Yahoo Lifestyle How to make traditional Italian pizza
BY PAUL KITA
REAL PIZZA WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE
No, not those faux-’talian discs served up with a cardboard tang, courtesy of your local pizza chain. We’re talking about pizzas with flame-licked crusts puffed to perfection. Pizzas with pools of earthy olive oil and a slather of savoury tomato sauce. Start here and you may never wait for the delivery man again. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
“Authentic pizza is simple, yet it does amazing things with tastes and textures and aromas,” says Mathieu Palombino, chef and owner of Motorino, a Naples-style pizzeria in New York. “The best pizza satisfies the soul.”
After moving to New York in 2000, Palombino worked for Laurent Tourondel, a prestigious French chef. But Palombino couldn’t shake his taste for the homemade pizza he ate as a child in an Italian family. So two years ago, he opened Motorino, where the pizza ovens run on wood and his burning passion.
He pulls a margherita pizza out of the 480°C oven. Molten mozzarella bubbles, fresh basil melds with tomato sauce and steam rises from the puffed, crackling crust.
“This doesn’t look like Pizza Hut, does it?” he says.
But you don’t have go to Naples or even New York for a taste of old-world pizza. Try your backyard.
“Besides an authentic brick oven, your barbecue is the best way to cook a pizza,” explains Palombino. “It’s much faster than your home oven, there’s less mess, and you have more control over the quality of your pizza.”
With Palombino as your sous chef, you’ll be flinging dough and melding delicious toppings like a true pizzaiolo. Why tip the delivery guy when you can do it better yourself?
STEP 1:
Develop Your Dough
“You can make good dough in a few very easy steps,” explains Palombino. The key is exact measurements and a brief workout for your forearms.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
4½ tsp active dry yeast
3 cups warm water (25-28°C)
6½ cups plain flour
¼ cup salt
HOW TO MAKE IT
1. Let the yeast dissolve in the warm water for about five minutes.
2. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and dump the mixture onto a flat surface. Make a hole in the middle, pour the yeast and water into it, and combine the dry and wet ingredients by hand until the dough starts to come together. Your arm workout starts here.
Keep working the dough with the palms of your hands for 7-8 minutes, and then let it rest at room temperature for about two hours, or until it doubles in size.
Now get back into your workout by punching down the dough to eliminate all the air bubbles.
Cut the dough into four equal pieces and shape them into balls. Wrap in cling wrap and place them in the fridge for another two hours.
3. For each pizza base, dust your table and the top of a dough ball with flour. Let the dough rest for five minutes. Use the tips of your fingers to stretch it outward to a 25-centimetre circle, with the edges thicker than the centre. Leftover dough (kept in ball form and wrapped in cling wrap) will keep in the fridge for three days.
TIP Nervous about making your own dough? Your local pizzeria may sell pre-made dough balls.
STEP 2:
Whip Up The Sauce
“The best sauce is simple,” says Palombino. “No tricks.” His recipe will take you about five minutes to make and will taste far fresher than any shop-bought jar of sauce.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
1 can (800ml) peeled San Marzano tomatoes ($7.55; ideli.com.au)
HOW TO MAKE IT
Wash your hands and dump the entire contents of the can into a bowl. Squeeze each tomato until the sauce is smooth but not soupy. Chunks are okay.
TIP Apply the sauce using a wide, flat spoon, instead of a deep ladle, for a more uniform consistency.
STEP 3:
Assemble Your Toppings
“Well-balanced pizzas have 4-5 ingredients, tops,” says Palombino. So pick your toppings wisely. “Choose your ingredients as if you were shopping 100 years ago.” Fresh cheese, fresh vegetables, fresh tomatoes. Start with Palombino’s pie chart, but don’t be afraid of improvisation: “The best flavours come from experimentation,” he says.
STEP 4:
Crank The Grill
No brick oven? Try the barbie! You’ll have sufficient heat to make several pizzas in 30-40 minutes.
Bring the heat
1. CHARCOAL Use a chimney starter; lighter fluid tastes lousy. When the coals are hot, toss on a handful of pre-soaked wood chips (apple or cherry) and wait until the chips start smoking.
2. GAS/ELECTRIC Ratchet the heat to 260°C, and then lower to medium or medium-low. The grates will be hot enough to cook your crust.
Fire the crust Transfer the crust onto the grill using a well-floured pizza board ($29, kitchenwaredirect.com.au). Barbecue the crust uncovered for 20 seconds, or until the dough is slightly charred and rigid. Rotate it 90° and cook for another 20 seconds. Now flip the crust; cook it for another 30 seconds. Remove it from the barbie.
Fire the toppings Top your pizza with the crosshatched side up. Return it to the heat and cover the barbie. Cook the pizza for 2-5 minutes, or until the cheese melts, the ingredients cook through and the bottom is well charred.
Indulge Remove the pizza and finish it with a drizzle of olive oil and a generous shake of parmesan or Pecorino Romano.
The recipes
SOPPRESSATA PICANTE
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
1 fresh pizza crust
½ cup crushed San Marzano tomatoes
60g fresh fior di latte (cow’s milk) mozzarella, cut into medium-size cubes
10 small slices soppressata picante sausage (look for it in Italian delis)
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 fresh jalapeño (preferably red), sliced
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 tbsp grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
GRILLED FAVA BEAN AND PANCETTA PIZZA
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
1 fresh pizza crust
60g pancetta or bacon
500g broad beans or peas, blanched (see below)
90g fresh fior di latte or fresh buffalo mozzarella, cut into medium-size cubes
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
½ large garlic clove, cut into slivers
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
HOW TO COOK THE BEANS
Blanch the fava beans by boiling them in salted water for about one minute. Let them cool and then pinch the beans to remove their membranes. Transfer them to ice water to cool. If you’re using peas, remove them from their pods and blanch them for one minute.
TIP Drop denser vegetables (like broccoli, green beans, asparagus) into boiling salted water for a minute and a half, before you anoint the pizza.
PIZZA MARGHERITA
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
1 fresh pizza crust
1 cup crushed tomatoes
60g fresh fior di latte mozzarella, cut into medium-size cubes
5 large fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
