Maltija
Created in Malta, this Maltija (Maltese) pizza is a mouth watering meat pizza you can make at home.
Carefully made, this pizza style provides a divine taste, coupled with an immaculate smell to delight you.
Use your time to get high quality ingredients and pair these with a perfect base for you and friends to savor a perfect homemade pizza feast.
If you like Meat pizza with Tomato pizza sauce get ready for your stomach to rumble!
Pizza in Malta
The Maltese love to top their pizzas with Black and Green Olives, boiled egg, capinata, Onions, Bacon, Maltese Sausage and oregano.
Take a look at some of the other pizzas from Malta here.
| Origin | Malta |
| Type | Meat |
| Sauce | Tomato Sauce |
Maltija Pizza Recipe
Below we’ve created a recipe for you to make a delicious homemade Maltija Pizza using a wood pizza oven or on a pizza stone in your oven.
| Dough | 2 hours |
| Assembly | 10 minutes |
| Baking | 12-20 minutes |
Maltija Pizza Ingredients
Choose enough pizza toppings for the amount of pizzas you will be creating. The pizza sauce and dough ingredients below are designed for 3-4 pizzas, so scale up or down, based on your requirements.
Simple Pizza dough
- 250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
- 2 2/3 cups (400 grams) 00 fine flour
- 7 grams (2 tsps) dried yeast
- 1/4 cup (3 tbsp) olive oil
- 2 tsps salt
Maltija Pizza Toppings
Toppings used in this pizza recipe, are;
- Maltese Sausage
- Goat’s Cheese
- Onion
- Tomato
Easy Tomato Pizza Sauce
- 1 can (15oz/420g) crushed or diced tomatoes
- 1 small can (6oz/170g) tomato paste
- Two garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp dried Italian herbs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 small brown onion
Want to try a different sauce? See our article on the different types of pizza sauces.
TIP
You can click on any of the tags at the bottom of this page, to find other pizzas besides Maltija Pizza, that use that topping.
Pizza Dough Method
If you don’t have much time, grab a premade pizza base at your local grocery store, or hand make your own pizza dough following the simple steps below. Some shops even carry premade pizza dough in balls.
- Whisk yeast and lukewarm water in a jug. Leave sitting for roughly five minutes.
- Add flour and salt in a large bowl. Create a well in the centre of the flour. Pour in the liquid yeast mixture and the oil.
- Using dough mixer or hands, gently mix dough until smooth. Place pizza dough on a lightly floured work surface and then knead by hand for five minutes.
- Lightly oil a bowl, and place mixture in and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place to rise until the dough doubles in size.
- Pour dough mix out onto a clean, floured surface. Now hand knead gently for another five minutes.
- Divide dough mixture into equal sized balls. Hand stretch or roll out the bases to the expected size.
- Spread some flour on kitchen bench before rolling, in order to prevent sticking.
TIP: We have other dough recipes if you would like to try your hand at sourdough, poolish or more.
Tomato Pizza Sauce Method
You can either make your own tasty pizza sauce following the simple steps below, or you can purchase a pizza sauce at your local supermarket.
- Blend all sauce ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix well using a whisk, or blender.
- Leave sitting for five minutes.
- Your pizza sauce is now ready to use.
- You can keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Use a ladle or back of a serving spoon to spread the sauce onto your freshly made dough, ensuring you don’t damage the dough.
Preparing Maltija Pizza
Preheat your oven to at least 450 degrees for 30 minutes or longer.
Spread out pizza dough on floured surface.
If you have a pizza peel, you can create your pizza on it (after flouring).
Start by spreading the sauce all over the base. This pizza uses Tomato Sauce. Spread the Tomato Sauce Thinly yet evenly, leaving a margin for the crust.
Add the largest toppings first – typically meat or seafood, then the smaller toppings.
Add cheese last, and sprinkle it all over to help keep the toppings in place when it melts.
This pizza has the following toppings:
- Maltese Sausage
- Goat’s Cheese
- Onion
- Tomato
Whilst this pizza is great by itself, yet why not enjoy it with a simple side dish?
Baking time
Put the Maltija pizza in the middle of your oven (on a stone if you have one) and set timer for 10 minutes.
After roughly 10 minutes, check on the pizza.
Pizza should be ready within 15 minutes. However, allow it to cook to personal taste.
About Goat’s Cheese
Goat’s Cheese is often called by its French name, Chèvre, which means goat. The distinctive character of Goat’s Cheese comes from capric acid, a flavourful fatty acid that promotes good intestinal bacteria in humans.
Because of its low lactose content, Goat’s Cheese is a fantastic choice of cheese for people with lactose intolerance.
Pizza Tools
When making Maltija Pizza, we always recommend that you use whatever tools you are able to get your hands on. Our basic pizza tools are…
Wooden boards
I use quality wooden boards constantly when making pizzas, botth to carry dough balls and to use when slicing baked pizzas.
Pizza Cutters
The one pizza tool everyone should own. There are a few varieities to choose from, see how to cut pizza for more.
Pizza Stone
A pizza stone is a great way to up your pizza game at home. Read more about cooking with a Pizza Stone.
Sausage
Traditionally, sausages were made from ground beef or pork, with salt, spices and other flavourings. However, now there are chicken and vegetarian and even vegan sausages.
In different countries, Sausages are called different things, such as bratwurst, rolliche, banger, liverwurst, frankfurter, wienerwurst or kielbasa.
Keeping Pizza
Leftovers after the meal? Here are some tips.
Chill in the fridge
You can keep pizza in plastic wrap or a container for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Can you freeze pizza?
You can freeze pizza for up to three months, however I’d suggest consuming it within the first few weeks, ideally.
How to reheat
There are many ways to reheat pizza. We cover seven of them in this article.
Pizza making FAQ
Want to know how to make delicious pizza at home? Here are some FAQ and their answers to the most common pizza making questions.
How to freeze pizza?
Pizza is best frozen not long after it has cooled from cooking. Ensure that it is wrapped well, or in a zip lock bag and air tight. Consume the pizza within 2-3 months.
Do I just use tap water for pizza dough?
Sure, however water quality can be an issue in some areas. If your water has high chlorine content, it may inhibit yeast growth. I often use cooled water from the kettle, or filtered water when making pizza dough. Don’t use boiling water though, as it will kill your yeast before it even starts its work.
Where is the world’s oldest pizza parlor?
The worlds oldest pizza parlour, which still operates today, is Pizzeria Port’Alba, in Naples, Italy. It first opened in 1830. The date is actually further back, as the true established date began in 1738, where Antica opened as a food stand for peddlers.
Have you made Maltija Pizza?
Let us know what you think of Maltija Pizza! Tag us on our Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter and let us know what you thought of it! I’d love to know.
Featured image: Source
