Craft Pizza E-Book

Maxine Clark

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 153

Beschreibung

Recreate the tastes of Italy with over 65 delizioso recipes for pizza, calzone, focaccia and more – buon appetito! Hailing from the sunny south of Italy, and quickly popularised around the world, pizza is undoubtedly a fast-food favourite. Now more popular than ever with the rise of 'craft' creations, its versatility of tastes, toppings and types of bread, means that everyone can share in a slice of the action, and Craft Pizza will show you how. Without the need for elaborate equipment, you'll be shown it's possible that – with just the most basic, fresh ingredients – you, too, can make luscious handmade pizzas, calzones and focaccias. If you're a fan of the classics you'll find recipes for a Margherita, Stromboli or Pizza Piccante but, if you fancy something a little different, why not put your hand to the Pulled Pork Calzone or the Truffled Breakfast Focaccia. Once you master the basics of the pizza doughs and sauces, you'll be amazed at how this popular dish is wonderfully easy to make, always tasty to eat and guaranteed to transport you to the vibrant streets of Italy – you'll want every night to be 'pizza night'!

Leseprobe

CRAFT PIZZA

CRAFT PIZZA

HOMEMADE CLASSIC, SICILIAN AND SOURDOUGH PIZZA, CALZONE AND FOCACCIA

MAXINE CLARK

For my brother Paul (1961–2015), who had a Eureka moment eating a pizza in Naples.

Senior Designer Toni Kay

Commissioning Editor Stephanie Milner

Production Mai-Ling Collyer

Art Director Leslie Harrington

Editorial Director Julia Charles

Publisher Cindy Richards

Food Stylist Maxine Clark and Emily Kydd

Assistant Food Stylists Lizzie Harris, Susie Plant and Jo Lee

Prop Stylist Róisín Nield

Indexer Vanessa Bird

Author’s Acknowledgments

My thanks go to editors Julia, Rachel, Stephanie and Céline at RPS who all worked on the book; art director and designer Steve for his keen eye and keener taste buds; photographer Richard Jung for his calmness while his studio was dusted in a cloud of flour, and for really beautiful emotive photographs. Thanks to Róisín for once again finding incredible atmospheric props and backgrounds; Lizzie Harris, Susie Plant, and Jo Lee for help with mixing, kneading, patting, and shopping. Thanks also go to designer Toni Kay, photographer Mowie Kay, prop stylist and food stylist Emily Kydd for their work on the beautiful new images for this edition.

First published in 2016

This revised edition published in 2020

by Ryland Peters & Small

20–21 Jockey’s Fields, London WC1R 4BW

and

341 E 116th St, New York NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Some recipes in this book were previously published inPizza, Calzone & Focaccia by Maxine Clark in 2007.

Text © Maxine Clark 2016, 2020

Design and photographs © Ryland Peters & Small 2016, 2020

For full photography credits, see page 159.

eISBN: 978-1-78879-262-2 ISBN: 978-1-78879-194-6

Printed in China

The author’s moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. US Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data has been applied for.

Notes

• Both British (Metric) and American (Imperial plus US cups) measurements are included in these recipes for convenience, however it is important to work with one set of measurements and not alternate between the two within a recipe.

• All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified.

• All eggs are large (UK) or extra-large (US), unless specified as large, in which case US extra-large should be used. Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to the very old, frail, young children, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems.

• Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. We recommend using an oven thermometer. If using a fan-assisted oven, adjust temperatures according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using. If you can only find treated fruit, scrub well in warm soapy water before using.

