WHAT IS PIZZA?

Pizza is a descendant of flatbread, the world’s most ancient bread. Flatbread has been prepared since the time that people could grind grain, mix it with water and then cook it on hot stones, a griddle or in a makeshift oven. Whether it was made from corn, rice, potato, wheat, yam or another farinaceous edible plant, the flatbread sprang up in various parts of the world as people had the same basic idea. It was the first bread and it not only helped to hold other foods, but could be carried around and stored easily as a delicious snack or meal.

It appears that the version of pizza we know today – the round, puffy-bordered, wood-fired type – was born in Naples and was mostly confined to that city for over 200 years, as were the specialist pizzerie and pizzaioli who made pizza, along with the development of the special ovens that cooked it. In 1884, in her book "Il Ventre di Napol", Matilde Serao describes an attempt to open a pizzeria in Rome, just 200 kilometres (125 miles) to the north of Naples. It was a novelty for a while, but it ended badly, with the entrepreneur going broke. Sophisticated Rome looked down on this street food from the south.

The two centuries of isolation were essential for the refinement of pizza in Naples, which at the time was one of the most populous cities in Europe. Back then Naples was not the sprawling city it is today. It was confined to a much smaller area, becoming the most densely populated, as well as one of the poorest, cities on the continent. People lived in small rooms in buildings of up to seven storeys, a contrast to other European cities of the time whose buildings were, at most, half as high. Cooking was difficult and dangerous in these cramped conditions. A visit to the old part of the city today will attest to the narrow lanes and the density of the housing.

Pizza developed in these densely populated streets as a cheap fast food, sold by the slice from stalls set up right on the laneways where half a million people were crammed into an area a tenth the size of today’s Naples. The refinement of this popular food was not only driven by the intensely competitive market of the city’s streets, but also by the character of Neapolitans themselves. Antonio Mattozzi writes in his book "Inventing the Pizzeria – A History of Pizza Making in Naples":

Barrels of ink have been spilled describing the character of the Neapolitan. The marvellous natural setting, the fabulous blue sky, pleasing weather, and exceptional panoramas juxtaposed with the daily struggle for survival under difficult (albeit negotiable) conditions made the Neapolitan a cunning dreamer, romantic but pragmatic, kind and violent, but enormously creative. Imagination and creativity were lavished on the invention of new trades. One stood out for being so widespread: that of the pizzaiolo and the pizzeria.

In today’s Naples there are associations that attempt to codify and protect the ‘true’ Neapolitan pizza, such as the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), although these associations are akin to political parties that can’t seem to ever agree with each other. There may still be much debate, but the stringent list of defining characteristics is typified by those advanced here by one of the city’s master pizzaioli, Enzo Coccia:

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCALISATION / The Neapolitan pizza was first made in the city of Naples by unknown people. According to Professor Mattozzi in his book "A Neapolitan History: Pizzerias and Pizzaioli from the Eighteenth through the Nineteenth Century", as far back as 1807 there were 54 pizzerie in the city.

SELECTION OF FLOURS / The flour used for the production of the Neapolitan pizza is classified as ‘type 00’ according to Italian regulation (DPR 187/2001) with a W (flour strength index) value of 300/320.

PREPARATION OF THE DOUGH / The Neapolitan pizza dough is made through a direct method and the percentage of salt added to it doesn’t exceed 3 per cent to 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) of flour weight. The flour is incorporated a pioggia (like a gentle rain) and its maximum hydration value is between 57 and 60 per cent.

RISING TIMES / At 25–27°C (77–81°F) the Neapolitan pizza dough is left to prove for 12–16 hours.

LAMINATING OF DOUGHS / The Neapolitan pizza is shaped exclusively by hand.

GARNISHING / According to de Bourcard in his 1857 book "Habits and Traditions of Naples", the Neapolitan pizza is historically seasoned with a set of ingredients found in the city of Naples.

OVEN / The Neapolitan pizza is baked in a semi-spherical wood-fired oven made of refractory bricks with a 120 cm (47 inch) diameter and 42 x 22 cm (16½ x 8½ inch) central mouth.

BAKING / The Neapolitan pizza is baked at a maximum temperature of 480°C (895°F) and the baking time should not exceed 50–60 seconds.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FINISHED PRODUCTS / The Neapolitan pizza is a round product with a variable diameter not exceeding 40 cm (16 inches), with characteristics of softness throughout its surface.

SERVICE / The Neapolitan pizza is usually entirely eaten by a single person.

One of the strengths of the Neapolitan pizza is that the style is unique and, because of these attempts to classify it, it’s recognised and replicable around the world as a brand, even if this in itself is not an assurance of quality. One must never forget that the quality of a pizza is always dependent on the skill of the pizzaiolo and the ingredients used to make it. While trying to codify ‘pizza’, there is also a danger that the Neapolitans’ innate creativity is being restrained and stymied and that their pizza may stop evolving.

Due to the strictures within its native city, pizza’s evolution is, by necessity, now happening outside Naples. In Italy there has been in recent years a proliferation of pizzaioli who have been attracted to this popular, easily accessible and easily shared food that seemed ready for a quality makeover. After all, Italy alone serves am amazing 56 million pizze a week: almost one pizza per head of population.

Of course, even before the rise of the ‘new wave’ pizza movement, pizza had evolved to take in many styles and there are different interpretations of pizza everywhere in Italy. Apart from the original pizza Napoletana, there is pizza a metro (also called pizza alla pala) and, as the name suggests, this pizza can be a metre (40 inches) or more long. Pizza all’Italiana allows for transgressions outside the Naples style, while the Roman pizza a taglio, or pizza in teglia, is a rectangular pizza where the base is often precooked before toppings are added. Pizza Siciliana uses local Sicilian ingredients and, more and more, the rediscovered ancient wheat varieties of the island, especially the durum types. The new high-end pizza a degustazione (often called gourmet) is served one small slice at a time and often uses interesting flours and fermentation techniques, with a series of luxurious toppings. Add to these the folded pizza (calzone) and the fried pizza, and what we see is a typically diverse Italian take on a national obsession.

And to make it even more confusing, pizza can also mean focaccia, as I found out while travelling to photograph this book. In the town of Altamura, in Puglia, famous for its naturally leavened bread made from durum wheat flour, I came across a small bakery called Forno Antico Santa Chiara. The bread here is baked in a wood-fired oven dating back to the fourteenth century. The owner, Vito Macella, also makes focaccia at lunchtime after all the bread has been baked and the oven is cooling down. The dough for this is made with naturally leavened, locally grown and milled durum flour. The dough is shaped in a disc, a little larger than a standard pizza, and cooked directly on the stone floor of the oven. It is a little higher in the middle than a pizza, soft and moist, though chewy from the durum wheat. The result is what I would call pizza. Certainly not Naples-style, but every bit as delicious, as were the local cheese, vegetables and herbs used on top.

However, above all these considerations, the quality of a pizza must be defined by the quality of the flour, the method of fermentation and the maturation of the dough, the correct temperature, cooking time and oven used, as well as the quality of the ingredients that dress it.

Written by Stefano Manfredi in "New Pizza - A Whole New Era For The World's Favourite Food", Murdoch Books, Sydney, Australia, 2017. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.