Faux Pas the Seventh - Cook's Pizza

Usually a Faux Pas on The Artisan describes is written in response to some idiotic interpretation of a classical Italian dish which the chef/cook who created it deemed necessary of reinvention. We must make it clear that we are not talking about creating a dish based upon a cook's interpretation of a classical dish or style of cooking. That is fine and is done all of the time. We are talking about taking an entire genre - such as pizza - and redefining it in a way which bastardizes the process of pizza making process. This is what Cook's Illustrated (Cook's) has done in its February 2001 issue. Pizza is pretty much a perfect dish when it is made correctly. Correctly is defined by us as the way it is made in Italy, where it was invented and perfected. The excerpt below, from Vincenzo Buonassisi's Book, "Pizza Plus" details the development of pizza. For more details we refer you to Buonassisi.

........Versions of pizza were known in southern Italy since ancient times. Made with unleavened dough they were eaten by both the Romans and the Greeks, and thanks to the poet Virgil, we have a recipe for moretum. It was a flat circle of unleavened dough and - like today's schiacciata - eaten as bread, sometimes with oil and herbs, sometimes with raw onions and garlic.

Though this early unleavened schiacciata was part of Italian life from Roman times to the medieval period and beyond, historical records refer to it again around the year 1000 A.D.. - a time when many people were expecting the end of the world, but when Neapolitans were thinking about food!. In that period in Naples, instead of schiacciata, people spoke of lagano, a word coming from the Latin laganum and the Greek laganon. The unleavened dough was roasted and cut into strips which were tossed into a pot of vegetables or other ingredients cooking over the fire. Laganon was, in short a kind of primitive Tagliatelle or noodle. (On the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, Tagliatelle are still called laganella.) ...........

.......Although people in Naples spoke of lagano around the year 1000 A.D. , the word picea began to appear also. It might have been another name for lagano or it might have indicated a new dish, a circle of dough covered with various ingredients before baking. Shortly afterwards the word piza came into usage. Yet it was sometimes later - when dough was leavened, topped with simple ingredients and baked - that we have the beginning of actual pizza and its near relation, today's round pitta-like bread, schiacciata. ....

.....Towards the end of the 18th century in Naples, pizza emerged as a distinctive dish......

It was in the 18th century that pizza with tomatoes appeared. The first pizzeria in Naples was opened in 1830.....

The Artisan sees little need to reinvent that which has been successful for more than 1000 years, and offered as we know it for almost 300 years. Furthermore we see no need to introduce terms such as "neo-Neapolitan", as is done in the article. Cook's defines pizza that is neither Neo nor Neapolitan.

Many who read this article will wonder why we have taken such a strong stand on what seems on the surface to be a reasonable approach to making a pizza. The reasons are many. Foremost is the fact that the techniques used violate a number of bread and dough making principles. Secondly, cracker crusted pizza is considered overcooked and a poorly made pizza. For one who wants a cracker like product, we suggest -- crackers. Thirdly, it is sometimes difficult enough to make good pizza at home without adding poor techniques, and even poorer tastes to the literature. While there are many who now make pizza, and make it well, there are those who have never done so, and who are looking for guidance. If their first lesson was that in the Cook's article described here, we suggest that they might never know what good pizza really is.

Before we specifically address the article in Cook's Illustrated, we thought that for those who take their pizza as seriously as we do, the "Pizzaiolo's Ten Commandments" as defined by the Agency that issues Pizzeria licenses in Naples, might be of interest. (These have been excerpted from Maggie Gletzer's new book, "Artisan Baking Across America", Artisan Books, 2000.) We are fully aware that many cannot adhere to many of these commandments because of space or equipment limitations. They are offered to demonstrate that pizza is taken quite seriously by far more people than those of us at The Artisan. Adherence to as many as possible will result in better pizza.

The denomination of "Vera Pizza Napoletana" is reserved exclusively to pizza made according to the following rules:

1. It must be made only with flour, natural yeast or (baker's) yeast, salt to taste, and water. all types of fat are absolutely forbidden from inclusion in the dough.

2. The diameter of the pizza should never exceed 30 centimeters ( 10-12 inches)

3. Dough must be kneaded by hand or by approved mixers that do not cause the dough to overheat. (If the dough overheats, it speeds up the fermentation process.)

4 The pizza dough must be punched down by hand and not by mechanical means (never use a rolling pin, etc.)

5. The cooking is done directly on the floor of the oven. (the use of sheet pans or other pans is not allowed.)

6. The oven must be made of brick and materiale refrattario. (refractory material similar to volcanic stone) and must be fired with wood. (Operator's choice)

7. The oven temperature must be at least 400° C. (750-800° F.)

8. The classic Pizza ingredients are : Marinara - tomato, oregano, garlic, olive oil, salt: Margherita - tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, basil, salt: Al Formaggio - grated Parmesan, lard, garlic, basil, salt (tomato optional); Calzone - stuffed with ricotta, salami, olive oil, salt.

9. Variations on the Classics, which are inspired by tradition and fantasy, are accepted, provided they are not in conflict with the rules of good taste and culinary laws.

10. The Pizza must have the following characteristics: not crusty, well done, and fragrant, with the border high and soft.

The above rules are set by the Association of VERA PIZZA NAPOLETANA, which is part of the Association of Pizzaiola Europa and sustaining members.