• Whenever butter is called for within these recipes, unsalted butter should be used.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Basics

EQUIPMENT AND UTENSILS

PIZZA POINTERS

BASIC DOUGHS AND SAUCES

Pizzas Thick and Thin

Calzones and Pizza Pies

Focaccia

Pizzette and Small Bites

Resources

Picture Credits

Index

Introduction

I was bitten by the pizza bug in the best of all places, a huge farmhouse kitchen in Tuscany. I was working with chef Alvaro Maccioni teaching Italian cookery classes, when we discovered that a huge bread or pizza oven was hidden behind a small, blackened iron door. Aristide, the old man who swept and set the huge fires in the lodge, set and lit the oven, first with faggots of fine chestnut branches to quickly warm the porous base and domed brick roof, changing to metre-long, thinnish logs of seasoned hardwood to sustain the heat and create a bed of wood coals over the base. After a few hours it was ready. The live coals were swept to one side in a pile, the base or sole of the oven swept clean with a wet brush and another log or two placed on top of the coals to maintain the heat.

During this time, we had mixed and energetically kneaded dough, shaped it into balls and set them on a huge wooden tray, dusting the tops copiously with flour. The dough rose easily on that chilly October day, as the heat from the now roaring fire-pit of the oven was tremendous. The balls rose and cracked their floury caps. These were upturned and patted or rolled out, toppings added and, in turn, guided by Alvaro or twinkly-eyed Aristide, everyone slipped their pizza onto the pala or pizza peel and shot it into the oven. Five minutes later we were munching on what was voted ‘the best pizza in the world’ and sipping ice-cold beer.

Since then, I have fired up different sizes and types of ovens both at home and in Italy, and made countless pizzas, learning more with every dough made and every pizza patted. I have tried to make the recipes in this book home-oven friendly, as I am well aware that most people will not have a wood-fired oven or indeed the time required to fire it up. Good pizza can be made at home, as long as the dough is soft and pillowy, the oven is hot and there’s a heavy baking sheet or bakestone inside. The taste of the wood smoke won’t be there, but the pizza will bake with a nice chewy crust. Most importantly, the ingredients must be the best and freshest – there’s no room for kitchen leftovers.

Pizza is said to have originated on the streets of Naples, to feed and fill ordinary working people cheaply. Its roots are distinctly southern Italian and pizza is considered a food of the city. Pizza alla Napoletana is always ‘open pizza’ (never filled, folded and baked). However, the way to eat pizza in the street is to fold it in quarters, hold it in a napkin and munch it like a sandwich. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana lays down strict rules for the making and cooking of pizza in order to be able to sell it as ‘Pizza Napoletana’. Little stuffed and deep-fried pizzelle and panzerotti are other examples of street food from Naples and Campania. In Rome, pizza is sold by the metre (or its parts). Throughout Italy, other types of flat hearth breads, such as focaccia and schiacciata, were traditionally made at home on the hot hearth where the embers had been.

The only ingredients necessary to make pizza dough are flour, salt, yeast and water. I like to add olive oil as it gives a good texture and flavour to the dough when baked at home. Salt will bring the flavour out of the dough and strengthen the crust but if you are using a flaky sea or crystal salt, make sure it is finely ground or dissolve it in the warm water before adding it to the flour. Any type of yeast you are happy with will do – just follow the manufacturer’s instructions, using the liquid specified in the recipe. As for water, the softer the water, the better the dough, so I would use filtered water or even bottled water in hard-water areas. Other breads, like focaccia, rely on olive oil for flavour, so you must use extra virgin olive oil. It doesn’t have to be an expensive one – a supermarket blend of extra virgin olive oils will do. Always anoint your piping hot pizza with extra virgin olive oil (flavoured or not) before you eat it. Not only will it look better, it will taste sublime!

My final advice to any novice pizza-maker is to keep the choice of topping as simple as you can to truly appreciate the flavours. The crust is all-important and turns soggy if it is weighed down too much. Slice meat and vegetables thinly and don’t smother the base with sauce or cheese. Most important of all, eat it hot, hot, hot, straight out of the oven. I hope you enjoy using this book – I cooked every one of the pizzas for the photographs and we never tired of eating them at the studio or at home as they were all so different from each other that there was always something new to taste. Go on, get your hands in some dough right now and bake a fragrant pizza. You don’t need any special ingredients – just start off with an olive oil, salt and garlic topping and savour your first real pizza.

