Algerian Square Pizza

The Algerian square pizza is a popular street food in the streets of Algiers. As its name suggests, it’s always square-shaped, baked in rectangular trays, and sold in square pieces. It’s different from Italian pizza. The dough is similar to bread dough, making it soft and fluffy.

It’s made with very few ingredients, usually just some tomato sauce, salt, black pepper, garlic, onion, olive oil and parsley and black olives on the top.

This simplicity makes it a quick, affordable snack that’s loved by many in Algiers and served with a refreshing glass of lemonade.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 400 g of flour and 50g of fine semolina
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
• 10g of fresh yest (3,3 gr of dry yeast or 1 teaspoon)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 350 ml of warm water (less or more depends of the quality of the flour)

For the tomato sauce:

• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 1 small white onion
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Black olives
• 1 small bouquet of parsley finely chop
• Extra virgin oil before on the top before serving

1. In a blender, mix the tomatoes with garlic cloves, onion, salt, pepper, paprika, and olive oil.

In this recipe, the tomato sauce will cook at the same time as the pizza in the oven, and the dough doesn’t need to rise a second time.

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, the semolina and the salt.
2. Crumble the fresh yeast on the top with the sugar.
3. Pour the warm water and olive oil into the flour mixture.
4. Stir until the dough starts to come together.
5. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.
6. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it with a clean towel, and let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until it doubles in size.
7. Once the dough has risen, press it into an oiled rectangular baking tray.
8. Flatten the dough over the entire surface, aiming for a thickness of 2 cm.
9. Prick the dough with a fork over the entire surface.
10. Pour the tomato sauce over the entire surface of the pizza, add the black olives, spacing them out, and sprinkle finely chopped parsley on top.
11. Bake the Pizza for 20-25 minutes at 200C degrees until the bottom it’s golden brown.
12. Let it cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Bonne dégustation !