World Pizza Day: 6 simple recipes to prepare at home

There is no doubt that if there is one thing that everyone probably agrees on, it is that pizza is one of the most favorite foods. Today it is one of the most universal dishes, beyond the language and customs of each place. In addition, despite maintaining its spirit, the pizza recipe is probably one of the most versioned in history. Every country and even every lover of this dish adds and combines ingredients according to their preferences. Pizza, along with hamburger, are the most international and recognizable foods in the world.

Every February 9, World Pizza Day is celebrated. The celebration began in Naples, Italy, the original place of the preparation, since it is believed that at this time the recipe for this delicious food arose. It quickly became a global gastronomic landmark. World Pizza Day was established this day by its celebration in the United States.

“World Pizza Day is the opportunity that this wonderful old dish gives us to celebrate pizza all over the world, which is not just a meal, but the possibility of sharing a dish, which has given us so many joys in Argentina, being one of the countries with the highest consumption per person and with an authentic identity, respecting traditional values and the mark of the Argentine,” Javier Labaké, director of the professional school of the Association of Owners of Pizzerias and Empanadas Houses of the Argentine Republic (Appyce), told Infobae.

Here are some recipes chosen by master pizzeros to make a pizza from home.

1- Pizza clásica Napolitana

By Miguel Villalba, master pizza maker who represented Argentina on several occasions at the World Pizza World Cup (Italy). He was the winner of the “Argentine Pizza Championship 2013″, and won 5th place in “Pizza in Pala” (al molde) in the last edition of 2019.

Ingredients for the dough: 000 flour (125 grams); 0000 flour (125 grams); salt (7 grams); water (160 cc); yeast (5 grams); olive oil (7 grams).

Ingredients for the topping: tomato sauce (200 grams); Mozzarella (250 grams); tomato (350 grams); garlic (1 clove); parsley (1 pinch); oil (10 grams); salt (c/n); (pepper (c/n); oregano (c/n) and olives (8 units).

- Join all the dry ones: the flours and salt. Hydrate the yeast with water. Start kneading without the oil, achieving a uniform dough.

- Place the dough in a bowl; cover the entire surface with the oil and place a plastic wrap on it. Reserve in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

- Remove the dough and make a bun. Store again in the refrigerator this time for at least 2 hours.

- Season the sauce with salt, pepper and oregano.

- Aceitar a 34 cm molde.

- Remove the dough from the refrigerator.

- Roll out the dough and place it in the mold.

- Sauce with 100 grams of the already seasoned sauce.

- Let it ferment, doubling in volume.

- Pre-cook in the oven at 220/230° for 5 to 6 minutes

- Place the rest of the sauce, on the prepizza, cut and distribute the mozzarella. Cut the tomatoes into wheel-like slices and cover the entire surface of the pizza. Add salt, pepper and oregano. Finally, make an infusion with the oil, garlic and parsley, to place over the entire pizza (it can be before or after cooking).

- Place our preparation in the oven at a temperature of 230/240°, managing to brown its edges and floor.

- Remove cut and enjoy

2- Pizza NY style

By Danilo Ferraz, renowned Argentine master pizza maker, owner of several pizzerias and a benchmark for “grilled pizza”.

“Per kilo of three zeros flour, we use 32% semolín (durum wheat flour) which will give it a greater crispness on the edges and a more golden color,” Ferraz suggests.

Ingredients: 000 flour (1 kg); semolin (320 grams); water (650 cc); olive oil (60 cc); salt (25 grams); fresh yeast (10 grams).

- We make the dough with slow hydration, in a rapid two-speed kneader. Once the smooth and homogeneous dough is achieved, we will make folds in the dough, every half hour. This procedure will be repeated three times.

- Then cut into 600/620 gram buns. We bake and let it rest in the cold for 24 to 30 hours.

- Remove from the cold, temper between 15 and 25 degrees; stretch with semolin to a diameter of 45 cm.

- We stretch on a metal rack and send it straight to the oven floor, with real NY style cooked sauce (fior di late cheese and pepperoni). When removing from the oven we add a spiral of a good scented olive oil.

- Ideal, salt at the end with some salt flakes.

3- Pizza al molde

By Juan Saint Esteben, first place in the category “Empanadas”, “Fainá” and second place in “Gluten-free Pizza” in the 2019 Argentine Pizza and Empanada Championship organized by APPYCE.

Ingredients: 000 flour (1 kilo); warm water (620 cc); fresh yeast (20 grams), salt (20 grams).

With this dough, pizzas come out in the mold for fugazzeta, ham and bell pepper, Neapolitan, among others.

In the case of Neapolitan, add: mozzarella (300 grams).

We take to the oven and then add the sliced tomatoes and other ingredients to taste (chopped garlic, parsley and olives).

And in the case of stone pizzas, the preparation of my recipe includes the following ingredients: 0000 flour (1 kilo); water (520 cc); salt (20 grams); fresh yeast (15 grams), olive oil (20 grams).

In the case of the dough for pizzas to the stone it is kneaded for the day. In this case if it were ham and bell pepper, it is placed more, 300 grams of mozzarella, ham, and bell pepper to taste and we take to the oven raw.

