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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

#81

Post by easytiger »

saiya-jin wrote: post #62
keiferski wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish this wine meme would die. Essentially every test done to ‘prove’ that there’s no difference between cheap and expensive wines has had two massive flaws: 1. The label of ‘wine expert’ is left undefined. True sommeliers have spent thousands of hours studying wine and are not the same thing as a guy that takes a weekend wine-tasting course and gets a certificate. Yet most ‘studies’ fail to mention this. Ju…

A simple flaw in your reasoning - none of the target audience of this comparison is actually a sommelier expert. The whole argument is about an average joe sampling say a wine costing say 15 euros in france and one costing 500. And the same average joe benefiting very little if at all from paying too much. Its like buying La Ferrari which all experts praise, when all you need is to drive 80kmh to next town. I persona…

> But yes, if you use a wine costing 2-3 euros, quality of taste in many aspects will be incomparable even to that average joe.

2-3 euro wine tastes disgusting to even an "average joe"

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#82

Post by taffer »

tomcooks wrote: post #40
chesterarthur wrote: post #10

The secret to great pizza sauce is more sugar than you’d expect.

I don't understand the downvotes, given that sugar both feeds the yeast bacteria needed for proper rising, and to balance the high acidity of tomatoes.

You don't need sugar in the sauce if you use high quality tomatoes that have a balanced sweetness / acidity.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#83

Post by tomcooks »

toyg wrote: post #74
tomcooks wrote: post #43

The article fails to mention Roman "pinsa", which was commonplace a _bit_ earlier than 1700 and is what gave pizza its name. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinsa

Damn, the pinsa is delicious. Very hard to find outside of the Roma/Lazio region though.

Yes? You can find it in most big cities around Northern Italy

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#84

Post by oftenwrong »

gruez wrote: post #73
crispyambulance wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right about oven temperature. Household ovens can barely hit 500F, that's not quite enough for proper pizza. There are some workarounds that will make very good pizza at home. My favorite is to use an outdoor grill instead of an oven. A hot grill with a pre-heated pizza stone is totally capable of reaching proper temperature. This can actually make neopolitan style pizza crust and works perfectly for other sty…

>Household ovens can barely hit 500F There's a hack you can do where you use your oven's self clean function to reach high temperatures. Most ovens have a physical interlock preventing you from opening the door during a self clean cycle though, so to work around that you'll have to void your warranty and saw off the lock.

I have done it at my old (rented) apartment without physically destroying the latch. If I remember correctly (this was ~10 years ago), I was able to remove the latch assembly entirely, and then jump the wires for the sensor that detects the latch being engaged.

That said, cooking pizza on the clean cycle is difficult, and not necessarily worth it. Timing and vertical positioning in the oven is crucial, or you will end up with a burnt bottom or toppings. Make sure you have a long peel, and keep your face away from the heat when you open the door.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#85

Post by seanhunter »

slow_donkey wrote: post #58
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.

Instant yeast tends to be very aggressive/successful so what happens if you use a small amount of instant yeast is you get a slow rise but it's a monoculture microbially speaking versus if you use a typical sourdough starter (called "madre" in Italian baking) there are several strains of bacteria which are about equivalent in terms of how fast they multiply. So the final dough has a more diverse microbiome. The theory is that leads to a more complex taste because of the way the different yeast strains digest the sugars etc and affect the taste of the resulting product.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#86

Post by toyg »

tomcooks wrote: post #83
toyg wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, the pinsa is delicious. Very hard to find outside of the Roma/Lazio region though.

Yes? You can find it in most big cities around Northern Italy

Not really - you can find focaccia of various types which is close but not quite that.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#87

Post by notechback »

mtrovo wrote: post #71
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!

I feel that learning the classics on cooking is a good way to see how engineering mindset is close to cooking and food preparation mindset. Talking about Italian food in specific, they're very opinionated about what's the best way to work each ingredient, how to work dough, how long to leave pasta resting, and what's the best blend of herbs and the best species for each recipe. On engineering we call it standardizati…

DOP, DOC, etc are not about preference, they are designations for regionally protected products names with some production standards. Just like champagne is only champagne if it was made in champagne region from the right grapes in the right methodology.

These assure on the other hand normally a good quality standard as the regional producers' associations have every incentive to keep quality good.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#88

Post by gdubs »

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 have a green-egg[1] style ceramic grill that works really well for pizza. Wood-fired, and can get up to a pretty good temperature. I use a pizza stone in it.

1: The exact brand is a Kamado ceramic grill.

Re: How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master

#89

Post by JoeAltmaier »

gdubs wrote: post #88
pbowyer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 have a green-egg[1] style ceramic grill that works really well for pizza. Wood-fired, and can get up to a pretty good temperature. I use a pizza stone in it. 1: The exact brand is a Kamado ceramic grill.

Cool, but why do those cost like a Rolls Royce? Just a big ceramic ball, but priced like its made of gold.
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