As soon as I read that Forcella restaurant in New York City was allowing patrons to get behind the oven, so to speak, and learn how to make their own pizza with chef Giulio Adriani, I made a reservation immediately. Adriani hails from Italy and is a four-time World Pizza Champion. Forcella now has three locations in NYC; I ended up at the flagship Bowery location. I wasn't sure what to expect on arrival, but my companion and I were seated and told we could make any pizza on the menu. I of course chose the Pizza Montanara, the "original New York fried pizza." It would be fair to say that Adriani brought fried pizza to New York a few years ago with the opening of Forcella's first location in Brooklyn. There are now several restaurants in NYC that offer fried pizza, including Don Antonio's started by the owner of Starita in Naples, Italy, which helped popularize fried pizza ("pizza fritta") in Naples and invented the way it's made here in New York--by deep-frying the dough first, then adding toppings and baking it in the oven.
Adriani guided me through the process, teaching me how to stretch the dough (more on that later) and even bringing me back to the kitchen to toss the dough into the deep-fryer. I was pretty nervous being so close to a large vat of hot oil and Adriani asked innocently, "You are scared, why?" But I managed to escape without garnering any third degree burns. After frying the dough, we then topped it with sauce, fresh mozzarella, a sprinkle of Parmesan, and a few basil leaves before sliding it onto a pizza peel and into the beautiful wood-burning oven for about a minute.
You might think that pizza with a deep-fried crust would be greasy and heavy, but it actually puffs up to be light and pillowy, and really quite delicious. And of course, the fact that I had (sort-of) made it myself made it taste all the better!