Basics

Equipment and utensils

Making pizza dough couldn’t be easier and when you become familiar with the process, you can guess the quantities by eye. To make really good pizza, you will need a few basic items in the kitchen, the most important being your hands!

You should have a good selection of the usual suspects: mixing bowls, measuring spoons, measuring cups, weighing scales; a good sharp knife or pastry wheel for cutting dough; a large serrated knife for cutting focaccia.

My favourite gadget is a pastry scraper which can be used as a knife, scoop and board scraper or cleaner. Scrapers come in all guises but they usually comprise a rectangular metal ‘blade,’ one edge of which is covered by a wooden or plastic handle that fits into the palm of your hand.

If you are really serious about pizza-making and want to make dough in quantity, an electric food mixer will take the pain out of mixing and kneading large batches of dough, although there’s nothing quite as satisfying as hand-kneading a big, soft pillow of dough.

Clingfilm/plastic wrap is the modern alternative to a damp kitchen towel. This is used to cover a dough when it is rising to keep it moist and to stop the surface drying out and forming a crust, which can impair the rising. Clingfilm/plastic wrap on its own will stick to a dough, so either lightly rub the dough with a little olive oil or spray or brush the clingfilm/plastic wrap lightly with oil before covering the dough. Alternatively, you can cover the rising dough with a large, upturned mixing bowl.

Baking parchment is a revelation for making pizza. There is no need to dust the bottom of the pizza with masses of extra flour (which never cooks) to prevent it sticking. Dusting with cornmeal is in no way authentic and it sticks to the dough, ruining the texture.

A good, steady work surface at the right height is essential for energetic kneading. The surface should be able to cope with sticky dough, flour and olive oil and should be easy to clean.

A flour sifter or shaker is useful as it will limit the flour you sprinkle onto the dough and is always to hand. Alternatively, you can make do with a little bowl of extra flour on the side, for dusting.

An olive-oil pourer will allow you to drizzle small amounts of olive oil onto a pizza or into a dough. Some are cans with long spouts and some neatly fit into the olive-oil bottle itself.

A water spray mists a dough with just enough water to keep it moist.

Pastry brushes are always handy in a kitchen for brushing the tops of calzone with oil or water and the edges of dough with water before sealing.

Cookie cutters will cut dough into smaller shapes for stuffing or filling.

You will need one or two deep, heavy round metal pans/pizza pans/springform cake pans for deep-pan pizzas and focaccias; heavy rectangular pans and baking sheets with sides for larger pizzas; and good, heavy, rimless baking sheets (or turn them upside down) for baking pizzas and to act as pizza peels or paddles to shoot the pizza into the oven. Pans with a nonstick surface tend to ‘stew’ doughs – I prefer metal, iron or heavy aluminium. Never use the large pans with perforated bases to make fresh pizzas – these are specifically for reheating bought pizzas and do not work with fresh dough.

Pizza peels or paddles are a luxury, but lovely to have and very functional. Wooden peels can act as a serving dish. Metal peels are more practical, although they heat up when they are repeatedly going in and out of the oven can make the dough stick to them.

Pizza wheels slice efficiently through a hot pizza without dragging off all the topping.

A ‘testo’ or baking stone is an affordable luxury if you don’t have that outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven. Preheated in the oven for at least 30 minutes before starting to bake, the stone mimics the base of a real pizza oven and when the uncooked pizza comes into contact with the stone, the moisture is absorbed, the heat evenly distributed and the base will crisp up nicely. There are all types from round to rectangular on the market – some ovens have them as an optional extra. Thick, unglazed quarry/terracotta tiles are a good alternative – use them to line a shelf in the oven. They can be any size, as long as they fit together.

Having tested and cooked all sorts of doughs in all types of ovens, I have found that pizza cooks best in a standard electric oven which can reach temperatures of more than 200˚C (400˚F) Gas 6 and ideally, 220˚C (425˚F) Gas 7. This will cook the base quickly and be as close to the real thing as possible. Although convection ovens will work for pizza- and focaccia-baking, they tend to dry out the crust before it browns and the crust can be very pale.

