Born in Naples , it began to establish itself in the 19th century and spread throughout Italy and then to the rest of the world.
Originally, the pizza was thicker and topped simply with extra virgin olive oil, tomato, and basil.
The addition of mozzarella only occurred in 1889 when the Campanian pizza chef Raffaele Esposito created this version in honor of the visit of Queen Margherita of Savoy.
Since then, pizza has become a real business that everyone loves!
According to the latest data from 2021, 2.7 billion pizzas are consumed away from home every year by Italians.
Compared to the 1980s and 1990s, however, when venues were sold out everywhere, the situation is now slightly declining.
In fact, many prefer to learn to make pizza at home or attend bread-making courses.
The variations of pizza
From the nineteenth century to today, countless variations have been created, from the simplest to the richest: the marinara (with the addition of garlic to the original version), the romana (with anchovies and oregano, called Napoli outside Campania), the capricciosa (stuffed with cooked ham, artichokes in oil and chopped black olives).
Not just Neapolitan pizzas: alongside the original, there are many local preparations that, in keeping with Italian tradition, are called by different names.
Some examples? Venetian pinza , pitte (a type of flatbread) found throughout the south, pizzalandrea ( a type of flatbread typical of the Ligurian coast), Sicilian sfincione (a type of pizza), and Roman pizza bianca (a type of pizza bianca).
Pizza has become such a part of common parlance that in cooking the term “ alla pizzaiola ” is used to refer to all those preparations (usually meat) that are seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes or tomato sauce, garlic and oregano!
How to prepare pizza
It's easy to say pizza: everyone has their own preferences!
Some prefer it low and crunchy, some high and soft, some with high edges and a thin inside, and some even like to stuff the inside of the edges.
What is certain is that high-quality ingredients must be used to ensure a good result that can only be improved with experience, especially for beginners.
The basic ingredients for making pizza are: water, flour, yeast, and extra virgin olive oil.
Depending on your school of thought, you can then use different flours (just 00, 0 flour, ancient grain flours, or even various blends), dry or brewer's yeast, and extra virgin olive oil from different sources.
Of course, gourmet toppings won't change the final result of your pizza: for example, if you use DOP mozzarella, a homemade sauce, basil from the balcony but a low-quality oil, your pizza will only be half as good!
Why use extra virgin olive oil in pizza dough?
Oil isn't used in many bread recipes, so why is it used in pizza recipes?
Adding extra virgin olive oil to the dough has several advantages:
- the good fats in the extra virgin olive oil help to lubricate the dough, thus binding the components together better and making it easier to work with.
- the oily film that is created envelops the carbon dioxide bubbles that naturally form in the dough and stabilizes them: the result is softer and more compact
- the leavening phase is favored leading to an excellent result, also more digestible
- The fats in the oil act as a protector for the starches, thus prolonging the freshness of the finished product.
- the nutritional value of the product is better
- the hydration status of the product is maintained for longer
The recipe for pizza dough
Ingredients for 4 pizzas:
- 10g of brewer's yeast
- warm water
- 500g of flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons of multi-cultivar extra virgin olive oil (Blend)
Procedure:
- Crumble 10g of brewer's yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in 1dl of warm water.
- Mix together 50g of flour and the sugar
- Let it rise in a warm place for about half an hour covered with a cloth
- Pour 450g of flour into a fountain shape on the pastry board (or in the bowl of a food processor for kneading), sprinkle with salt and add the leavened dough.
- Add 2 dl of water and two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- Knead vigorously until you obtain a soft dough, if it is sticky (the season may influence it) add a little more flour
- Divide it into 4 loaves
- Cover the loaves with a cloth and let them rise in a warm place until they have doubled in volume.
- Work the dough for a few more minutes, roll it out to a thickness of about 5mm, pressing it with your fingertips and leaving the edge higher.
- Let it rise for another 30 minutes
Now you can season the pizza as you like and cook it in the oven at at least 220° for 15 minutes or a little more, checking (depending on the actual temperature of the oven).
Remove from the oven when the edge is golden and puffed up, add a drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil and voilà!
Why add extra virgin olive oil to freshly baked pizza? Because the heat will help release all the fruity aromas of an extra virgin olive oil like the Coratina variety on the cooked pizza. A half-drizzle is enough to enhance the flavors.
One more tip from the Frantoio to the pizzeria: make your customers fall in love with the flavors of your pizzas by using extra virgin olive oil after cooking, allowing the flavors of all the ingredients to fully savour.
