How to make your own Pizza Express Carbonara Pizza: Chain reveals recipe for creating the much-loved dish with creamy béchamel sauce and crispy pancetta
- Chain has revealed how to make their popular Carbonara pizza to delight of fans
- The recipe involves a fresh pizza base topped with ham mushrooms and cheese
- Each week chain is releasing a new recipe, including dough balls and pasta
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Pizza Express has revealed how to make its popular Carbonara pizza for those who can’t wait to get their Italian fix from the branch.
The high street chain has been shut for more than 80 days due to the coronavirus lockdown, but reopened some of its London-based restaurants for takeaway earlier this month.
While closed, the branch has been releasing a new recipe each week, including dough balls and pasta, and now fans can try making its popular Carbonara pizza at home.
The dish made its way onto menus in 2018 following a limited appearance as a ‘special’ before being taken into the fold permanently.
It features a fresh pizza base topped with béchamel sauce, crispy pancetta, and mozzarella, before being finished with an egg.
And while preparaing the 14-inch pizza should takes an hour, cooking the delicious-looking meal should only take around ten minutes.
Here FEMAIL shares the recipe…
HOW TO MAKE A PIZZA EXPRESS CARBONARA
Prep time: 1-hour
Cooking time: 10-12 mins
Makes: 14-inch pizza romana
Ingredients:
- Pizza dough (recipe below)
- 60g of béchamel sauce (recipe below)
- 70g mozzarella
- 5 strips of cured pancetta (or streaky bacon – cut in half)
- 20g Parmesan cheese (or any Italian hard cheese)
- Double pinch of black pepper
- 10ml garlic oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 free-range egg
- Pinch of parsley
Method:
Make your pizza dough and béchamel.
Preheat your oven to 230°C and grease your pan with oil.
Roll out the dough to your desired size and thickness.
Stretch the dough across the pan, ensuring equal thickness throughout.
Spread the béchamel sauce across your pizza base.
Evenly place the pancetta leaving a space in the middle of the pizza for the egg.
Add the mozzarella, again, leaving space for the egg. Top with Parmesan and black pepper.
Drizzle with a little garlic olive oil> Then cook in the oven for 5-7 mins.
Remove from the oven and crack the egg into the centre of the pizza.
Cook in the oven for another 6-8 mins or until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown (be careful not to overcook the egg).
Top with chopped parsley and the remaining grated Parmesan.
Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
- 150ml warm water – roughly 27 degrees
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 15g fresh yeast (or 2 level teaspoons of dry yeast)
- 225g of plain flour (plus extra for working)
- 1.5 teaspoons of salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
Method:
First up, preheat the oven to 230°C / 210°C fan assisted. Add the sugar and crumble the fresh yeast into the warm water.
Allow the mixture to stand for 10 – 15 minutes in a warm place until froth develops on the surface.
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour the yeast mixture in.
Lightly flour your hands and slowly mix the ingredients together until they bind.
Generously dust your surface with flour, throw down the dough and begin kneading for 10 minutes until smooth, silky and soft. Leave dough to rest until soft to the touch but not too springy.
Béchamel sauce:
Ingredients:
- 250ml whole milk
- 1/2 white onion
- 25g butter
- 25g plain flour
Method:
Gently bring whole milk to the boil in a saucepan with 1 halved onion.
Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 mins.
Remove onion from the milk and discard, then melt butter in another saucepan.
Then add plain flour and stir continuously until a paste forms.
Gradually add the infused milk to the flour and butter paste, stirring as you go until you get a smooth sauce.
Cook for 5–10 mins, whisking continuously until the sauce has thickened.
Pizza Express has revealed how to make its popular Carbonara pizza (pictured above)