Pizza, the Italian Way

Home-made pizzas made the Italian way, are the best

Our interest in making our very own pizza was generated by Ilaria, who grew up in Rome, within sight of the Vatican, directly descended from a major Italian architect. Her father was in diplomatic circles and her mother was a brilliant concert pianist who gave up her career for her children – as they did in those days. So Ilaria, unusually for an Italian, grew up with servants in the house and a mother who did not cook. So she only really learnt to cook after her marriage to Daniel, an environmental scientist from Arizona who grew up the 8th child of a Catholic family in the area bordering the Grand Canyon.

As fate would have it, of course, they met on a train in Norway, where she had been working at a conference as an organiser for the International Olympic Committee and he was on holiday. Of course, they both ended up staying in the same hotel, and struck up a conversation, kept in touch via letters, and some years thereafter, were married and living in the Middle East. Daniel talks of feeling very strongly from the beginning that this was the woman he would marry, while Ilaria was at the time engaged to another, as a result of which she is something of an aficionado of coffee.

Pizza is, of course, common to both Italy and America, and Daniel is particularly partial to TexMex combinations of food, especially on his pizza. He will lovingly prize a large jalapeño from a jar and press it into the cheese topping and then present it to you, his eyes gleaming with pride and satisfaction. Their family probably eat pizza just about daily, for lunch or supper, as a main meal or supplement or starter. One can only assume that, given their dietary reliance on pasta and pizza, it must be incredibly hard for any Italian who suffers from coeliac disease; gluten is so much a part of their diet.

Ilaria would also tell us that so many of the food of Italy is peasant food and, as illustration, we were fortunate enough for her to come and bake and make for us. The classic Italian pizza is incredibly simple and mostly about the dough itself, baked very thin and crispy with a minimum of fresh ingredients on top. She introduced us to what is now probably the one pizza I salivate over, very thinly sliced potato, sprinkled preferably with Maldon Sea Salt (which I have just learned is harvested from the briny water of the Blackwater river in Essex which has very little rain, and which possibly accounts for its surprisingly soft saltiness with no associated bitterness), garlic, and a few fresh rosemary sprigs, that’s it, not even the now-usual, almost obligatory cheese. Certainly, within Christ Stopped at Eboli, the diet of the region is sparse: bread, olive oil (which in those days was not a luxury item but a basic necessity), crushed tomatoes and peppers.

One evening when she arrived with the dough, it was to be confronted with both my husband and his foodie friend piling on toppings, and she kept shuddering, not able to tear her eyes from the sight. That is not how we make pizza in Italy! she lamented, but the next pizza evening she arrived with two doughs – one for the classic thin crust Italian pizza and a Chicago deep-pan pizza, on which you can place multiple toppings. My husband proceeded to buy a pan (which, unfortunately, he left behind in the warming drawer of the oven) and that too was delicious. I am experimenting now with the deep pan pizza recipe – to follow.

Ilaria’s contention is that if she can learn to make pizza, anyone can, and she particularly likes the one made without any yeast, great for a mum with a hungry family who has left it too late – which is also included. The more I made pizza, and the better the dough and tomato paste became, the more my kids – and their friends – loved it. Now, instead of the invariable braai or bring and share, we provide pizza for birthday parties and get togethers, it works like a charm.

Basic Yeast Pizza Dough Recipe

1 teaspoon sugar

1 sachet or 3 teaspoons of instant dried yeast (the sachet is 10 grams, 3 tsps = 9 grams), so a sachet will do.

3 cups bread flour, preferably, in South Africa, Eureka Mills Stone-Ground Flour. I use 1 cup brown bread flour to 2 cups white bread flour for extra taste and goodness

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup tepid water, preferably in which a potato has been boiled*

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Combine sugar, yeast, flour and salt in a bowl. Mix water and oil separately, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add to dry ingredients. Mix well, kneading the dough until doesn’t stick to your fingers, adding more flour if necessary. I generally use the Kenwood dough hook for the initial mixing. Then take out the dough, put flour on surface and knead until elastic, adding extra flour if necessary - this tends particularly to be the case if using the Eureka Mills flour, which tends to stickiness but has no additives, chemicals or preservatives in it so is amazingly good. Bread makers do advocate not adding too much flour at this stage since it takes a while to absorb the water, so a very slightly sticky mixture is what you are aiming for. Knead really well, once ready make into ball and place into lightly greased bowl. 

Pizza dough left to rise, swaddled in a damp cloth and towel 

I hate using plastic if it is not necessary, so the old-fashioned way of looking after dough works just fine. You can just leave the dough in a warm place until initially doubled in size, in about half an hour or so, then punch down and use. 

Wholesome pizza dough made with stone-ground flour. 

However, the longer you leave the dough to rise, the less yeasty it tastes and we find the crisper the bottom becomes. I prefer now to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance and preferably 72 hours in advance, and ensure a slow rising in a cold (but never draughty place) such as in the cool oven with the door closed, and ensure it has risen at least twice - even three or four times – ending up with a lovely bread-like texture that is soft on top and crispy underneath. It is the cold, slow rising that makes for a lovely dough. If this seems like too much work in advance, make a huge batch – I generally make 3 times the above mixture, you will not believe how fast it goes. You can freeze the dough and/or keep some in the fridge for up to three days. When using, just make sure you have dough at room temperature.

When ready to use, punch dough down and roll out on lightly floured board. 

Pizza dough is punched down gently, then rolled out with less flour

Use to make pizza with topping of choice. When assembling, place cold Tomato Paste onto the pizza, then the grated mozarella cheese and then the toppings. Pizza must be baked in about 200C oven, you know it is ready if top is bubbling and cheese melted, probably about 15 minutes a pizza, less if they are smaller or thinner, just open the oven door and take a look.

Anchovies and capers with rocket is always a great favourite

*The extra starch from the potato water is brilliant for making a soft, elastic dough. Ilaria was the person who advocated the usage of potato water, advocating that I boil the potato up, peeled, in small chunks – without adding salt to the water – making sure you do not throw the starchy bits away but use them. I now take a leaf out of Nigella Lawson’s book, and whenever I make mashed potato I boil the potatoes without any salt at all and then freeze the liquid. Initially I would freeze it in 1 cup portions, by now I tend to make four batches at once, so will freeze in 4 cup quantities. By the time the water has defrosted over a low heat it is tepid and good to use. It is worth the little bit of extra effort. The usage of scalded milk instead of water, or substitution of some cornmeal for the flour will also make the dough crispier, Ilaria told me, but I haven’t yet experimented much with this.

Any left-over dough can be used to make bread, with a thick crust and wonderful crumb. Since the 72 hour dough is now sticky and slow-rising, line the baking pans with parchment lest it stick to the sides

Note the wonderful bubbles in the bread which is almost a sour-dough

The bread has a wonderful crumb, or texture, with lovely little bubbles throughout:

Thick crusted wholesome bread with a wonderful crumb