These little olive pizzas filled with cooked ham and provolone cheese are just one of the many recipes you can prepare using Negroni premium quality cooked ham which, served with little deep-fried olive pizzas will satisfy your palate whenever you need a little pampering. You can prepare the mini pizzas in advance to serve with an aperitif to your guests, or to friends invited to share an evening in front of the TV. These mini olive pizzas make an excellent  brunch, and may even substitute bread for a family dinner or for a gourmet party whenever you want to play the perfect host. When the sweetness of ham marries the savoury taste of the mini pizzas and mild flavour of provolone, who can turn down a “sandwich” like this.

The Recipe:

Dissolve the yeast in some of the water you have measured out, then mix it with the flour, gradually adding the rest of the water. The resulting dough should be soft;  set it aside to rest for 15 minutes and then add the finely chopped olives.  

Now transfer the dough to a worktop and knead it by folding it inwards until it becomes soft and voluminous. Place the dough in a bowl covered with a clean cloth, and leave it to rise for at least 1 hour. When one hour has elapsed, tear off small pieces of dough and shape them like flat disks between your hands, then leave them to rise for a further 10 minutes approximately, covered with a cloth as before. In the meantime, heat the oil to the correct temperature and fry one disk at a time; when puffy and golden in colour, place the disk on a sheet of absorbent paper to remove any excess oil. When all of the dough has been used up, cut the mini pizzas in half and fill them with a slice or two of Cooked ham, a fine slice of mild Provolone cheese, a lettuce leaf and a dash of thyme-flavoured mayonnaise previously prepared by adding small thyme leaves to it beforehand and leaving it to aromatize for a few minutes.