The Perfect Pizza... has a long history!

How many of us can think of our lives without pizza?

Pizza seems to be that staple in our western diet. It graces us with its round, crunchy yet chewy presence during large gatherings of friends, it is featured at super bowl parties, it becomes the faithful companion of choice to watch a movie on a lazy Friday night, and it is always a great choice to order for delivery when famished and out of meal choices.

I’m pretty sure we all think of pizza as a modern food…. But who invented pizza? We all assume that pizza was given to us by the Italians. I had heard of a legend… Once, an Italian woman of very modest means had three children to feed at the end of a long working day. She only had a few tomatoes, a bit of cheese and some flour in her pantry and out of these simple ingredients she created the first pizza to ake dinner for her family. Was this the true origin of pizza?

It turns out… pizza is an ancient food and its origins are pretty obscure and difficult to trace. Pizza is, in essence, a flatbread with toppings, and as such, it has existed since time immemorial in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. So maybe modern pizza is Italian… but the origins of pizza, not so much!

Darius the Great

The pizza could have been invented by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, Romans, or anyone who learned the secret of mixing flour with water and heating it on a hot stone.

At the height of the Persian Empire, it is said that the soldiers of Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.), accustomed to lengthy marches, baked a kind of bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates.
 

In one of its many forms, pizza has also been a basic part of the Italian diet since the Stone Age. This earliest form of pizza was a rustic bread baked beneath the stones of the fire. After cooking, it was seasoned with a variety of different toppings and used instead of plates and utensils to sop up broth or gravies. It is said that this idea of using bread as a plate came from the Greeks who ate flat round bread (plankuntos) baked with an assortment of toppings.

As early as the year 997, the term “pizza” appeared in Medieval Latin. The term appeared in Naples, Italy in the 16^th century to refer to a Galette flatbread too.

At any rate, pizza seems to have always been a dish of the poor people. It was eaten by the working man and his family because it was a thrifty and convenient food. It was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time. 

Before the 17th century, pizza was typically covered with white sauce. After the discovering of America, this sauce was replaced by oil, cheese, tomatoes or fish. In 1843, Alexandre Dumas described the diversity of pizza toppings.^] In June 1889, to honor the Queen consort of Italy, Marguerita of Savoy, the Neapolitan chef Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita," a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag.

Margherita of Savoy-Genoa

 This last Neapolitan pizza created by chef Rafaele, set the standard by which today's pizza evolved as well as firmly established Naples as the pizza capitol of the world.

Although the sequence through which flavored flatbreads of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean became the dish popularized in the 20th century is not fully understood…. We are lucky that now we can eat flavorful pizza in almost any country.

With its long history we know that if we like pizza it is because this delicious, simple dish managed to survive and nourish us through the ages from ancient history to the present day.

I hope you enjoy the recipe I’m posting here below.

It is a simple pizza margherita, then garnished with additional toppings: baked ham, hearts of palm, red pimentos and green olives.

For the pizza crust:

1 envelope dry Yeast

2 Cups Warm water

½  teaspoon Sugar

4 Cups All purpose Flour + more for kneading & dusting

2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

For the sauce and topping:

1 14 oz can peeled, whole San Marzano Tomatoes

½  teaspoon dried oregano crumbled

½  cup + 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Coarse Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper

2 Pounds Buffalo Mozzarella Thinly Sliced

24-30 basil leaves torn in pieces

5-7 round slices of cured black forest ham

4 hearts of palms

3 red pimentos, sliced

4-6 Spanish green olives

Good times with dear friends.. and pizza!

To prepare the dough:

1)      In a large bowl mix the yeast with ½  cup of warm water & sugar.

2)     Let it stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

3)     Add remaining 1 ½  cups of warm water, the 4 cups of flour and the kosher salt and stir until a soft dough forms.

4)     Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and knead, adding flour as necessary until a silky, but soft dough forms. Use a pastry scraper to help knead the dough.

5)     Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and brush all over with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 3 days.

6)     Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface; punch down and divide into 4 pieces. Form each piece into a ball.

7)     Rub each ball with oil and transfer to a baking sheet. Cover the balls loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place for 1 hour.

8)     While the dough rises, set a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 500°, allowing at least 45 minutes for the stone to heat. (if you are like me who do not own a pizza stone.. here is what to do: Turn over a large baking tray, and heat for about 15 minutes in the oven)

Assembly of dough, sauce and toppings:

9)      Pass the tomatoes through a food mill set over a medium bowl or pulse them in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Stir in the oregano and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.

10) On a lightly floured surface, stretch one ball of dough into a 13-inch round; add flour where the dough sticks.

11)  Spread the tomato sauce over the dough to within 1 inch of the edge.

12)  Spread the cheese over the pizza and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil. Season with sea salt and pepper and slide the pizza onto the stone.

13)  Bake pizza for 10 minutes and then remove form oven and scatter the basil on top of the cheese.

14) If using additional toppings:  layer the ham over the cheese, and on top of it, the hearts of palm, pimentos and green olives.

15)  Return to the oven and bake and till the bottom is charred, the cheese is melted, and the toppings sufficiently warm.

16)  Serve and enjoy!!