Watch three videos:
Lesson 3, Part 2: Ingredients and Vocab
Lesson 3, Part 3: Cooking Instruction
Lesson 3, Part 4: Closing Lecture
Pizza Veloce/Quick Pizza
If you want to make “real pizza” you need a lot of time, because when you use yeast you must wait for the dough to rise. Questa ricetta uses baking powder: it is much faster and still very tasty!
One of the most basic pizzas is the pizza Margherita, with tomato, mozzarella and basil. Do you know that pizza Margherita was invented after MIT was founded? Read about the history of pizza.
Ingredienti Per 3 Persone
- 500 g farina (flour)
- Two cucchiani di lievito istantaneo (2 teaspoons of baking powder)
- One cucchiaino di bicarbonato (1 teaspoon of baking soda)
- sale
- acqua tiepida (tepid, lukewarm water)
- Two cucchiai di olio d’oliva (2 spoonfuls of olive oil)
- origano (oregano)
Add your favorite toppings. Here there are some ideas. You can use:
- Il ba-si-li-co/ (basil: add it at the very end, when the pizza is already baked)
- La pas-sa-ta di po-mo-do-ro (plain strained tomatoes, we used Pomì)
- La moz-za-rel-la (consider about 200–250 g for each rectangular pizza)
- Il pro-sciut-to cot-to (ham Literally “cooked prosciutto”)
- Il pro-sciut-to cru-do (raw prosciutto. Add it at the very end, when the pizza is already baked)
- La ci-pol-la (onion)
- La me-lan-za-na (eggplant: slice it thin, cover with salt, rinse very well and dry, grill in a pan without oil)
- La zuch-chi-na/ Lo zuc-chi-no (slice in your favorite shape and cook briefly in a pan).
- Olive oil and chopped onions/garlic/spices
- Il fun-go (mushroom)
- Il pe-pe-ron-e (pepper: slice in thin stripes and cook briefly in a pan with olive oil and chopped onions/garlic/spices)
- Gli spi-na-ci (spinaches! good source of vitamins and magnesium)
- U-na fet-ta di sa-la-me (a slice of salami–you probably want more than one)
- Il for-mag-gio gor-gon-zo-la (gorgonzola cheese. It is an Italian cheese similar to blue cheese)
Directions for Pizza Margherita
- Pre-heat il forno/the oven to 400 or 500 degrees Fahrenheit. (At 500 degrees the pizza bakes faster, and at 400 degrees, it rises slower and therefore it tends to be more cakey).
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl: farina, lievito, bicarbonato, and sale (Quanto? How much? A few pinches of salt are sufficient.)
- Add lukewarm water. You want the dough to be soft, but not sticky. If it is sticky, add a little flour. You can keep the dough in a bowl or knead it quickly on the floured kitchen counter.
- Take a sheet of parchment paper and flatten the dough, as thin or as thick as you like it. You can use a rolling pin, or your hands, flattening the dough with the tips of your fingers.
- Spread the tomato puree (no need to cook it in advance, you can use it as is) over the raw crust, sprinkle with mozzarella, origano and one pinch of salt.
- Finally drizzle with a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil. You can have fun adding all kind of toppings.
- Transfer the pizza onto an oven rack, and bake until the crust turns golden. It should take 15–20 minutes, but it depends on the thickness.
Buon appetito!
PS: In Italy we use Celsius degrees _(gradi Celsius, or gradi centigrad_i). When someone says oggi ci sono 40 gradi is therefore extremely hot. You can do the conversion to see what I mean! °C x 9/5 + 32 = °F
