Hi everyone
I am new to Steemit and posting my first post. I am hoping to post quite a few articles about pizza, as it is one of my favourite food subjects.
It all started a few years ago when I was making ready pizza (frozen in a box from supermarket) in my home oven. It came out ok but I started to wonder how difficult it would be to create your own. After all it was only bread with tomatoes and cheese, so how hard could it be?
I got a normal pizza dough recipe from a friend and also watched various YouTube videos on how to make it and cooked my first pizza’s. I have to admit that even though it was not very good, it was way better than any pizza I bought from the supermarket and I would recommend anyone having a go at making your own.
After months of practise and baking, I realized that there were many variables in making the dough and ultimately, pizza. It really fascinated me and I got hooked.
It stated to become and obsession when I went out for pizza at a place called Franco Manca in London and that just blew me away. They specialize in sourdough pizza. Natural fermentation of the dough which gives it a different taste.
That was the first time I had a Neapolitan style pizza and I knew I had to try and recreate it and even better it. It was the simplicity of the pizza and the fantastic taste that I fell in love with. The pizza cooked at a very high temperature in a wood fired oven and the taste was divine.
From that day, I knew that if I wanted to cook a pizza as good as that, then I had to invest in a wood fired oven at home. I did not want to spend a lot of money, so I decided to build one myself in my back garden. I invested about 280 pounds and build it with help of my sons. It came out ok and I have been cooking in the oven for a couple of years now and my pizza’s are spectacular.
After lots of research – trial and error - I perfected a recipe that use natural fermentation to ferment the dough. It just gives it a unique taste. I was so confident that my pizza was now the best that I have ever tasted, that I enrolled myself for the world pizza championships in Parma, Italy.
After enrolment I realized that I would not be taken seriously if I did not do a course at least, that will give me some accreditation in pizza making. Most people there would be professional pizzaiolos (pizza makers) after all.
I enrolled in a course in Naples (the birth place of pizza) at a place called “The True Neapolitan Pizza Association (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, AVPN)”. http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/index_eng.php
The course was 10 days. I would really recommend it to anyone who is serious about learning how to make pizza. I also frequented most of the city’s pizza restaurants and will do a series of posts about the pizza that I tasted at the restaurants in lovely Naples. I even worked (as part of the course) for one day, in what is believed to be the first pizza restaurant in the world - Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba - Naples. What an experience and the staff there were just fantastic!
A few weeks later I entered in the world pizza championships in Parma. I came about joint 50th in the Pizza Napoletana STG category out of 72 people. I was probably the only amateur there and even though I made some silly errors (nervous and inexperience), I was quite pleased with what I achieved.
http://campionatomondialedellapizza.it/
Please lookout for my next articles on how to make the pizza and my ratings of the best pizza restaurants in the world.
Thanks for reading!
