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How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

bbc.com

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Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#51

Post by Cactus2018 »

thechao wrote: post #34
ThePhysicist wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, he bakes those at 825F (440 °C), which unfortunately is unattainable with most regular home ovens. Mine e.g. maxes out at 300 °C so it's not hot enough to let the crust rise significantly and produce a nicely charred underside, at least not before completely burning the top. What I'm currently experimenting with to solve this problem is to put the pizza on a flat, heavy and preheated iron pan or plancha and hea…

The high heat drives moisture out of the ingredients faster than the moisture can collect on the top of the pizza. You can simply remove the moisture from the ingredients ahead of time. I make the marinara & set the sauce in a fine strainer in a pot, and let it drain for at least 45, preferably an hour. For the mozzarella, I put down a cutting board, a towel, some paper towel, the cheese, then reverse the whole proce…

> Foolproof Pan Pizza Recipe

> THE PIZZA LAB

> J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/01/foolproof-pan-pi...

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#52

Post by albmoriconi »

I am from Naples and eat regularly at Gino Sorbillo's and Ciro Salvo's places. As it often happens here, everyone will swear by its pretty small and obscure "favorite place", but they are masters without doubt ;)

The dough recipe from the article is pretty legit and exactly the way I do it at home; the main problem I see is that it would be pretty hard to find good Mozzarella or Fiordilatte cheese (Fiordilatte di Agerola is slightly drier than Mozzarella, therefore producing less liquid in the oven, and also costs less), and I find that pizza done according to the Neapolitan recipe loses much when using a different kind of cheese.

A pet peeve of mine is that many recipes, while getting most of it right, use instant yeast; an important part of Neapolitan pizza is the slow dough rise using very little amounts of yeast, that should take from a minimum of 7/8 hours to an entire day or more (of course by storing it in a fridge).

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#53

Post by tomcooks »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #46
subpixel wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as importantly, don’t fall for fetishism. Neapolitan pizza is a very specific style of pizza that, while “authentic” and photogenic, is by no means a superior style of pizza. Especially made poorly, at home, in an oven that is 200 degrees colder than necessary!

Neapolitan Pizza is the poster child for fetishism, hipster cargo cult, worshiping a style that has only been deemed by the community as superior, not experienced individually to be so. At its absolute best it is significantly inferior to top American examples.

Yea that's why Italians have mustaches, they are all hipsters.

Please please please go to Italy and show them who's boss, make sure you film.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#54

Post by arcturus17 »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #46
subpixel wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as importantly, don’t fall for fetishism. Neapolitan pizza is a very specific style of pizza that, while “authentic” and photogenic, is by no means a superior style of pizza. Especially made poorly, at home, in an oven that is 200 degrees colder than necessary!

Neapolitan Pizza is the poster child for fetishism, hipster cargo cult, worshiping a style that has only been deemed by the community as superior, not experienced individually to be so. At its absolute best it is significantly inferior to top American examples.

Saying that the best American examples are better is exactly the same kind of fetishism...

Me personally, I think Italian (non-Neapolitan) thin crust pizza is the best I’ve ever tried but they’re all just different styles.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#55

Post by tomcooks »

namelosw wrote: post #27
xchip wrote: post #7

Please ignore all these experts, all they want is to make you feel special because you drink/eat their stuff. Above a certain threshold one cannot tell the difference between good and very good. Wine tasters know it and it has been very well documented. When it comes to flavours, as long as it doesn't harm you, your judgement is as good as anybody else.

Oh, I struggled this for so many years, and I still couldn't convince myself wine is tastier than grape juice. Maybe it's one of those 'street credit' things?

Maybe it's more about finding your own taste and let "experts" believe you can confine nature and culture (food/language/skintones) into imaginary boxes drawn on a map.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#56

Post by tomcooks »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #4

I typically buy my dough from Trader Joe's but what to start doing it myself. There's a recipe in the article, but anyone else have a goto recipe they love?

A lot of failed attempts is, undoubtely, the most important ingredient.

Anything else will be affected by room temperature, humidity, oven performance, wind direction, campanilismo, etc.

Buy flour, yeast, salt, oil and experiment.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#57

Post by nkozyra »

tomcooks wrote: post #48
gnrlst wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes but you don't mix the dough with the tomatoes until the very end so it wouldn't impact the yeast. With proper flour sugar is not necessary, as the flour itself will be broken down by the yeast (hence the maturing/proofing stage). If you "exhaust" the flour, then you'll need sugar to get an "artificial" Maillard reaction and a nice browning of the crust.

Yes obviously you don't add tomatoes and sugar to the dough, you prepare a sauce on the side and add a bit of sugar to that. Yeast needing no sugar to work is something I've never heard of, could you please forward more information about this? Thank you.

There's simple carbohydrates in flour, so presumably that's what the comment is implying.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#58

Post by slow_donkey »

albmoriconi wrote: post #52

I am from Naples and eat regularly at Gino Sorbillo's and Ciro Salvo's places. As it often happens here, everyone will swear by its pretty small and obscure "favorite place", but they are masters without doubt ;) The dough recipe from the article is pretty legit and exactly the way I do it at home; the main problem I see is that it would be pretty hard to find good Mozzarella or Fiordilatte cheese (Fiordilatte di Age…

Why would instant yeast have an effect on slow rising? You'd just use a smaller amount than AD or cake yeast? I can't think of any significant difference especially compared to AD.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#59

Post by fatboy »

pbowyer wrote: post #47
stevievee wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a quick pizza, I use a "Ooni" pizza oven and the results have been great. It's relatively cheap and you can get the temperatures you are looking for. I joined their first kickstarter and have been buying their ovens ever since: https://uk.ooni.com/collections/shop-all/products/ooni-koda

For years I've dreamed of building a wood-fired pizza oven, or buying one of the cast kits from https://www.fornobravo.com/ . But this looks way easier and cheaper. How long does a gas cylinder last?

I've got the big ooni oven, and use it pretty much daily for 1-5 pizzas. It takes 20-25 minutes to heat up, then maybe 90 seconds to cook a pizza. The gas burner states it uses about 450g per hour on max, which seems to tally with what I get out of a 13kg propane bottle, which is in the region of 45 -60 days. The propane tank costs €34 to refill here.

edit: I also dreamed for years of building a wood-fired oven, but I'm totally happy with the gas one. The way I can make myself a pizza in 25 minutes start to finish is hard to argue with. People ask me if the lack of smoke in the oven makes for a subpar pizza, but in my opinion it makes no difference. The oven is so hot that any smoke in a wood-fired oven is well above the pizza. It's just the heat you need.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#60

Post by notechback »

stevievee wrote: post #19
ThePhysicist wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, he bakes those at 825F (440 °C), which unfortunately is unattainable with most regular home ovens. Mine e.g. maxes out at 300 °C so it's not hot enough to let the crust rise significantly and produce a nicely charred underside, at least not before completely burning the top. What I'm currently experimenting with to solve this problem is to put the pizza on a flat, heavy and preheated iron pan or plancha and hea…

For a quick pizza, I use a "Ooni" pizza oven and the results have been great. It's relatively cheap and you can get the temperatures you are looking for. I joined their first kickstarter and have been buying their ovens ever since: https://uk.ooni.com/collections/shop-all/products/ooni-koda

Have you tried using it e.g. for baking bread, grilling vegetables or similar? I'm not a fan of having one-purpose devices.
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