INGREDIENTS

For the dough

• Manitoba flour 500 g
• Fresh brewer’s yeast 25 g
• Vegetable carbon 6 g
• Warm water 300ml
• Extra virgin olive oil 3 Tablespoons
• Salt up to 10 g

For the filling

• Medium-sized squid 2
• Shrimp tails 8
• Small Tropea onion 1
• Cherry tomatoes 200 g
• Rocket 50 g
• Parmigiano Reggiano flakes 50 g
• Extra virgin olive oil 7 Tablespoons
• Dry white wine 1/2 Glass

The black pizza with squid and prawns is a simple-to-make leavened charcoal pizza with a crunchy result and an unusual filling.

The black pizza with calamari and prawns is a particularly original pizza, first of all, because the dough is colored black, and secondly because it is a pizza without tomato sauce or mozzarella. The decision not to use the two classic pizza ingredients was made because they are very moist ingredients, which would risk wetting the surface of the pizza too much and preventing it from cooking properly. The black dough, on the other hand, is given by the simple addition of powdered vegetable charcoal inside the dough.

Vegetable carbon, also called activated carbon, is mainly made up of amorphous carbon. It is charcoal from wood or sawdust which has as its most important feature a very high capacity to absorb liquids or other substances. This is the reason why a leavened product based on vegetable charcoal must limit watery fillings. Consider that only 1 gram of charcoal, thanks to its high porosity, has a surface area equal to that of a football field.

Vegetable charcoal is known for its purifying characteristics, and this meant that a few years ago the trend of leavened products with vegetable charcoal was born, which had to be “healthy”. This statement derives from the use of this substance since ancient times: in India, it was used to make drinking water, and in Egypt to sanitize wounds. In 1800 in England it was used to remove unpleasant odors from water treated with chemicals. It also serves to decolorize water because once immersed in water. It “hooks” on the color particles and causes them to precipitate. This is also used today in the medical field to retain intestinal gas and as an antivenom in mushroom poisoning. Obviously, like all substances, its abuse is harmful, which is why bread and black-leavened products have begun to be used less.

For the preparation of this pizza, we suggest the use of a planetary mixer. Because it is easier to obtain a homogeneous and well-mixed dough, but obviously. It can also be done by hand, following the same steps, it will only be a longer operation.