Tag: advice

How to make pizza rise better: our advice – Italian Cuisine

Let the pizza rise with the right flour, with the right yeasts, with the right times. Making the pizza rise will be very easy with our advice

Whenever you prepare the Pizza home made not leavens to the best? It takes tests and experience to get the perfect result. Not only that, time and patience are fundamental ingredients for one soft and crunchy pizza in the right place. Here are some indications for raising the pizza (prepared with the brewer's yeast) in the best way.

Leavening and maturation: what are they?

There are two basic processes when making pizza, which not everyone knows: leavened is maturity. The first concerns theincrease in volume that the dough undergoes due to the fermentation of the yeast. The maturation instead is the breakdown of proteins and starches. Both moments are important for having a pizza that not only has the right consistency, but is also easily digestible.

20 Recipes for those who love pizza more than people

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Leavening and ripening: flour and times make the difference

Exist strong flours, richer in gluten, with which you have elastic dough, soft and resistant, and others weaker, which form a lower glutinic mesh (and therefore result in a drier and brittle pizza, less fluffy). For pizza, strong ones are usually preferred, so in fact you can get a better development of the dough with a greater honeycomb (i.e. those holes that form in the dough and make it light). To recognize if a flour is strong, take a look at the packaging: you will find here the coefficient W. Choose a product that has a W greater than 250 (such as manitoba for example, which can be used alone or mixed in a dough at 00). For maturation and leavening it will take 12 to 24 hours.

First and second leavening

Once the dough is ready, place it in a bowl greased with a little oil and cover it with a tea towel or cling film so as to preserve the humidity. We can do one double leavening: one, in fact, in a container and a second directly in the pan. If you use a strong flour, after 12/20 hours, you can spread the dough in the pan, then cover it with tea towels and let it rise for another two hours before baking. It is important that the final temperature both of 25 or 26 ° C.

Browse the tutorial to find out more tips on leavening pizza!

Buffet: expert advice to avoid bacteria – Italian Cuisine

The buffets can be a real receptacle for pitfalls and bacteria. Let's go then to discover four types of food that experts advise to avoid

It will have happened to you at least once in your life to experience some more or less serious malaise after eating in a buffetbe it in a public place, in a private party or inside catering or refreshments for events or special occasions. Beyond the quantities of food that are often abused in these situations, the real problem is represented by its poor quality and basic rules of hygiene and food safety that too often are ignored by those who cook, organize and set up the buffet.

In the United States, the problem has recently been solved due to the alarming data collected. Indeed, it has been discovered that every year 1 in 6 Americans is subject to food poisoning caused by buffet foods that are altered or contaminated with bacteria. Industry experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention association, have therefore decided to draw up a handbook with the aim of providing some basic tips to follow, but above all a list of food at risk that consumers would do well to avoid in buffets.

1. Raw meat, seafood and eggs in contact with other foods

It must first be said that the impact on the presence of bacteria in food isincorrect storage of food. For example, it is essential that poultry, seafood, eggs and raw meat are kept in the fridge and served separately from other foods such as fruit, vegetables, bread and salad.

2. Raw or undercooked food

Not only storage, but also cooking can cause bacterial contamination in buffets. During the preparation phase, in fact, it should be checked with a food thermometer that the food has been cooked at a temperature high enough to kill the germs present, just as the correct cooking times should always be followed carefully. So when we participate in a buffet, we must carefully observe the dishes served and check that they do not have less cooked parts than others. For the same reason, all foods that should be served and consumed raw, such as, are also considered at risk raw meat and fish.

3. Food with a color and a suspicious appearance

Although the bacteria are not detectable at a glance, the appearance of the dishes can tell us a lot not only about cooking, but also about subsequent storage. These, once ready, should in fact be left to rest, but without staying too long out of the fridge, just to prevent them from becoming a breeding ground for bacteria. For this the experts recommend to observe that the buffet foods have a uniform color and appearance, that they are intact and not withered and, of course, that they have an unaltered taste and smell.

4. Food potentially contaminated during the buffet

Sometimes, unfortunately, managing, cooking and storing food may not be enough to ensure that it is safe for our health. In fact, another risk factor is represented by unhygienic practices of the buffet diners. Contamination can in fact take place when customers use the same ladle to take portions of different foods or even their hands or their own cutlery. If you notice this type of behavior it is therefore preferable to notify the staff and also report the problem to the offender on duty.