How many of these rules has Cook's Illustrated broken? A number. We will not count #6 or #7 as the oven material in a home is whatever the manufacturer used, and home ovens do not normally achieve the temperatures noted above. The rest however are not outside of the realm of the average home cook who desires to made authentic pizza. When we feel that Cook's Illustrated has broken a cardinal rule, we will cite the number of the rule broken in parentheses.

What are the specifics in the cook's Illustrated article that we find so egregious? The first is the photo of the pizza that the author raves about. The crust is too thin and the edges are not bubbled (#10) at all - hardly the photo to engage someone's gustatory ambitions relative to making this pizza. Even more troubling is the statement "Wanting the crackerlike simplicity of a rich burnished crust to prevail, I dressed the pizza with sauce and mozzarella only." What exactly does that mean? What have the cheese and the sauce got to do with a "burnished" crust. The crust will brown if the oven temperature is correct. If the author is concerned about making a thin crusted pizza that is soggy after baking, she need only to limit the amount of sauce to begin with.

The comment "...with a deeply caramelized flavor that bear no trace of the raw yeast or flour..." is strange given the use of only 1/2 of a teaspoon of yeast in the recipe. Given proper fermentation, there would be no yeast taste in the finished product, regardless.

Use of the food processor is questionable given the author's comment that her first inclination was to advance to the food processor rather than the standing mixer or mixing by hand. Our first concern is that the food processor is fast - indeed too fast to develop a well made dough. Secondly, it takes very little time to overheat (#3) the dough in a food processor. Her use of warm water to process the dough adds to this concern.

We are not sure where the dimension (unspecified in the article) for the thickness of a Neapolitan pizza are derived. Thus the statement "...neo-Neapolitan style pizza, which is just a couple of hairs thinner then the original thin crust pizza of Naples." is, if not incorrect, then misleading. Pizza from Naples, Italy is usually made 1/4 of an inch thick, whereas the pizza from Rome is 1/8 of an inch thick. The latter is also true of pizza in Siena, Macerata, Porto San Georgio and Brescia, all cities in various parts of Italy. So the "couple of hairs thinner" statement must mean that the neo-Neapolitan pizza Cook's is striving to make must still be about 1/4 of an inch thick as a human hair is approximately 0.009 cm thick.

It seems to us that the dough made at Cook's kitchens is not a dough that would make terrific pizza. Why do we think that? The description of rolling the dough on parchment, where the dough "gripped the parchment for dear life" , and then solving that problem by sandwiching the dough between parchment paper and plastic wrap, then rolling it out suggests to us that the technique described in this article is wanting. Going to these extremes to shape something as simple as a pizza round makes no sense. In addition, rolling the dough with a rolling pin breaks rule #4, making a 14 inch pizza breaks rule #2 and baking it on parchment breaks rule # 5. [We are aware that many use a rolling pin to make pizza. We sometimes do also. The Artisan staff thus breaks rule #4 at times.] Actually for those fortunate to have a wood fired oven, baking the pizza at 750-800° F. on parchment would not be desirable, as the paper would most likely burn.

The recipe for the dough made by Cook's contains honey, and olive oil among other things. The use of honey and olive oil break rule #1. Honey and olive oil are unnecessary. The honey will cause the pizza to brown more, and the olive oil shortens gluten strands, and adds tenderness to the dough. Neither ingredient is found in traditional pizze, nor does it add to the taste and texture of a well made pizza.

A series of photos appears on page 9 of the magazine which demonstrate a freshly processed dough (far left) with the suggestion that "a few throws against a counter will help the dough become supple and fine textured." So will running over it with your car 4-5 times. Simply hand kneading the dough for 2-4 minutes will accomplish the same. The second photo from the right shows a teaspoon of water being added to an already "too dry" dough. The same "throw it against the counter" suggestion is made, but without the recommendation of incorporating the water into the dough prior to the throwing. Again kneading for a few minutes will accomplish the same end.

Finally a word about the baking time recommended in the article - 10 minutes at 500 degrees. We make our pizze (plural of pizza) at The Artisan in the Roman style, i.e. between 1/8 and 3/16 of an inch thick. At 500 degrees in a standard oven i.e. GE, Dacor, etc., the pizza is ready in 3 1/2 - 4 minutes, with the time shortening as the oven stays heated at 500 degrees. The last pizza (the 3rd or 4th) usually takes about 3 minutes flat. In our opinion, cooking a thin pizza, especially the one as thin pictured in the Cooks Illustrated article, 10 minutes will not only result in a cracker, but in a burnt cracker. Given this, neo-Neapolitan pizza as described in Cook's is nothing more than an overcooked, 14 inch, non-Neapolitan pizza.

The Artisan Note: Some may wonder why we are so adamant about this topic. The reasons are simple. We believe in helping our visitors understand that there is a correct way to make Italian food and an incorrect way. This Faux Pas is a perfect example of an incorrect way make a very simple dish. Additionally, we hope to inspire visitors to at least try the classic ways to make the dishes presented here, as well as the "improvements" we personally find onerous, and judge for yourselves what is best.

To sum up our approach to authenticity and quality food, we cite a bumper sticker we recently saw " Friends don't let friends eat fast food", and we paraphrase this "Friends don't let friends eat imitations of good food."