The recipe of the pizza guru explained step by step, including egg and lard – which serve to make the dough softer – and the secret to the perfect tomato. Once tested, you will never come back
Antonino Esposito of pizza understands. Born in 1968, he was born in Sorrento, where he lives and works in his pizzeria Ahum! and in the Acqu ’e Sale restaurant. In 2008 he came second in the World Pizza Championship, he is the first TV face in the history of pizza in Italy, when he led the Piacere Pizza program and Alice Master Pizza. He has just opened a new pizzeria in Milan, so does Antonino Esposito and writes for magazines, makes videos, DVDs and books dedicated to the world of pizza. Antonino Esposito is also the master pizza maker who invented the Sorrentine whip, a product born in 1996, patented and known all over the world, shipped frozen in Italy and overseas.
His is a technical mastery that is measured with the wood-burning oven, the difficulties of the production chain and the ovens at home. He knows the secrets that pizza chefs use to make good pizza, to keep the dough soft and to make scented pizza. He knows that to make a pizza at home, with the home oven, you need egg and lard.
THE'egg makes the pizza golden without having to overcook it, and helps with its protein and fatty part, the sugna adds flavor and softness. "It is imperceptible to taste – Antonino is keen to specify – but in consistency it is magic. And I really do pasta a teaspoon ".
For the rest, quality raw materials are needed: strong flour, real mozzarella, a carefully prepared tomato and honesty in choosing the rest. Pizza is a simple food, when you eat it, eat the work, the gestures, the choice of the raw material, the care “Foodcost is an alibi, a good product costs you something more but has a different yield in terms of taste . And on the finished pizza nobody weighs the ingredients, it's the result that counts, not the price per kilo ”. Then only real fresh mozzarella and only good products: this is how Antonino Esposito does it.
Here is his recipe, taken from the book Passione Pizza.
Ingredients for 5 round pizzas
500 cc of water
850 g of strong flour, or 500 g of flour 0 and 350 g of manitoba
25-35 g of dough (the pasta is a piece of dough preserved by a previous dough)
25 g of salt
2 g poor brewer's yeast (3 grams if it's cold outside)
half an egg
half a teaspoon of sugar
a teaspoon of lard
The dough is all pleated
In a bowl, melt the dough with the yeast, a little water and the sugar.
Add ¼ of the flour, stir, add salt, then ¼ more flour, then the egg and the lard and the rest of the flour alternating with water. Stir until it comes off the bowl.
Pour the mixture on the lightly floured pastry board in the shape of a rectangle and fold it over itself a couple of times. Form a loaf, cover it with a bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Work the dough again for about ten seconds with your hands, fold it a couple of times and let it rest covered for another 15 minutes. Repeat the operation 2 more times.
Divide the dough into 5 parts and form loaves, place them at a distance of a couple of cm from each other and leave to rise covered with a cloth overnight in a warm or controlled temperature, away from currents. The trick? Use plastic containers, just greased, which allow a "vertical" leavening.
After 7 hours put the loaves in the fridge or in a cool place and take them out an hour before using them.
Spreading ON the bowl
Take a pizza ball and work it with your fingers until you reach a disk. Take a large bowl, preferably in metal, turn it upside down, flour it and place the dough on top.
Begin to spread the dough by pushing from the center to the outside of the bowl, so that the disk widens. When you get the desired width, wrap the dough on the pastry board and proceed with the shape.
The pan
Cooking at home in the pan is the best. A very light non-stick pan, so no oil is needed and the heat spreads immediately. It is a perfect trick for the home oven that does not reach high temperatures.
Roll it out into the pan and let it rest until it has doubled in volume. Prick it with a fork and bake.
The peeled rule
The tomato is used peeled, and is prepared the day before. Only San Marzano, peeled, perino because it has the right balance between water, pulp and seeds. It is crushed with your hands, with its consistency, seasoned with oil, salt, crushed garlic in a shirt and whole basil and left to rest all night in fridge. Is the pass not used? "Salsa is a baby food, it's another stuff, pizza is serious stuff!"
Cooking and seasoning
Bake the pizza until it just becomes golden, season with the tomatoes, then bake again. Three minutes from the end, remove again, add the finely chopped mozzarella, the grated Parmesan. When it comes out of the oven, it should be removed from the pan, placed on a grid, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil.
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