Easy Pizza Salami Recipe
This authentic pizza salami recipe covers every salami type Milano, Napoli, finocchiona with pro tips for a perfect bake every time.
Equipment
- Pizza stone or pizza steel
- Pizza Peel
- Kitchen scale
- Lidded proofing containers
- Sharp knife & cutting board
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Pastry brush
- Paper towels
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
For the Toppings (per pizza)
- 80 to 100 grams fior di latte torn and drained 20 minutes on paper towels 8 to 10 thin slices of Salami Milano (or Salami Napoli, finocchiona, or salame piccante for variations), sliced 1 to 2 millimeters thick 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling on the salami before baking 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, for finishing after the bake 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 and olive oil. Stir and taste. The sauce should be bright, salty, and slightly acidic.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Assemble the Pizza
- Tear the fior di latte into rough pieces and drain on paper towels for 20 minutes.
- Remove the salami slices from the fridge 15 minutes before baking and lay them flat on a plate at room temperature.
- Flour the work surface lightly. Press a dough ball flat from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving the rim untouched.
- Lift and drape 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 loose.
- 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.
- Lay 8 to 10 salami slices flat across the cheese, slightly overlapping but not stacked.
- Drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil directly onto the salami slices (not the whole pizza, just the salami).
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 blistered spots, and the salami slices are glossy with rendered fat and slightly darkened at the edges.
- 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 the finishing olive oil lightly across the surface.
- Tear fresh basil leaves over the top. Add a pinch of flaky sea salt.
- Slice with a wheel or kitchen shears and serve immediately.
Notes
- Drizzle a small amount of olive oil directly onto the salami slices before baking. This technique from a Milanese pizzaiolo amplifies the fat rendering, helps the salami retain moisture, and produces a glossier, more flavorful finished result. One teaspoon across 10 slices is enough. Almost no recipe mentions this step.
- Bring the salami to room temperature 15 minutes before topping the pizza. Cold salami from the deli wrap is stiff and releases less fat during the bake. Room temperature salami melts into the pizza more gracefully.
- Buy real Italian salami sliced fresh at a deli counter rather than pre packaged supermarket salami. The difference in moisture content, slice thinness, and flavor is significant. Pre packaged often substitutes American pepperoni style products labeled as salami.
- Place the salami on top of the cheese, not under it. The salami needs direct exposure to oven heat to render its fat and develop the glossy melted surface. Burying it under cheese steams it rather than renders it.
- Slice thin. 1 to 2 millimeters thick is the target. Ask the deli to slice as thin as their machine allows. Thicker slices stay chewy in a short bake and dominate every bite.