How to Make the Perfect Pizza Capricciosa Every Time
The first pizza capricciosa I ever ordered came on a battered red checkered plate in a Roman trattoria where the menu had not changed since 1972. It arrived heaped with prosciutto cotto, sautéed mushrooms, oil cured artichoke quarters, and glossy black olives, and somewhere underneath all of that, a perfect Margherita base. I ate the whole thing without speaking, which my dining companion took as the proper review. This pizza capricciosa recipe is exactly how I have made it ever since, refined over years of obsessive testing.
Pizza Capricciosa Recipe
This step-by-step Italian recipe gives you crispy dough, rich San Marzano sauce, and four perfectly balanced classic toppings.
Equipment
- Pizza stone or pizza steel
- Pizza Peel
- Kitchen scale
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Small skillet
- Fine mesh strainer
- Sharp knife & cutting board
- Paper towels
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 500 grams Caputo 00 flour 325 grams water at room temperature 10 grams fine sea salt 0.3 grams instant dry yeast about an eighth of a teaspoon
For the Sauce
- 400 gram can whole San Marzano DOP tomatoes 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 small drizzle extra virgin olive oil Pinch of dried oregano optional
For the Toppings (per pizza)
- 80 to 100 grams fior di latte torn and drained 20 minutes on paper towels 50 grams prosciutto cotto, torn by hand into rough irregular pieces 60 grams cremini or button mushrooms, thinly sliced and dry seared then sautéed 3 to 4 small artichoke hearts in olive oil (carciofini sott’olio), drained and quartered 8 to 10 Gaeta or Taggiasca black olives, pitted 1 fresh egg (optional, for Roman style variation) 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, for finishing Fresh basil leaves, for garnish Pinch of flaky sea salt
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Combine flour and water in a large bowl. Stir with your hand until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes (autolyse).
- Add salt and yeast. Squeeze through the dough with your fingers until fully incorporated.
- Knead in the bowl using stretch and fold for 5 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky.
- Cover and bulk ferment at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Divide into 2 balls of roughly 420 grams each. Shape into tight smooth balls by tucking the edges underneath.
- Place in lightly oiled lidded containers. Refrigerate 24 to 72 hours.
- Remove from the fridge 2 hours before baking.
Prepare the Sauce
- Crush the San Marzano tomatoes by hand in a bowl until you have a textured purée.
- Add salt, olive oil, and oregano if using. Stir and taste.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepare the Toppings
- Slice the mushrooms thin. Heat a dry skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms with no oil and cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they release and reabsorb their moisture and develop slight color.
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 minced garlic clove, and a pinch of salt. Sauté another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.
- Drain the artichokes in a fine mesh strainer for 5 minutes, then pat dry on paper towels. Quarter if not already quartered.
- Drain the olives if packed in brine. Pat the prosciutto cotto dry if it seems wet. Tear into rough irregular pieces.
- Tear the fior di latte into rough pieces and drain on paper towels for 20 minutes.
Assemble the Pizza
- Flour the work surface lightly. Press a dough ball flat from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving the rim untouched.
- Lift and drape the dough over your knuckles. Rotate gently to stretch into a 12 inch round.
- Transfer to a well floured peel. Shake gently to confirm the pizza is sliding freely.
- Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of sauce in a thin spiral, leaving a finger width border.
- Scatter the drained fior di latte in loose pieces across the sauce.
- Distribute the torn prosciutto cotto across the cheese in 8 clusters.
- Add the sautéed mushrooms in 8 clusters between the ham.
- Add the artichoke quarters, one per cluster region.
- Tuck the olives into the gaps between the other toppings.
- Optional Roman variation: crack a fresh egg into a small well you make in the center of the cheese.
Bake and Serve
- Home oven: preheat pizza steel at maximum temperature (500 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least 45 to 60 minutes. Slide the pizza onto the steel and bake 8 to 10 minutes until the cornicione is puffed and beginning to char, the cheese is fully melted with golden spots, the toppings have warmed through, and the bottom is evenly browned. If using the egg, the white should be set and the yolk still runny.
- Wood fired oven: bake at 850 degrees Fahrenheit on the floor for 60 to 90 seconds, rotating every 20 seconds with a turning peel.
- Pull the pizza onto a cutting board. Drizzle lightly with the finishing olive oil. Tear basil leaves over the top. Add a pinch of flaky sea salt.
- Slice with a wheel or kitchen shears and serve immediately.
Notes
- Dry sear the mushrooms in a hot pan with no oil before adding olive oil. This single technique concentrates the mushroom flavor and prevents the wet, slimy texture that ruins so many capricciosas. It takes 5 extra minutes and makes a measurable difference in the finished pizza.
- Source real Italian carciofini sott’olio. Generic supermarket artichokes will make a watery, acidic, unbalanced capricciosa no matter how good the rest of your ingredients are. A small jar from an Italian deli is worth the price.
- Drain everything thoroughly. Mushrooms on paper towels, artichokes in a sieve for 5 minutes, olives drained completely. Excess moisture is the number one reason capricciosa goes soggy.
- Tear the prosciutto cotto by hand into irregular pieces rather than laying flat slices. The irregular shapes cook more evenly, the edges crisp slightly during the bake, and the texture is more interesting in the mouth.
- Apply the olives last and tuck them between the other toppings. Exposed olives over a very hot oven crisp too fast and turn bitter. Surrounding them with ham and mushroom protects them slightly.
This Pizza Capricciosa turned out absolutely amazing! The combination of mushrooms, olives, ham, and artichokes was perfectly balanced, and the crust baked up crispy and light. Every bite tasted like authentic Italian pizza!
The tip to drain the fior di latte and artichokes completely saved my crust. It came out incredibly crispy, flavorful, and not watery at all!
Following the exact layering order kept the large toppings from getting buried. Every single slice has the perfect mix of flavors and a beautiful char!
The balance between the savory ham, briny artichokes, and rich fior di latte is absolute perfection. Best home-baked pizza I have ever made!
Adding the optional fresh egg in the center gave it that perfect Roman touch. Slicing into that runny yolk over the toppings was pure perfection!
The step-by-step instructions made shaping the dough incredibly easy. The visual placement of the toppings looks absolutely beautiful and tastes even better!
Sautéing the mushrooms in a dry pan first was brilliant no soggy base, just rich, concentrated flavor. This is officially my go-to pizza recipe!
The 24-hour cold fermented dough combined with the hand-crushed San Marzano sauce gave me the most incredible, puffy Neapolitan crust. A true masterpiece!
Tearing the prosciutto cotto by hand and tucking the olives away kept everything perfectly juicy without burning. Absolutely flawless recipe!
Drying the toppings thoroughly is a game-changer! My pizza didn’t get soggy at all, and every single bite tasted like an authentic Roman trattoria.