A wood-burning oven is the ultimate for the truly serious pizza aficionado. One of these will heat to the right temperature and give that all-important smoky taste to the pizza, which comes from the burning wood. A pizza cooked in one of these will take just minutes as the temperature is more than 500˚C (930˚F). Domestic ovens are available (page 158) and could end up being your new best friend!

Pizza pointers

Yeast

Whatever yeast you use, it needs moisture and warmth to develop. Make sure the liquid is at the correct temperature – too cold and the dough will rise slowly; too hot and you risk killing the yeast. When a recipe states ‘hand-hot water,’ it should be between 40.5˚C (105˚F) and 46˚C (115˚F).

Flour

For pizza, using fine Italian ‘0’ grade flour or unbleached plain/all-purpose flour gives the best crust at home. For focaccia, Italian ‘00’ flour or cake flour gives the best domestic results. If you are making dough in a hurry, warm the flour in the microwave for 10 seconds before adding the other ingredients. Always have surplus flour on hand to dust your dough, hands, rolling pin and work surface.

Dough

When making the dough, remember: the wetter the dough, the better the dough. A stiff, firm dough is difficult to knead and even more difficult to shape. It will have a poor texture and will not rise properly. If kneaded well, the stickiness soon disappears. Always have surplus olive oil on hand for oiling clingfilm/plastic wrap, dough, bowls and baking pans, when required, to stop the dough from sticking.

Kneading

If the dough sticks to your hands when kneading, stop and quickly wash your hands then dip them in a little flour to dry them. You will find the dough doesn’t stick to clean hands. Kneading should stretch the dough and develop the elastic gluten in the flour – don’t be shy in pulling and stretching the dough.

Shaping

Starting with a perfect round ball makes it easy to stretch the dough into a circle. Shape each one into a smooth ball and place on a floured kitchen towel to rise. Dredge liberally all over with flour. When risen, flip the balls over onto a work surface (the flour will have stuck to the dough giving it a non-stick base) and roll out.

Topping

The cardinal sin in pizza-making is to overwhelm perfectly made dough with too much topping. This can make it difficult to shoot it into the oven and will prevent it rising. If any topping drips down the side of the pizza making it wet, it will not rise. Cheese that misses the target will glue the pizza to the baking stone or parchment.

Crust

If you like pizza with a good crisp crust and make them often, it is worth investing in a porous ‘testo’ or baking stone. Some ovens have them as an accessory, but they are cheap to buy. Otherwise a large, heavy baking sheet that will not warp will do.

Baking

The best way to get a pizza into the oven is to roll the dough directly onto baking parchment and slide this onto a rimless baking sheet or pizza peel. It will then slide onto the preheated ‘testo’ or baking sheet easily. For the best results, quickly slide out the baking parchment from under the pizza 5 minutes after the pizza has set to make sure that the crust crisps up.

Serving

Always serve open pizza as soon as it is cooked, slip it onto a wooden board and cut it using a pizza wheel, as knives can drag the topping. Leave filled pizzas to cool for 5 minutes before eating as they can burn the mouth!

Eating

Pizza is best eaten in the hand – the crust is there to act as a handle! In Naples, pizzas are folded in four and eaten like a huge sandwich in a paper napkin. Using a knife and fork just sends it skimming across the plate!

Basic pizza dough

This will make the typical Neapolitan pizza – soft and chewy with a crisp crust or cornicione.

25 g/1 cake compressed yeast, 1 tablespoon/1 packet active dry yeast, or 2 teaspoons fast-action dried yeast

½ teaspoon sugar

250 ml/1 cup hand-hot water

500 g/4 cups Italian ‘0’ or ‘00’ flour or unbleached plain/all-purpose flour, plus extra to dust

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Makes 2 medium-crust pizza bases (25–30 cm/10–12 inches)

In a medium bowl, cream the compressed yeast with the sugar and beat in the hand-hot water. Leave for 10 minutes until frothy. For other yeasts, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.