Thick and spongy Sicilian-style pizza is layered with onion, tomato sauce, anchovies, cheese, and bread crumbs is not your typical pizza. Sfincione is so delicious and usually eaten during Christmas time. The dough can be prepared with the no-knead method or knead method.
You do not want to prepare this dough by hand. It is an extremely wet and sticky dough. Put all ingredients in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Start kneading on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes so the flour won't be flying all over the place, then increase to speed 4 and knead for about 7 minutes. The dough will be smooth, stretchy, EXTREMELY wet and sticky. It's normal
Remove the hook, cover the bowl and let the dough proof at a warm place until it doubles in size
Prepare the dough without kneading and overnight method:
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Use a spatula to stir everything to combine. The dough is extremely wet and sticky. Cover and let it proof in the fridge for at least 8-12 hours. The next day, simply remove from the fridge and let it stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes and proceed with the 2nd proofing step
Prepare the tomato sauce:
While the dough is rising, let's prepare the sauce. Preheat oil on a large pan. Saute onion until they are soft and lightly charred, about 4-5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, tomato paste, oregano, and anchovy fillets (leave this out if you want to leave the anchovies in whole pieces). Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes and use your spatula to mash the anchovy fillets at the same time so they are evenly distributed. Add the marinara sauce and stir to combine. Have a taste and adjust by adding salt and pepper if needed. Set aside to let it cools down
Prepare the bread crumb topping:
Mix the fine bread crumbs with pecorino romano and the oil that comes with the anchovy fillets. Stir everything to combine
2nd proofing:
Very generously oil the pan on all sides. When I say generous, I really mean it or your pizza base will get stuck to the bottom of the pan badly. I'm using a half-sheet pan (18 x 13 inches). Oiled your hands generously and "pour" the dough out onto the pan. The dough is extremely elastic and smooth now. Start stretching and pulling the dough out to fit the pan. The dough may resist (because of gluten). You can stop for a few minutes and then try to stretch and pull again. So do this a few more times until the dough fits corner to corner of the pan and is evenly distributed
Leave it aside for about 1 hour at a warm place to let it puff up again
Assembling:
15 minutes before the end of proofing time, preheat oven to 450 F (232 C) for a conventional oven. If you use whole anchovy fillets, distribute the fillets on top of the dough, carefully try not to deflate the dough. Gently spoon the tomato sauce all over, leaving about 1/4 inch gap on all sides. Top with grated aged provolone and mozzarella. Finely top with bread crumb topping all over. Then drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil on top
Place the pan on the middle rack and let it bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the bottom crust is cooked through and the top is nicely golden brown. The bottom crust should come off easily if it is done cooking, if it doesn't, you need to bake a bit longer
Remove from the oven. To prevent the bottom crust from getting soggy, transfer the pizza to a cooling rack to let it cool down a bit and then slice and serve