Pizza and Italians…what a cliché! Well, I guess today I will add it up to the image of the average Italian that I give of myself: I love pizza and I bake my own at least once or twice a week. There, I said it!
Now, in case you don’t know this, I come from northern Italy. That would not normally allow me to “legally” make pizza (right Noyra?). This is considered to be a “southern territory”. Coming from up north I can make polenta, if I like, pasta e fagioli (beans soup), maybe a few other things but what do I know about pizza?
Here is what I have learnt with experience, living my life as an outlaw and baking my pizzas in the shadow, trying not to talk too much (which is almost a mission impossible to me) so that no one can detect my northern accent.
B.C. (Before Cooking)
The main ingredients of a good Homemade Pizza are, if you ask me, TIME and PATIENCE.
I have learnt that I cannot make pizza in two hours like most recipes promise. Or rather, it takes more yeast if I do that than I am willing to use and I don’t like what I get when I do that: when I use more yeast and less time, I can actually taste it in the crust and, second but not less important, my stomach seems to not like my pizza just as much.
So when I prepare my dough I just take my time. Do not get discouraged, though, when I tell you that it takes me a whole day or a whole night: it’s not like you have to actually work all that time! It’s more or less all about training your patience (and it takes lots of training if you are the kind of impatient person that I am). You actually need 15, maybe 20 minutes to make the dough (maybe a little more if you don’t have the help of a machine for kneading and you can only count on your muscles). But after that it’s only a matter of forgetting that bowl in a nice, comfy place. Not too cold, not too hot, no breeze to disturb the sleep…I normally leave the bowl in the turned off oven morning to evening or the other way round. After that I simply divide my dough in balls the size of a big orange (or a small grapefruit, ah!) and either let them rest another half an hour or so before making my pizza or freeze them for those nights when I am out of ideas for dinner and they come – oh – so handy. I have no idea if this is the right process. I can only tell you it works great for me.
A.D. (After it’s Done)
Please, please, I am begging you: do not do like my husband does. Eat your pizza while it’s still hot! Do it for me. Don’t let it sit on the counter for half an hour or, even worse, have it cold the following morning for breakfast! Vince can eat pizza like that but it’s not fair to this food. Pizza gives its best fresh (hot) out of the oven, when you proudly look at it telling yourself (secretly) how amazed you are that it looks just like those you get from the pizzeria! Anyway, anything after that moment is not the same. Take the risk of burning your tongue, it’s worth it. If you are willing to face the challenge of trying it this way at your home I promise you that you will never (ehm...not often) order pizza from any delivery place again. If you are not, you are always welcome to come try mine at our house. And then stop at the closest Pizza H** on the way home to get what you really call a pizza ;-)
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