E la domenica sera ... pizza party!

Spesso e volentieri la domenica sera ci piace dedicarla alla pizza, a me piace prepararla perchè è una preparazione "veloce" che non mi fa perdere troppo tempo dietro ai fornelli e, cosa ancora più importante, mi lascia la cucina pulita! Sì, perchè ho la fortuna di aver adibito una stanza vicino alla cucina a dispensa, e un angolo di questa stanza è completamente dedicato agli impasti: c'è un grande tavolo con la mia bella lunga asse da lavoro sopra, tutte le mie farine ben disposte e in fila sulle mensole, il mio fedele Ken di fianco e un forno da 90 (regalo graditissimo!) alle mie spalle.

Solitamente faccio la classica pizza da casa seguendo la ricetta delle Simili, sostituendo però il 20% di farina con semola rimacinata, me l'aveva consigliato una mia amica e mi ci sono trovata bene. Qualche volta (se siamo in pochi) optiamo per il fornetto Pizza Express, ma sinceramente ci impieghiamo troppo tempo per accontentare tutti per cui ben vengano le teglie di pizza casalinga, alta e morbida!
Però, ho anche la fortuna di avere un forno a legna in veranda, che usiamo perlopiù in occasioni di cene numerose, per cuocere tacchini, arrosti e grandi pesci.
Domenica mattina, Macs (figlio n. 3) mi manda un sms e mi dice che la voglia di pizza è esagerata per cui mi "ordina" gentilmente di fare tante palle di impasto perché avrebbe acceso il forno a legna e ci avrebbe dimostrato tutta la sua arte come pizzaiolo!
Detto ... fatto, ho impastato 1,5 kg di farina (e la ricetta delle Simili per la pizza al fuoco è eccezionale) e fatto 13 palle da circa 200g l'una: saremmo stati solo in 6 e mi sembrava una dose più che sufficiente. Mmmmhhhh .... , hanno avuto il coraggio di lamentarsi perchè non ne è avanzata neanche una da poter poi riscaldare il giorno dopo!

Macs impegnato al lancio della pizza


Si inforna e si sforna

Pizza al gorgonzola e schiacciata al rosmarino

Fuori programma: Tito è riuscito ad immortalare
l'esibizione dell'Associazione Nazionale Paracadustisti d'Italia
della sezione di Lazise in occasione della
80° festa dell'Uva di Bardolino

Pizza in wood-fired oven

We often like to bake pizza on Sunday evenings. I have two very good reasons to prepare it: it's quite a fast work (do not lose too much time behind the stoves) and most of all I don't get dirty my kitchen! Oh yes, last year I arranged a corner in the pantry, which is just close to the kitchen, to my : there is a large table with a long wood working surface, rows of different flour jars on shelves, my faithful kneader on a side and a 90 cm. oven behind me, am I lucky enough?

I usually bake classic home pizza, high and soft, following Simili's recipe, but replacing 20% of flour with semolina, it's a valid advice fromadear friend of mine and it works very well. Sometimes we bake in Pizza Express oven , but honestly it takes a long time to make everyone happy, and so far are huge pans of homemade pizza are welcome!
However, I am also double lucky because we a wood-fired oven in the veranda, mostly used in special dinners, baking turkeys, roasted meats and large fish.
Last Sunday morning, Macs (my n. 3 son) sent me an sms saying he had been longing so much for pizza and asked me to knead so many pizza balls, he would have lighted the wood oven and been our pizza man (see pics above)!

Well, ... said and done! I kneaded 1.5 kg of flour and made 13 balls, about 200g each: we were only 6 for dinner and thought that was largely enough. Mmmmhhhh .... somebody had the courage to complain because there was no one left fot the day after!

This Simili's recipe is especially dedicated to wood-fired oven baking.

Gorgonzola pizza and olive oil and rosemary focaccia

You need:

500g. flour
250g. water
30g. extra virgin olive oil
5g. yeast
8g. salt

Knead all ingredients together.

- By hand: make a well with a hole in the middle, put water and dissolve yeast in it, add oil, take a bit of flour and start kneading, add salt and combine all the flour.
- In the kneader: put flour in the bowl, dissolve yeast with water in a glass and gently pour it on flour while kneading at low speed. Add oil and salt and knead at low/medium speed until the dough is well amalgamated.

Divide the dough into as many balls as many pizzas you want to make (smaller or larger depending on the size you prefer). The best measure is 180/200/230g.

Cover and let rise for 2 or 3 hours.

Without reworking the dough, roll each pizza: it's a very soft dough, you should do it gently pulling the edge with one hand while rolling the dough in the middle with the palm of the other hand, turning the dough a quarter each time you roll, or pass the dough from one hand to the other, it will stretch automatically, and then launch it to the ceiling ... but that need a little a practice, I am not able like Macs does! Or you can just simply use a rolling pin, turning the dough a quarter each time you roll and give a little passing from one hand to the other, that's easy. Be careful not to pull too much and stretch the dough too thin in the middle, it can break and makes holes. Stuff with tomato sauce, mozzarella, oregano and olive oil, remaining a little distant from the edge. You can add all ingredients you like: vegs, ham, gorgonzola, sausages, it's up to your taste.

You can also bake simple focaccia, spreading olive oil, rosemary and a little salt on top.

Wood- fired oven: bake for 3 to 5 minutes depending on size.
Put all the coals on one side of the oven and bake the pizzas around it, remembering to turn them often to cook all sides.

Would you like to have a bite?

This recipe is for Susan's weekly YeastSpotting.

Margherita and Valeria Simili, twin sisters born in Bologna in 1936, have been grown up in a world of fragrant bread: we can say they are true daughters art, their parents owned a bakery in Bologna where they soon started to work since teenagers. In 1986 they embarked on a new adventure spurred by Marcella Hazan - the famous teacher of Italian cooking in New York - have opened their cooking school, which became instantly famous. But their fame expanded rapidly from Bologna: they were invited to many television shows and began to offer classing lessons on bread throughout Italy, in the United States and Japan (as their school closed in 2001).
They wrote 3 books (the last one published last month), unfortunately available only in Italian, and they still travel all around Italy on baking lessons. They are so simple and kind, never tired to teach the smallest movement of hands, giving all suggestions you need, even calling them at home or writing e-mails!
I never miss their lessons, they are really special and wonderfully able to communicate so much love, passion, humanity with a simple gesture of kneading water and flour together!

YeastSpotting Round up 10.09.2009