4- Pizza jamón y morrones

By Maxi Mieres, great Argentine champion 2018 of the “Argentine Pizza and Empanada Championship 2018″

Recipe to make 4 pizzas of 8 servings

Ingredients for the dough: 000 flour (500 grams); 0000 flour (500 grams); water (650 ml.); medium salt (20 grams)

Sponge: (Ferment using part of the ingredients mentioned above); 000 flour (150 grams); water (100 ml); fresh yeast (20 grams).

-Form a porridge until you see that bubbles come out. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

Chimichurri pizzero:

Ingredients: 4 cloves of garlic, oregano, ground pepper, salt, paprika and basil leaves.

Preparation:

- Have a large bowl or pot: Add the water, ferment (sponge), flour and salt.

- Squeeze the mixture with the fingers of one hand to avoid lumps. Once all the ingredients are integrated, we start with the kneading that will be approximately 10 minutes.

- We grab our dough and put it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or a white bag. Let it rest for 30 minutes or until it doubles in volume.

- Cut the pieces using flour or semolin so that the dough does not stick so much on the counter or also using a spatula.

- Cut the dough into 4 buns of approximately 450 grams. Bolt the portions and let rest for 30 minutes.

- Then the buns begin to stretch, degassing. We put them in an oiled pizzeria and let them rest for 30 minutes covered with a bag.

- We turn on the oven; let it heat up to 280 degrees. Then we add tomato sauce to the dough, and send it to the oven for 5 minutes.

Technique: so that our dough has a flat I recommend removing the prepizza from the mold and cooking them for at least 2 minutes on the oven grill.

- We take out the pizza, add the ingredients: mozzarella, cooked ham and bell peppers.

- We add the chimichurri pizzero, which you can't miss.

5- Argentinean-style stone pizza

By Federico Gastón Domínguez Fontán, professional pizza master, jury of the Argentine Pizza and Empanada Championship. He also won 18th place in the category “Heinz Beck” at the world pizza championship 2019.

Ingredients: 000 flour (1 Kg); warm water (660 cc.); fresh yeast (6 grams); fine salt (20 grams).

Poolish or prefermento: 000 flour (320 grams); water (360 cc); yeast (2 grams).

- We will divide the recipe into two steps. For the whole of the recipe use the indicated weight for the poolish.

- We dissolve the yeast in the indicated percentage of water, place the flour in a bowl and pour over, mixing well. When everything is amalgamated, we cover the poolish and reserve it outside the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours. This process will improve the aromas and flavors of our pizza.

- After this period we started with the preparation of our pizza.

Pizza dough:

- Place the rest of the flour from our recipe in a bowl or container.

- Dissolve the remaining 4 grams of yeast in the water of our recipe and add in the center of the flour. Add the poolish. Mix all ingredients well until they are integrated. Now add the oil, mix and add the salt and integrate.

- Let the dough rest in block for 30 minutes and cut it into four (bollar). Once baked, place them in kitchen containers and let them ferment and ripen for 24 hours.

- We take our buns out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature until they relax and we can stretch them with better ease. In this interval we take the opportunity to turn on the oven. We place a stone for baking or, failing that, a hob or kitchen tray.

- When the buns are relaxed (they got warm) we begin to stretch them, always on a floured surface to be able to handle our buns well trying to form the pizza.

- We place the stretched dough on a wooden board or shovel and cover with the ingredients. We place it on the baking stone or the tray. We bake at high temperature. In the oven at home we can first bake the dough in the form of a pre-pizza and then place the ingredients and return to the oven. If our oven has higher calories, we can cook the dough directly (with the ingredients from the beginning).

Remember that prepizzas can be frozen.

- When cooked, remove and serve.

Topping: We are going to make the topping of pumpkin, blue cheese, smoked bacon, balsamic oil reduction, chives and fresh oregano.

We start by cooking the pumpkins whole or cut in the middle (in the south of our country we really like to cook them on the embers) then we step them into a puree which we are going to emulsify with a little olive oil, correct with salt and pepper. We reserve until it cools down.

We stretch our bun in the form of a pizza and cover with the pumpkin. Place the grated mozzarella covering the entire surface well and add on top the blue cheese, smoked bacon, olives in halves and finish with a splash of olive. We put in the oven very hot. Cook until the topping is golden brown taking care of the cooking of the bacon.

-Remove from the oven and add the balsamic vinegar, chives and oregano. Cut into portions and serve.

6- Pizza in the pan with chimichurri preparation

By Hugo Bazán, a native of Salta, coordinator and teacher of the School of Pizzerias and Pastry Chefs in that province. He won ninth place in “Pizza in teglia” at the last world pizza championship 2019.

Ingredients for a bun: Flour (250 grams); water (160 cc.); yeast (6 grams); salt (6 grams).

Elaboration:

Sift flour and salt and form a crown. Dissolve the yeast in the water and incorporate it into the crown. Knead until you get a silky, smooth dough.

- Oil the molds with a thin film.

- Roll out the buns into the mold.

- Add the tomato sauce and let it ferment until it doubles in volume. Pre-cook at 260ºC for 8 minutes.

Tip: Using a chimichurri for your pizza adds aromas and flavors and surprises guests.

Topping: Tomato sauce (100 grams); mozzarella (300 grams); Calabrian (100 grams); cherry tomatoes (100 grams); basil (c/n); olive oil (150 grams); garlic (6 cloves); paprika (10 grams) and dried basil (c/n).

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