pizza-recipes

Hello everyone, I'm Leonardo and today I'm taking you with me into my world. We will retrace my journey together and how one of the most requested pizzas, to which I am most attached, was born. I will try, as always, to convey to you through my eyes and my MEMORIES, the scents and flavors of this wonder.

CAFONA - ingredients:

80 gr organic Tuscan tomato puree “La Fiammante”

70 gr. Pizzutello Confit tomato

4 Cetara anchovies

fresh basil to taste

Pantelleria oregano to taste

100 gr. “delizia” Pugliese stracciatella

extra virgin olive oil “agricola Viola.”

Let's start with the dough.

As per the tradition passed down to me by my parents, we use a blend of flours; that is, a mixture between a Manitoba “0”; a very strong flour. What does strong mean, Leonardo? When it absorbs a high percentage of water and can withstand long fermentations. Ours is hydrated at 70% (that is, for every kg of flour we put 700 gr of water and between leavening and maturation it reaches a minimum of 36 h. Up to a maximum of 72 h. To the Manitoba we add a fully wholemeal flour stone-ground with live wheat germ. This last one ensures us scents and flavors, as well as helping us in leavening using very little yeast.

The result, a dough that melts in the center and is crumbly and soft in the crust. Golden color, and a scent that reminds of freshly baked bread. But the one from the old oven!

Having made this premise, let's move on to the topping, that is, the seasoning.

First of all, once the pizza is spread, we season it with Organic Tuscan Tomato Puree. Why Tuscan and not Campanian? Because we want to break the mold. The Tuscan one is grown where good wine is born. The Red one! Famous all over the world for its unique characteristics. Once seasoned with a generous amount of tomato, we bake at 340 degrees for about 3 minutes.

In the meantime, we prepare the ingredients that will compose our pizza, namely: Pizzutello Confit tomato previously cooked and placed in ice water to easily remove the skin, and baked at 180 degrees with sugar and basil;

the Cetara anchovies, the Good ones! Characterized by a slight natural salinity and a fleshy and buttery consistency.

Pantelleria Oregano, extremely rich in essential oils and very fragrant, the air laden with salt that blows on the island, makes its aroma unique and fresh. Definitely more flavorful compared to other Mediterranean varieties and much more digestible.

Once our pizza is baked, we start from the base and begin to insert the ingredients following this order.

We lay the Pugliese stracciatella on top of our tomato puree and cover it with the Pizzutello confit tomatoes.

We add the Cetara anchovies. Followed by basil and Pantelleria oregano. Closing the work with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, starting from the crust to the center of the pizza.

The heat of our freshly baked pizza further enhances the added ingredients. At first impact, you will feel notes of freshly harvested wheat and freshly baked bread, enhanced by the sweet scent of tomato puree and the essential oils of oregano and basil released by the heat. Until you pass from the spiciness of the extra virgin olive oil, the buttery texture of the stracciatella to the salinity and sea air at sunset of the Cetara anchovy.

Result: a journey from Tuscany to Sicily passing through Puglia. The memories that come to mind are the summers at the sea as a child watching those fishermen on the Maiori seafront (Amalfi Coast) with my family. The air intoxicated by the saltiness and the scent of freshly baked bread in the morning by local bakers.

I fall in love every time thinking of this memory that I have enclosed in this pizza and in my heart.