Greetings food enthusiasts!
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Neapolitan Pizzas became an obsession for especially with the desire to get as close as possible to the real deal without expensive ingredients and machinery (not to forget-zero experience!). I scoured the internet to find what I could make work with the limited resources I had but to no avail. Not having a fancy Pizza oven did set me back by a bit and I’d end up in a fix more often than you’d imagine. After putting in the work, after 9 months, there is been a major breakthrough for all cooks and food enthusiasts, so welcome aboard!
This course is the perfect platform where I shall be revealing to you all my tips and tricks that I picked up over months for making great pizza at home! Everything from basic flours, hydration levels, and baking in different domestic ovens as well as toppings, because no pizza is ever complete without great toppings. This course will walk you through each and every detail that is both said and unsaid when it comes to making great pizza and of course cooking in general. It really is a journey you need to dive into, and I’m excited to share this space with you, so see you once you’ve enrolled!
Introduction
All aboard!
You have just made the first step in beginning one of the most arduous yet the most rewarding journeys on this planet- Bread. But more specifically, Pizza! This might just be the most comprehensive guide on making Neapolitan Style Pizzas (on a domestic scale) especially without the use of any fancy equipment and ingredients. After being obsessed with the art of Neapolitan Pizza for over a year, I can finally say I've got somewhere with this to be able to share it with food enthusiasts.
Pizza to me was no more than a piece of stretched bread with a bunch of toppings, loaded with cheese and baked until bubbly and blistered golden brown. But if you had to give one of these to me today, I'd think twice. You see the image of Pizza in India for the longest time has always been equated to the traditional flat breads topped up with cheese and some sauce, even if it were ketchup with a bunch of veggies making it the best way to indulge as well as get some veggies. But that is far from its original version.
Bread making in general always took a back seat for me ever since Hospitality school. Whatever I knew had gone out of the window. But in the Lockdown of 2020, I had the chance to revisit all this. As I started to get more comfortable, I stumbled upon Neapolitan Style Pizzas. I was hooked to it instantly and dove into this art head first. For the next 10 months all I did was Pizza xD Taking the best of this art I found ways to get around the classic challenges & setbacks pizzas undergo when baked at home, I couldn't get enough of it!
So while this course is focused on making Pizzas work in an Indian home turf, I believe it could easily be accessible for anyone who loves making food and has a passion for trying something new.
So sit back and buckle up for this journey we're about to embark on, but most of all gear up for countless pizza pies :P
Simple tips on using the videos and the text lessons in this course to maximise your learning.
These videos have been a labour of love. Having said that, this is a home production and not a professional film made in a fancy studio with fancy equipment. In the course of the production, certain edits have been made to eliminate unwanted ambient sounds resulting in some loss of seamlessness. Please prioritise the text that accompanies every section and use the videos as a prop along with the text. It is easier for me to keep editing the text till there is complete clarity, but it is impractical for me to re-shoot some sections. ?
And yes, please don't be intimidated by the number of steps. They're pretty intuitive and you won't be referring to any of these notes soon. While it certainly might seem like a lot of steps, that is only because I've broken them down into micro-steps to make it easier for you.
If you have any doubts, please e-mail me. I will do my best to revert within 24 hours.
May the Bread Gods be with you.
Shall we dive in?
The jargon in baker-world can be quite confusing. Lets review these quickly so you have a glossary of some sort.
There are various styles of Pizza on the planet now, but the mother of all is the Neapolitan Style Pizza. It requires an incredible amount of patience, technique and above all, a ripping hot oven. The dough is hand stretched and NOT rolled out with a rolling pin, hence the air bubbles as a result of fermentation are contained in the perimeter of the pie, commonly called "Coricione" (COR-NEE-CHO-NAE). The flipping and the air toss stretches the pizza further to create an even disk.
Can bread really work for us, rather than the other way around?
Read on to find out
"Math?! But I thought Pizza was fun!"
Don't stress, I've got you covered :D
4 ingredients to create magic? Certainly the sorcery can be broken down.
Gluten? Is it really important?
Then what about gluten free?
And what about 00 flour??
Read on to find out.
Do you have an active sourdough starter? Well maybe you can put it to better use!
All the technicalities of making high hydration pizza dough at home demonstrated in detail
A note from your Pizza mentor.
Lets start balling! Doesn't matter if you're a baller or not :P
It can really feel like getting down to business after this stretch. Are you as excited as I am?!
While this does bring an end to of this course, I hope sincerely that this module has empowered you to look at breads in a new light. In all honesty, you now not only know your way around pizza dough, but also any leavened bread on the planet!
Yes you will end up getting stuck on many occasions, undoubtedly, but you can feel free to reach out to me any time to get your concerns addressed. I shall do my best to do the same at the earliest.
My email is [email protected] and my Instagram handle is @Ratish97.
Feel free to ping me there, and tag me while your share your creations to the world!
You are now on your own love-hate bread journey (mostly love though :P ), something that will last your whole life time.
Signing off and hope to see your work soon.
Yours truly,
Ratish Mehrotra