat oven to 475°F (250°C).
  3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the sugar, oil, and salt. Slowly add in the flour and wine, alternatingly. When the dough starts to feel dry, slowly add some wine to loosen it up. Then add more flour, etc. Until all the flour has been incorporated. Dough should be soft and wettish, but not sticky.
  4. Mix in the nuts, raisins, and candied fruit.
  5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Shape the dough into a log, approximately 4 inches (10 cm) wide. Use a knife to make indents in the dough, approximately 1.5 inches (4 cm) apart. This is where you will cut it into individual bars once it is baked.
  6. Bake at 475°F (250°C) for 20 minutes. It should be quite dark on the outside (the inside will be soft) - borderline charred. The raisins on the outside will be burned - that’s how it should be!
  7. Remove from the oven and let cool. Cut along the indents you made earlier, into individual rectangles. Store in an airtight container (or freeze).

Yields: 8 pieces