Italian Sunday! Pizza Neapolitano

The margarita pizza was created in Naples on June 11, 1889 in honor of Queen Magarita. The basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella represent the colors of the Italian flag; red, white, and green.

Neapolitan Pizza

1 L Water, warm
25 g Yeast
30 g Salt
30 g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1.5 kg ‘00’ Flour

In a large bowl, mix the yeast in the warm water until fully dissolved. Add the salt and olive oil.

Add the flour, a little at a time and start to mix by hand until you have a smooth and elastic dough.

Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Divide the dough into smaller balls, about the size of a fist and work briefly to make into round balls. Cover and leave on a floured surface to rise for about an hour.

Now, your dough is ready and can be used for the next 5 hours. Flatten the ball into a circle and stretch to form a thin disk. Add toppings as desired.

In a wood-burning oven (about 300 °C) cook for about 2 ½ minutes.

In a regular oven (highest temperature 280 °C) for about 10-15 minutes.

Variation: If you prepare the dough a day in advance, use less yeast. For this recipe use 5 g of yeast and allow to rise at least 8 hours.

Enjoy!

By Chloe:)

Italian Sunday! Crostata di Frutta- Fruit Crostata with Chef Filomena

Italian Sunday! Crostata di Frutta- Italian fruit pie using fresh spring berries with Chef Filomena

Bring in the Summer with a delicious fruit pie!

For the Pastry:

300 g Flour ‘00’

130 g Butter

70 g Sugar

1 Egg + 1 Egg Yolk

Grated peel of One Lemon

A pinch of Salt

For the Cream:

½ ltr Milk

2 Fresh Eggs

4 Spoons of Sugar

2 Spoons of Flour

Grated Peel of One Lemon

For the Topping:

500 g of Strawberry or blueberries or kiwi or black berries.

For the Pastry, put the flour on the table and make a hole in the middle, in the hole put the eggs, the butter cut into little cubes, the sugar, the grated peel of lemon and the salt and mix with your hands for 10 minutes so you can make a ball. Then put it in a cloth in the fridge for 15 minutes.

When it is firm, put on the table with the flour and spread it with a rolling pin.

For the Cream, in a casserole put the sugar with the eggs and mix all with a wooden spoon so as to form an even mixture, then add the flour slowly while stirring all the time. Slowly add the milk and the grated lemon peel and mix everything.

Put the casserole on the fire and continue to stir. When the mixture begins to boil the cream is ready.

Enjoy!

By Chloe