It seems that if you can find people indifferent to burgers, then everyone loves pizza. Over the past few years, many new varieties of pizza have appeared in the city: in addition to the usual version on a thin dough, Roman pizza (or pinza) has gained particular popularity. Pizza is perhaps the most famous national dish of Italy, which is a round open pie with various fillings. It is considered that the birthplace of pizza is the city of Naples, where pizza appeared around the end of the XV century. The well-known pizza "Margarita" made of tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil was born thanks to the love of Maria Carolina of Habsburg-Lorraine and the court cook of her husband Ferdinand IV for this dish. In Naples, pizza is made almost at every step, there are even several pizzerias that are more than 100 years old, where recipes are passed down from generation to generation. Neapolitan pizza is very different from pizza from other regions of Italy and the rest of the world. Firstly, it is cooked only in a wood-burning oven at a very high temperature, and the baking time is a little more than one minute. Secondly, for the preparation of pizza dough, a special fine flour is used, which is called 00. At the same time, such flour should have special properties, namely a high protein content and the so-called "flour strength". Thirdly, when preparing the dough, no additional ingredients can be used, except flour, water, salt and yeast. Olive oil, sugar, eggs are taboo. Fourth, only the sauce of San Marzano tomatoes is used as a sauce. And finally, the cheese is only fresh, from the milk of cows or buffaloes: fior di latte or fior di bufala.
Mix the water. Try to work with one hand. First, rub the yeast in your hand with your fingers, and then dilute them in water until completely dissolved. Add 1/3 of the flour to the mixture. Mix everything carefully. Add salt. Since the yeast is already in a favorable environment for them, you can safely add all the salt. Constantly stirring the dough, add the remaining flour. The main thing is to knead the dough correctly with your hands, although the dough can be kneaded in a mixer, but at medium speed. Knead the dough until it does not lag behind the hands. Ideally, you should get a soft and elastic dough, after which it should be allowed to rest: form a ball and leave the dough for about two hours at room temperature. To prevent it from getting chapped, cover the ball with a slightly damp towel or napkin. After two hours, form four balls from the resulting dough, put them in a tray, cover with cling film and put them in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. This is a fermentation process: the dough will become light and bake quickly. Interestingly, fermented dough is less calorific than dough that does not undergo aging. This is due to the fact that during fermentation in the dough, starch breaks down with the help of enzymes into the simplest sugars, which, in turn, are fermented by yeast. That's why Neapolitan pizza is easy to digest.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator an hour before cooking and let it heat up. Form a circle with your hands (the basis of the future pizza). Important: Forget about the rolling pin! It expels carbon dioxide from the dough, and we don't need that. Two pizzas are considered classic in Naples: Marinara and Margarita, but we will make a more interesting option. To do this, you will need a nut sauce, peeled and slightly boiled shrimp, tomatoes, asparagus (you can take spatulas of fresh peas) and black sesame. Mix the water. Try to work with one hand. First, rub the yeast in your hand with your fingers, and then dilute them in water until completely dissolved. Add 1/3 of the flour to the mixture. Mix everything carefully. Add salt. Since the yeast is already in a favorable environment for them, you can safely add all the salt. Constantly stirring the dough, add the remaining flour. The main thing is to knead the dough correctly with your hands, although the dough can be kneaded in a mixer, but at medium speed. Knead the dough until it does not lag behind the hands. Ideally, you should get a soft and elastic dough, after which it should be allowed to rest: form a ball and leave the dough for about two hours at room temperature. To prevent it from getting chapped, cover the ball with a slightly damp towel or napkin. After two hours, form four balls from the resulting dough, put them in a tray, cover with cling film and put them in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. This is a fermentation process: the dough will become light and bake quickly. Interestingly, fermented dough is less calorific than dough that does not undergo aging. This is due to the fact that during fermentation in the dough, starch breaks down with the help of enzymes into the simplest sugars, which, in turn, are fermented by yeast. That's why Neapolitan pizza is easy to digest.
