Italy never ceases to amaze me with what it hides under the term pizza. Whether it’s fried pizza Montanara, pizza rustica, or southern Italian pizza secca.
Pizza secca is as different from classic pizza as possible, resembling more of a salty, crispy cracker covered with a thin layer of tomato paste, olive oil, and oregano.
It’s not a regular pizza, but a type of thin bread called “schiacciatina”. The simple dough consists of flour, water, olive oil, salt, and yeast can be added. The ingredients are combined, rolled out into a thin sheet, spread with tomato paste, oregano, sprinkled with salt, and drizzled with olive oil. Then it is cut into rectangular slices and baked.
It is sold by weight, already cold, and can be a very simple yet tasty snack. The two pieces in the photo cost less than 1 Euro. I bought it in a small bakery on Via Gisira street, which I passed on my way to the fish market.
Outside of Catania, pizza secca is not very well known; I didn’t come across it in Palermo or Taormina either. If you don’t know pizza secca and come across it, give it a try. It’s a specialty that you won’t find elsewhere.
Bon appétit!
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