Pizza a caballo

Ingredients

The pizza dough

• 500 gstrong white flour
• 320 mlwarm water
• 7 gdried yeast
• 10 gsalt
• 2 tablespoonsolive oil

The topping

• 400 gtinned tomatoes
• crushed
• 400 gmozzarella
• or a mix with hard cheese
• dried oregano
• olive oil
• salt

The fainá

• 250 gchickpea flour
• 600 mlwater
• 4 tablespoonsolive oil
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• plenty of black pepper

To serve

• a slice of each together
• black pepper
• a glass of moscato

Directions

1. Skim it right off before baking. The batter is very thin indeed. Warm the water gently in a jug. Stir the dried yeast right into it. Let it stand there for ten minutes. Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the salt to one side of it. Salt kills yeast on direct contact. Keep them apart until the water goes in. Combining it is straightforward enough.
2. Add the yeast water and the oil. Bring it together into a dough. Knead it for about ten minutes. Ten minutes by hand is what it takes. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Give it about ninety full minutes. Whisk the chickpea flour with the water. Add the water gradually while whisking. Whisk it until completely smooth. Adding the rest is straightforward enough.
3. Whisk in the oil and the salt. Add plenty of ground black pepper. Grind it fresh if you possibly can. Cover the batter and let it rest. Give it at least two whole hours.
4. Skim the grey foam off the surface. Press it out into an oiled tin. Press it out to fill the whole tin. Let it rest twenty minutes after. Spread the crushed tomato over it. Season it with salt and oregano. Cover it generously with cheese. Heat the oven as hot as it goes.
5. Bake it for about twenty minutes. The pizza base must cook through. Oil a shallow baking tin generously. Heat it in the oven until very hot. A hot oiled tin crisps the underside. Heat it for a good ten minutes.
6. Pour the batter into the hot tin. Hot oil spits when batter hits it. Pour it slowly and stand back. Use oven gloves right throughout. The hot baking tin is extremely hot. Pour it about half a centimetre deep. It should be only a thin layer. Bake it for about twenty minutes. The top should be golden and set.
7. Lift an edge with a palette knife. The underside should be browned. Bake it for longer if it is pale. Cut the whole pizza into slices. Cut the faina into similar wedges. The faina slice should match the pizza slice.
8. Cut them to roughly the same size. Lay a faina slice on a pizza slice. Grind black pepper over the top. Serving it is done standing at a counter. Serve a glass of moscato with it. The moscato is drunk very cold indeed.

Technique

• The fainá batter must rest at least two hours and preferably overnight: the chickpea flour hydrates fully and the batter becomes far smoother. A grey foam rises as it rests and that foam tastes bitter, so skim it off before baking — it makes a real difference.
• Heat the oiled tin in the oven for a good ten minutes before pouring the batter in, since a hot oiled tin crisps the underside where a cold one gives a soft base. Hot oil spits when the batter hits it, so pour slowly, stand back and use oven gloves — the tin is extremely hot.
• Fainá is heavily peppered by tradition and that is a defining part of the flavour, so be far more generous than you expect and grind it fresh; more goes over the top at serving.

Substitutions

• Fainá is entirely chickpea flour with no wheat at all, making it naturally gluten free; pour it about half a centimetre deep, since thicker fainá is stodgy.
• River Plate pizza is baked in a tin with a thick soft base and a great deal of cheese rather than in the thin Neapolitan style; that abundance is characteristic.

Variations

• A caballo means on horseback: the fainá slice rides on top of the pizza slice and the two are eaten as one thing.
• Fainá comes from Ligurian farinata, brought by Genoese immigrants who opened pizzerias in Montevideo and Buenos Aires; both halves of the dish arrived through them.
• Moscato, a sweet white wine drunk cold, is the traditional accompaniment — the sweetness against the salt is the point.

History

A Montevideo and Buenos Aires habit born in Genoese-immigrant pizzerias, washed down with a glass of moscato.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pizza a caballo?

Pizza a caballo is a street food from Uruguay: slice of pizza with a slice of faina laid on top, eaten standing. A Montevideo and Buenos Aires habit born in Genoese-immigrant pizzerias, washed down with a glass of moscato.

How long does Pizza a caballo take to make?

Pizza a caballo takes 30 minutes plus rising of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Pizza a caballo?

Yes, within limits. Fainá is entirely chickpea flour with no wheat at all, making it naturally gluten free; pour it about half a centimetre deep, since thicker fainá is stodgy. River Plate pizza is baked in a tin with a thick soft base and a great deal of cheese rather than in the thin Neapolitan style; that abundance is characteristic.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pizza a caballo?

Skim the grey foam off the surface. Press it out into an oiled tin. Press it out to fill the whole tin. Let it rest twenty minutes after. Spread the crushed tomato over it. Season it with salt and oregano. Cover it generously with cheese. Heat the oven as hot as it goes.