For the pizza dough
1/2 lb. plain flour
4 eggs
Half tablespoon sugar
1/2 oz. brewers' yeast (plus a little water or milk to proof it)
5 ozs. butter

For the filling
1/4 lb. ham
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon chopped basil
1/2 lb. Bel Paese cheese
1 lb. tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil (To saute the tomatoes)
Pepper

For egg wash
1 egg

"Pile the flour on to your pastry board or cooking table, make a hollow in it and in this put the butter, two eggs, a pinch of salt and the yeast diluted with a little water or milk. Work the flour with the hands until the ingredients are absorbed, then blend in the next two eggs, and work the dough until it is elastic to the touch; then add the sugar; work the dough a little more; then place in a warmed basin. Cover with a cloth and leave in a fairly warm place for a couple of hours, by which time it should have doubled in size.



Meanwhile prepare the filling; slice the cheese, and the ham; peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds, and cook very quickly in oil so that they do not become mushy but retain their firmness.



When the dough has risen, flour your pastry board; divide the dough in two pieces, one slightly larger than the other and roll out into two circles. With the larger one, line a greased pie plat or flat tin, and on it lay first of all a layer of the cheese, then a layer of the cooked tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and a little basil, and on this place a layer of strips of ham; continue in this way till the filling is all used up, and finish off with a layer of the grated Parmesan.



Now beat the fifth egg, and with a brush paint the edges of the dough, and over it place the smaller circle of dough, pressing the edges together so that they remain closed; leave it to rise again in a warm place, for about an hour, then paint the top with the balance of the beaten egg, and cook for twenty to twenty five minutes in a hot oven. Eat hot."

This recipe was taken from "Italian Cooking" by Dorothy Daly. It was published by Spring Books in Great Britain. For the complete copyright-free cookbook see www.archive.org.... The author of "Italian Cooking," Dorothy Daly states in her introduction to this recipe, "A book of Italian cookery would be incomplete without one or two recipes for this Neapolitan specialty -- try it if you like; speaking for myself, the mention of pizza will always recall what arrived at my table in Naples one evening when, fancying 'something not too heavy,' I ordered pizza. I waited a few moments and was then confronted with an outsize dinner plate, on which reposed something that looked rather like King Henry the Eighth's best hat made of pastry that was solid rather than light, and filled with a mixture of tomatoes and anchovies that, to say the least, was rich, and alarmingly salty. However, if it's pizza you fancy, here's how it is made....." P.S. It is hard to believe but Dorthy Daly, the author of "Italian Cooking," was possibly one of the very few (if not the only one) who included a pizza recipe in her Italian cookbook at the turn of the 20th century. The other five Italian cookbooks that are now in the public domain and that are available at www.archive.org did not make any mention of pizza (Nor of tarralli for that matter). This comes as quite a shock considering the popularity of pizza at this point in time. North Americans can't seem to get enough of pizza -- there are probably as many pizza joints as there are pubs.Possibly pizza and tarralli were more popular in the Southern Italian countryside than they were in the big Northern cities, and as most British and American food writers toured the urban areas, they simply didn't come in contact with what would soon become North American food staples. Possibly pizza and tarralli were more popular in the Southern Italian countryside than they were in the big Northern cities, and as most British and American food writers toured the urban areas, they simply didn't come in contact with what would soon become North American food staples. Up to the 1970s most North Americans were only familiar with pizzas that had regular mozzarella and pepperoni toppings. Nowadays inventive cooks have come up with a multitude of toppings. Pizza pies or cavazuni-style pizzas are beginning to make major inroads into the market with big chains supplying an ever-increasing demand. So it was a quite surprise to me to discover that the very first pizza recipe that was printed in the English language was for a cavazuni-style pizza rather than for the one-crust-style of pizza that North Americans have favored for the past 100 years. In any case, I tried this recipe for "pizza alla Campofranco" and found to my delight it is quite good.... Photo and notes: Mary Melfi.

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