We just have to pay attention to this type of food, prefer dry and less risky foods and learn to be good observers, both in buffets and in the restaurant sector in general.

A month at Christmas: our advice on everything – Italian Cuisine

Let's get ready for Christmas! The decorations to hang, the table to set. And then the menu: traditional, alternative, vegan, quick and for children. But also wines and sparkling wines, classic and imaginative desserts. And finally, why not: a little thought for our 4-legged friends

An exact month a Christmas. This year we organize ourselves in good time and immediately begin to prepare the list of things to do. So here we are to give you advice and ideas, shortcuts and suggestions. All to make this Christmas even more festive and happy.

Relax

Let's start with a month in advance just for avoid stress last minute, queues, crowds and Christmas dinner or lunch: here are 5 tips to get organized and enjoy the party.

The Christmas tree and the other decorations

Here are some tips to make your Christmas tree memorable. In short, like that beautiful and particular to arouse in your guests the desire to take a selfie and put it on Instagram. But the tree we have in mind is not just to photograph: it is also to eat! In short, an appetizing Christmas tree; a tree to be unpacked (at least in part) by eating it; a tree, in short, with a food theme. So space for chocolates, candies, marshmallows, biscuits, fruit and anything that can stand several weeks hanging on your tree … even if nobody prevents you from collecting the "fruits" from time to time!

Let's move on to the balcony lights. Here are some tricks to give to everything a Nordic touch. When Father Christmas comes to visit you, he will feel at home.

The table

A perfectly prepared table in Christmas theme already celebrates and prepares diners for joy and joy. As it is said: "Who starts well is already in the middle of the work". It will be a success for your dishes. Guaranteed.

Napkin and napkin ring

Placeholder

Centerpiece

Stands

What to eat and what to drink

Well, the time has come to taste the Christmas menu. Here are some ideas for classic, alternative, vegan, vegetarian and gluten free dishes.

Appetizer

Starter

Traditional menu

There is no better way to go without relying on tradition:legacy of the past will make you the navigator in your journey through the stove.

Vegan menu

Have you given up eating anything animal-derived? Here a vegan menu able to enchant even your omnivorous friends.

Fish menu

For the dinner of Christmas' Eve this menu would simply be … perfect!

Light menu

We already know how we will feel at the end of the Christmas holidays. It wouldn't be a bad idea start light, no?

delicious menu

How did you say? Ah, aren't you among those who want to start light? Maximum respect: on the other hand, Christmas, once a year, so yes, let's get inside, then we think about the diet!

Buffet menu

Ooops! Suddenly you noticed that you have more guests than chairs. No fear! If you don't want to run and buy chairs, the solution is all standing and buffet!

Menu to prepare in advance

It's Christmas for everyone, even for the stove attendant! And if this year it was up to you to host everyone at home (we know it was a lot to say, but they took you literally and it will go like this), this does not mean that your Christmas is a fire sentence and flames and sweat and ran between the kitchen and the table with the guests. Prepare everything (or almost) in advance: this is the magic formula to get you out of this mess and enjoy Christmas without worries.

Kids menu

Forcing at table for hours a child it is a challenge to the laws of nature. And, let's face it, maybe even cruelty. Dads and mothers know it well. And yet, if you play it well …

Bread

We leave nothing out, because everything at Christmas must do … Christmas!

First

Second

Sweet

The belly is full, but for the sweet a place is always there! Certainly it is the moment most awaited by children, that to stay at the table for hours, as we have already said, they do not want to know and wait for nothing more than to bite a cookie, a slice of pandoro or panettone, a piece of nougat . But, without too many words, admit it: even for you adults the moment of the sweet is to die for! Next to the classics panettone, Pandoro is Nougat, that they do, indeed, that is Christmas, we propose these tasty and creative alternatives.

Wines and sparkling wines

Of course the general rules of pairing wine and food are valid, and therefore depending on the menu the wines will also change. The same goes for sparkling wines. Here we give only a few indications. Then you will be the one to make the right coupling, following your taste and the scheduled menu.

And our 4-legged friends?

Certainly for dogs, Christmas makes little sense: you certainly won't hear them You come down from the stars nor All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey o Last Christmas of Wham! But the air of joy that pervades everything perceives them too, happy to have you at home for many hours, free from work commitments or other obligations. Woof!