Pizza is probably the world’s most popular fast food and wherever it has gone, it has taken on the characteristics of its new home. While Italy, and more precisely Naples, is where it all began, there’s no doubt that pizza now belongs to the world. But something exciting is happening in pizza’s spiritual home. What I call the ‘new wave’ of pizza has been gaining momentum in Italy in the last decade.
I’ve been researching pizza in Italy for many years now and I’ve noticed a huge change in the way it is made at every step of the process. It has been led by chefs/pizzaioli whose curiosity and eye for quality has led them back to the fundamental building blocks of pizza-making, from the growing of the grain and the milling process to temperatures, fermentation and maturation times for the dough.
Where has this change in pizza-making led us? Much like the recent movement away from industrial white bread towards artisan loaves with natural leavening and specialist flours, it’s a look back as well as a step forward. ‘New wave’ pizza-making is a movement that returns to pizza’s origins before industrial flour milling, while at the same time using modern advances in stone milling, machinery and oven technologies.
This step forward in pizza-making has by necessity taken place outside Naples. If you look closely at pizza kitchens in Naples you’ll find that many of them use highly refined ‘00’ flour, as outlined by one of the groups set up to standardise Naples-style pizza. This flour is relatively cheap, has had the wheat bran and germ removed in the refining process and has the consistency of talcum powder. Now, there is nothing wrong with this and the use of ‘00’ flour more or less defines the ‘Naples-style’ pizza as we know it today, but what happens when you use different flours, milled with stone and free of these strictures? What can be achieved when these flours are then used with different types of fermentation procedures? These are some of the questions I have been thinking about.
After all, even when pizza appeared in Naples in the first half of the eighteenth century, it would be over a century before the modern roller mill was invented. So, for at least a hundred years, stone-milled flour was used to make pizza.
The other feature of ‘new wave’ pizza is the focus on quality ingredients to go on top. With the exponential spread of pizza post World War II and, more recently, globalisation, this fast food has become ‘devalued’. In Italy, the margin on a typical pizza is so small that many of the pizzerie have developed a way to use cheap flour, short fermentation and maturation times, and poor ingredients to remain profitable. Now, not everyone adheres to these minimums, but with price pressures dictated by the market, the fact that stoneground flour costs more and that long, ‘indirect’ fermentation or a natural lievito madre (sourdough starter) take longer to make and are more involved, there is an incentive to take the easiest route. This approach is not just limited to Italy. As the pizza of Italy, and Naples in particular, is seen worldwide as a benchmark, the world for the most part follows.
In his new book, Stefano Manfredi explores the inspiring movement bringing pizza back to its humble roots. Source: Murdoch Books / Bree Hutchins
Neapolitan pizza
In today’s Naples there are associations that attempt to codify and protect the ‘true’ Neapolitan pizza, such as the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), although these associations are akin to political parties that can’t seem to ever agree with each other. There may still be much debate, but the stringent list of defining characteristics is typified by those advanced here by one of the city’s master pizzaioli, Enzo Coccia: geographical localisation, selection of flours, preparation of the dough, rising times (at 25–27°C (77–81°F) the Neapolitan pizza dough is left to prove for 12–16 hours), shaped exclusively by hand, garnishing, baked in a wood-fired oven made of refractory bricks at a maximum temperature of 480°C (895°F) and the baking time should not exceed 50–60 seconds. The Neapolitan pizza is a round product with a variable diameter not exceeding 40 cm (16 inches), with characteristics of softness throughout its surface. It is usually entirely eaten by a single person.
One of the strengths of the Neapolitan pizza is that the style is unique and, because of these attempts to classify it, it’s recognised and replicable around the world as a brand, even if this in itself is not an assurance of quality. One must never forget that the quality of a pizza is always dependent on the skill of the pizzaiolo and the ingredients used to make it. While trying to codify ‘pizza’, there is also a danger that the Neapolitans’ innate creativity is being restrained and stymied and that their pizza may stop evolving.
Due to the strictures within its native city, pizza’s evolution is, by necessity, now happening outside Naples. In Italy there has been in recent years a proliferation of pizzaioli who have been attracted to this popular, easily accessible and easily shared food that seemed ready for a quality makeover. After all, Italy alone serves am amazing 56 million pizze a week: almost one pizza per head of population.
