Silvia's Cucina
authentic Italian home cooking blog
Very few things speak of Italy to me than a perfectly baked Pizza.
I was utterly bewildered to find out that Pizza holds such a bad reputation in the anglo world.
Everytime I hear someone speak about dieting, they mention ” no pasta, no pizza”.
As if a combination of flour and water could be dangerous to the waistline!
That is a bit nutty to me.
And it’s because true, authentic, Italian Pizza has very little fat and can, in fact, help you to keep healthy.
I don’t even know why places like chain-store pizza restaurants ( and we all know who I am talking about…starts with D…) can legally call those disgusting rounds of fried dough loaded with cheap cheese and low-quality meat cuts, Pizza.
And can someone please explain what Pepperoni is??? In Italy, we have never heard of it.
The best pizzas have a light, crispy base, a perfectly risen crust and are topped with few, great ingredients.
Italians know that,and very rarely stray from ordering a simple Margherita or Napoletana (margherita with anchovies and capers).
Adding more than three ingredients to your Margehrita base will turn your pizza into a heavy and hard-to-digest patchwork of flavours. Don’t do it.
In recent years cities like Sydney and Melbourne have seen more authentic Pizza restaurants being opened, like PIZZA E BIRRA in Surry Hills or CAVALLINO in Terrey Hills.
Although you can find me there from time to time, most of my pizza consumption happens at home.
I bake it. From scratch, needless to say.
There are two methods I use , according to what type of crust I am craving.
If it’s a crispy, light and crunchy base I am after, I’ll mix my dough using Biga ( my home-made yeast)
Otherwise, if the preference goes to a slightly softer and more child-friendly crust, I will add dry yeast to my flours.
Flours, that is , because over the years I have developed a liking for a more rustic and mature flavour that I can obtain by using 1/3 spelt or rye flour and 2/3 of un-bleached white flour.
For both bases you will need:
300 gr of unbleached , organic flour
100 gr of spelt ( or rye) flour
a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar
200 ml of lukewarm water
200 gr of biga ( if making a sourdough base)
OR
1x 7gr sachet of dry yeast
If making a sourdough base, mix your biga with the flours and water, work into a dough than add salt and sugar and kneed for about 10 minutes, until smooth. Leave to prove in a warm place until doubled in size, then kneed again and leave to rest for at least 2 hours. At the end of this stage you can roll out your dough and top it to your liking
(remember, less is more) and bake it for about 1o minutes in a very hot oven ( 230 degrees). Then minutes into baking, add your cheese ( good quality mozzarella). Bake for a further 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the crust looks crispy and slightly scorched.
If making a dry yeast base, mix your yeast with water and sugar and let in rest for a few minutes until it looks frothy. Then add it to your flours and mix into a dough. Add salt and kneed for 10 minutes, until smooth. Then proceed as above.
It is crucial that you prove your dough twice, well worth the wait.
It will result in somothing like this, which s what we had for dinner on monday night.
Pizza Napoletana
Pizza Trevigiana (with radicchio and prosciutto crudo. You can substitute mozzarella for taleggio)
Now…where’s my Peroni?
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