Tumminia, Sicilian Pizza, and the Longing for Something Real (with Recipe)

The best pizza I ever had was from a pizza van on Mondello beach in Palermo.
The dough was crisp yet not heavy, but nicely airy.

Pointing at the slice he was taking a big, greedy bite of, another pizza customer there said:

“Tumminia!”

I looked at him, puzzled. What was he saying? I didn’t recognize that word.

“Tumminia,” he repeated, “that’s a typical Sicilian grain”.

I immediately saved the word in a note on my iPhone, because I knew: in half an hour I would only remember it started with “tu” and had something like “ia” or “ina” in it.

(Mondello Beach, Photo: Meizhi Lang )

Once back in the Airbnb in Palermo, where we were staying at the time, I looked it up right away.

Tumminia is an ancient Sicilian wheat variety that was already used in the time of the Greeks and Romans. The flour is dark in color, has a slightly nutty flavor, and naturally contains less gluten than modern wheat. Because of that, tumminia gives pizza a rustic, aromatic base with a full flavor and an authentic Sicilian character.  (If you want, you can read more about it here.)

A few years later I had bought a small house in Bagheria, near the Lidl supermarket. And one day I saw a product there that they normally don’t sell, but which was suddenly on special: tumminia! (Very affordable, by the way.)

I bought a bag (this is it) and took it with me to Amsterdam. You can hardly find it there, or only at ridiculous prices. At airport security I even had to open my backpack — they had scanned a bag of suspicious powder! 🤣

I wanted to try making one of those tumminia pizzas myself. In Amsterdam I have a pizza oven that does the job very well, like this one.

The pizza turned out great.

My daughter happened to be staying with me at the time, and since then this has become one of the dishes she keeps asking for whenever she comes to Amsterdam. (This is the other one.)

To be honest, I often used to feel a bit reluctant about making it.

For the pizza dough I used the method recommended by Vito Iacopelli. He used to have his own pizzeria in Naples and later moved to the US after problems with the Neapolitan mafia. On his YouTube channel he makes videos about everything related to pizza making. I mean: the guy knows what he’s talking about.

I used to hesitate to make pizza because Vito’s method is so elaborate, at least for a non-connoisseur like me, who basically only knows whether a pizza is good or not and uses that as the main criterion.

According to Iacopelli (video), you need to start the dough about 12 hours in advance.
Problem: you can’t just spontaneously decide you feel like pizza — you have to plan it ahead.

Meanwhile I got a recipe from ChatGPT with a much simpler dough method. And honestly, as a layman, I don’t taste the difference.

It’s easy — with just a few ingredients you can put something fantastic on the table.

Because let’s be honest: a well-made pizza with a light, crispy crust and fresh toppings is pure joy.
Even visually.

Ideal for someone on a limited budget, like me.

Sometimes I get a bit nostalgic about the commercialization of pizza.

(Photo: Marialaura Gionfriddo)

These days I don’t go to pizzerias anymore. Mainly because I can’t afford it anymore. And I don’t enjoy it anymore either.

I don’t understand how so many pizzerias are still this busy. You’re lucky if they manage to squeeze you in somewhere near the restroom or by a drafty entrance at some uncomfortable, often wobbly little table for two.

Before you’ve even had a chance to properly look at the menu, they’re already pushing you to order. But when you need something — a glass of water, another glass of wine, or maybe even a clean fork — they’re suddenly too busy for you.

You haven’t even finished your pizza, or your plate is already whisked away from under your nose:

“Dessert, coffee?” 

They don’t even bother with full sentences.

I remember pizzerias as places where you were warmly welcomed, where they asked you which table you wanted. Looking at the menu with a glass of wine, curious about the pizza you were going to choose… Italian canzoni playing in the background, taking you back to a sunny Mediterranean vacation. Or even better, evoking that longing itself. Because nothing is as beautiful as the fantasy.

My romantic idea of “the pizzeria”, as I remember it, simply doesn’t exist anymore.

The current “pizzeria” is more like a money carousel, where you’re implicitly being told:

“Shove that pizza down your throat, you bastard, so we can cash you out.”

That’s why… I much prefer making it myself.

🍕 Pizza with Tumminia – Basic Recipe

For 2 large pizzas or 3 smaller ones

Ingredients

• 300 g tumminia flour
• 200 g tipo 00 flour or all-purpose flour
• 10 g salt
• 7 g dry yeast (or 15–20 g fresh yeast)
• 325 ml lukewarm water
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp honey or sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Activate the yeast
Mix the yeast with the lukewarm water and optionally the honey or sugar.
Let it sit for 5–10 minutes until slightly foamy.

2. Make the dough
Mix tumminia flour, regular flour, and salt in a large bowl.
Add the yeast mixture and olive oil, and knead for 8–12 minutes until you get a smooth, elastic dough.
It can remain slightly sticky.

3. First rise
Form a ball, place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1–2 hours in a warm place until it doubles in size.

4. Shaping
Divide into 2 or 3 dough balls and let rest for another 20–30 minutes.
Stretch or press into pizza shapes — preferably without a rolling pin so you keep the air in the dough.

5. Baking
Preheat the oven as hot as possible (250–300°C) with a pizza stone or hot baking tray inside.
Add toppings and bake for 7–10 minutes until the crust is golden and lightly crisp.

Something to keep in mind…

In Bagheria I don’t have a pizza oven like the one in Amsterdam.
There I use a regular gas stove.

I make the pizza in two stages:

• I top the raw base with tomato sauce and ingredients like thin onion rings or strips of bell pepper… BUT DEFINITELY NO CHEESE!
• Once the base is sufficiently cooked (I check whether it feels dry and not too soft anymore), I take the pizza out of the oven and add the cheese. Then I put it back in so the cheese can melt nicely and maybe develop a little crust here and there.

Because if you bake a pizza with cheese from the start in a regular gas oven, the cheese is already overcooked and dry long before the base is even done!

💡 Tips

• Tumminia gives the pizza a darker color, a slightly nutty flavor, and a rustic Sicilian character.
• For a lighter crust, you can use a bit more regular flour.
• Letting the dough slowly rise in the fridge for 12–24 hours adds extra aroma and improves digestibility.

And you?

Have you ever had a pizza somewhere that stayed with you for years afterwards?

And do you still enjoy going to pizzerias today… or do you also sometimes feel that something of the old atmosphere has disappeared?

Maybe every generation says this in its own way, but sometimes I miss places that felt less rushed, less commercial, and a little more human.

What about you?

PS
Here’s someone’s blog post about Mondello beach from 2016. It’s not what it used to be anymore, either. Even in that post they mention how crowded it is. But when I look at those 2016 photos, it still doesn’t look even half as crowded as it is now in summer.

Nope… I’ll just stay on my little rooftop terrace. 😉

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Top photo: Diliara Garifullina