Modernist Pizza

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However, the authors also took time to look into pizza history, to discover how this Neopolitan street speciality made its way around the world. In a particularly enlightening section, the book traces the earliest pizza recipes. They also dig down into the history of pizza, and it's fairly clear that what today is sold as Real Neapolitan Pizza is a rather new invention, and differs in fundamental ways from what was made in Naples throughout history. A decent case can be made for the view that pizza conquered the world from New York, rather than from Naples. In 1927, the Saturday Evening Post published America’s first pizza recipe. Its author, George Rector, included it in his Cook’s Tour column, describing the pizza as “part of a typical Tuscan meal.” Again, the toppings were tomatoes, anchovies, mozzarella and olive oil. Cook the pizza until the crust turns brown and blisters, 2–4 minutes. Some of the larger bubbles should look almost burnt. A well-cooked pizza has scorched blisters on the bottom of the crust—although, pizza can also be delicious without a blistered crust. If you don’t see any blisters, your cooking surface is not hot enough. This is another reason why we recommend using our baking steel. Our experiments also opened the door to many discoveries that affected how we made the components of pizza, from dough to the sauce and cheese. We were able to develop mixing and proofing techniques that dramatically reduce the time it typically takes to make Neapolitan and high-hydration al taglio pizza dough without compromising the quality. We list recommendations that will allow you to make multiple pizza styles from one dough. No matter how experienced a pizzaiolo is, there likely isn’t a single person who won’t be surprised by some of our findings.

consistently, plus lots of skill and attention. If you’re a pizza fan, even if you have no intention of making pizza, this book will describe your favorite food in an incredible way. If you hanker to make pizza at home or are even slightly intrigued, we encourage you to take the plunge. Stretch and flatten the dough on a floured work surface by using your fingers to press the middle of the dough flat, and then work the dough outward. Leave a narrow ridge along the perimeter of the dough. Nathan Myhrvold, founder of Modernist Cuisine, is the lead author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, Modernist Cuisine at Home, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine, Modernist Bread, and Modernist Pizza. He routinely pushes the boundaries of cuisine as a chef, scientist, photographer, and writer. He did postdoctoral work with Stephen Hawking and while working as the CTO of Microsoft, he took a leave of absence to earn a culinary diploma from École de Cuisine La Varenne in France. Nathan retired from Microsoft in 1999 to found Intellectual Ventures and pursue several lifelong interests, including photography and cooking. Inspired by the void in literature about culinary science and the cutting-edge techniques used in the world’s best restaurants, Myhrvold assembled the Modernist Cuisine team to share the art and science of cooking with others. Modernist Cuisine Gallery by Nathan Myhrvold opened in 2017 after Nathan received continued requests to buy photographs found in his books. With four locations, the gallery features large-scale, limited-edition artwork and ships worldwide. Rotate the dough 180° and repeat step 5. The point is to create an even disc that is flat in the center and has an even rim.You'll find innovative sauces, cheeses, and flavor combinations, as well as recipes for a range of styles, including New York, artisan, deep-dish, Brazilian thin-crust, focaccia, al taglio, and Detroit-style doughs, plus gluten-free variations. This is composed of their standard thin-crust pizza dough (today's was cold-proofed for a couple of hours then allowed to come to room temp before baking), their Thin-Crust Pizza Tomato Sauce (100% crushed tomatoes, 25% tomato puree, 1% dried oregano, 1.25% salt), low-moisture mozzarella, and Italian sausage (they provide a recipe, but I used a commercial product). Countless times during our research, we were asked where the best pizza can be found. (We aren’t shy about suggesting there are several pizzerias in Naples that would immediately deserve one, two, and even three Michelin stars.) Ultimately, we hope that our travel chapter will be a good starting point for mapping out your own pizza journey to help answer that question for yourself. More Pizza on the Horizon In Japan, there’s an emergence of Tokyo-style marinara, a 50/50 ratio of tomato sauce to olive oil, but what seems to be most important there, is the experience, or as they call it: ometanashi.

A pizza in a wood-fired oven. All photographs by Nathan Myhrvold / The Cooking Lab, LLC. The surprising history of pizza Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator. Cover it and let it warm up to room temperature for an hour. If the dough was frozen, first defrost it in the refrigerator overnight. Covering the dough keeps the surface from drying out and forming a crust. Over 550 step-by-step photos illustrate important details of nearly every technique and fundamental recipe in the book. These visual guides will walk you through the ins and outs of shaping dough, making cheese, applying sauce, and more, plus how to troubleshoot common problems at every stage of the pizza-making process. We have been going through Modernist Pizza for a couple of months, and we love it. As pizza enthusiasts, as we are, we couldn't have found a better book for our passion. It's a very interesting read, in the same vein as Modernist Cuisine or Modernist Bread - but with a much narrower focus.Whatever the model and yield, the goal is to achieve a good mix and full gluten development. Consider our suggested times as guidelines only. Use the windowpane test to help determine the dough’s stage of gluten development. In 1936 the second American recipe appeared, in an English edition of the Specialita Culinarie Italiane cookbook. It called for raised dough, tomatoes, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and ‘scamozza’ (perhaps a misspelling of scamorza, the southern Italian cow cheese.) We distilled our findings into three volumes. In the first volume, we share the history of pizza, the world of pizza at large, plus fundamentals to making pizza such as the ingredients that go into the dough and the role of heat in the pizza-making process. The chapters in volume 2 provide a comprehensive look at all the components of pizza—dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings—and present foundational recipes upon which the majority of our pizzas are built. The third and final volume is dedicated to both classic and innovative recipes for every pizza style we cover, including al taglio, Argentinean, bar/tavern, Brazilian thin-crust, deep-dish, Detroit, grandma/New York Square/Sicilian, Neapolitan, New York, New Haven, Old Forge, pizza fritta, and pizza gourmet. Volume 3 is also where you’ll find inventive flavor and topping combinations to help inspire your own pizza exploration. Guides to Top Pizza Destinations