Not all pizzas are round and flat. This , is a more rustic, crusty version
Source: Murdoch Books / © Bree Hutchins
Of course, even before the rise of the ‘new wave’ pizza movement, pizza had evolved to take in many styles and there are different interpretations of pizza everywhere in Italy. Apart from the original pizza Napoletana, there is pizza a metro (also called pizza alla pala) and, as the name suggests, this pizza can be a metre or more long. Pizza all’Italiana allows for transgressions outside the Naples style, while the a taglio, or pizza in teglia, is a rectangular pizza where the base is often pre cooked before toppings are added. Pizza Siciliana uses local Sicilian ingredients and, more and more, the rediscovered ancient wheat varieties of the island, especially the durum types. The new high-end pizza a degustazione (often called gourmet) is served one small slice at a time and often uses interesting flours and fermentation techniques, with a series of luxurious toppings. Add to these the folded pizza (calzone) and the fried pizza, and what we see is a typically diverse Italian take on a national obsession.
And to make it even more confusing, pizza can also mean focaccia, as I found out while travelling to photograph my book.
However, above all these considerations, the quality of a pizza must be defined by the quality of the flour, the method of fermentation and the maturation of the dough, the correct temperature, cooking time and oven used, as well as the quality of the ingredients that dress it.
The ‘new wave’ pizza movement in Italy has led to improved ways of forming pizza dough and a better understanding of the implications of using different types of flours, fermentation and maturation techniques and how these can all come together to create the highest quality pizza.
A bit about flour
It’s important that you find flours that work for you. This will mean research and perhaps contacting mills or flour companies for details. It’s not that difficult. I’ve found milling companies on the whole are more than happy to communicate with clients who want to know more about their flours. It will also mean experimenting with different flours.
Modern industrial roller-milled white flours are made up almost entirely of the endosperm, removing both bran and germ. Their appearance is uniformly white. But industrial doesn’t always mean ‘bad’. It denotes a repetitious process with consistent results, nothing more, nothing less. There are many pizza-makers creating outstanding pizza with roller-milled flour. But there is a whole new world of pizza-making that can be explored with flours containing various degrees of bran and germ.
Flour classification
There’s a great confusion about the way Italy classifies its flour. The majority of pizza dough recipes call for ‘00’ flour and, given its prevalence, the home enthusiast and professional alike often believe this flour is ‘the best’.
But what does ‘00’ mean? And what of the other grades of flour? At the most basic level it’s a classification of how fine or coarse a flour is milled, ‘00’ being the finest and, in increasing coarseness, ‘0’, ‘1’, ‘2’ and finally integrale, or wholemeal. With each grade there is a corresponding minimum percentage of protein allowed – the finer the grade, the lower the allowed minimum. Because it’s a minimum allowed, it means in theory that across types of soft wheats, grown in different microclimates, it’s possible for a ‘00’ and ‘0’ grade to have elevated protein contents, but it’s much easier for the coarser grades because they contain more of the bran and germ, where extra protein can be recovered.
At my pizzeria, Pizzaperta Manfredi in Sydney, we tend to use types ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘integrale’ flours in our pizze at and blend them when we need different results. These grades are naturally obtained in the stone-milling process.
In the roller-milling process, the germ and bran are removed and white ‘plain’ or ‘00’ and ‘0’ flour are made using the endosperm. The bran and germ are processed separately and added back to the white flour in various quantities. Because stone mills produce flour from the entire grain, it retains much of its protein content, rich in fibre and gluten, though there may, as mentioned earlier, be some of the outer bran layer removed prior to milling.
If you cannot find stone-milled flours, then look for a ‘bread’ or ‘high gluten’ flour.
All flour is perishable and should not be kept for more than 3–4 months. Store in a sealed container or bag in a cool, dry place, preferably at around 18°C (64°F).
Explore the possibilities
My hope is to help guide home cooks and professionals alike to explore the possibilities of pizza-making and to take pizza back to what it once was – a healthy and delicious fast food.
This is an edited extract from New Pizza by Stefano Manfredi, Murdoch Books, hb, $39.99. Photography © Bree Hutchins.
Cook the book
Using the Roman-style dough, this packs fresh veggies onto a crusty base. ‘Trifolati’ is an Italian cooking term that denotes frying in olive oil, garlic and parsley.
Source: Murdoch Books / Bree Hutchins
Quality meat and vegetables make all the difference in this flavourful pizza.
Source: Murdoch Books / Bree Hutchins
Everybody loves a good eggplant parmigiana. This is a homage to that great dish, albeit in the shape of a Roman pizza.
Source: Murdoch Books / © Bree Hutchins
