A Trip to the Origins of American Pizza: Naples
I have a fascination with the origins of Italian-American cooking. So different, yet so similar. For instance, I always wondered why do we get espresso with a lemon peel here in the States, but never in Italy?
One obvious answer to the differences is that Italian-Americans used the ingredients they found in their new country. It could also be that each started out nearly the same, but just evolved differently. This seems to be true of pizza.
From my understanding, pizza in the U.S. has been around for nearly as long as the pizza in Italy, but each evolved in its own way. In fact, much of the pizza made in Italy is made with wheat from the U.S. At any rate, as I said in my Fornino post, I love both.
Robert Sietsema was lucky enough to travel to Naples (Do I sound jealous?) recently to explore the true pizza of Naples, a place that when I visited also reminded me of Brooklyn. A place where I could easily spot Italian-American roots.
posted by EFB at 11:38 AM
3 Comments:
Mmmmmm...Pizza. I like to make pizza, but the recipe that I use when I make my own dough is extremely chewy. Way, way too chewy. Do you have a good rustic pizza dough recipe?
10:27 AM
I used to follow a recipe for pizza dough, but now I just kind of wing it. Sometimes I have a problem getting the dough to rise properly. General I take a packet of extra dry yeast combine it with 2 cups of flour and 3/4 to 1 cup of water with about a teaspoon of salt and tablespoon of sugar dissolved in it. I mix it all together adding more flour and water as needed. Knead it till it's the consistency I want. Oil up a bowl and let it rise for 2 hours or so.
When I bake it, I turn the oven as high as it will go and use a pizza stone that's preheated to the highest oven temp.
12:42 PM
I think I will have to clean my oven before I try this recipe or the house will fill with smoke. It sounds good though. Thank You.
3:46 PM
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