#hearth-fired-pizzas

#hearth-fired-pizzas

"Growing up, the business was always part of our daily life. It wasn't just work-it was a family tradition passed down through generations."

The combination of warmer weather and the impending release of my new book has got me fully focused on sunshine food and Mediterranean flavours, leaning heavily on recipes from Claudia Roden.

Coal ovens are great for creating the architecturally sound pizza triangle, with textural chew and bursts of char that might be familiar from your neighborhood slice shop.

The Pizza Hut Four'N Twenty Stuffed Crust Pizza might sound questionable if you don't live down under, but in Australia, meat pies are an iconic and nationally beloved dish.

Mozzeria is a Deaf-owned and -run food truck regularly pitching pizza pies all over the Bay Area, continuing the tradition of the original restaurant that closed in 2020.

The dough is what really makes a Sodo pizza stand out - the sourdough base is made using flour from heritage grains and is fermented for 72 hours to make it light and digestible. But the toppings are no afterthought, with the team sourcing ingredients from local producers, including mozzarella and burrata made in Acton, pepperoni and nduja cured in Islington, honey from Walthamstow and leaves from a salad farm in Dagenham.

Historically speaking, an osteria was a spartan, no-frills establishment where people would go to have a drink. The original osterias date all the way back to the Roman Empire. If you go to Ostia Antica or Pompeii, you find the osterias of the era. They were like bed-and-breakfasts, with rooms for rent above the dining room where people could listen to music.

Neapolitan pizza is a masterclass in textural perfection. It strikes the perfect balance between fluffy and crisp, making us yearn for more with each bite. As the toppings are traditionally minimal, usually sticking only to tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil, the quality of the dough is very much at the forefront and definitely requires some finesse. There are many steps to making the perfect Neapolitan pie at home, but the process surprisingly starts with a very specific choice of flour.

Budakan's specially developed base uses a high-protein Canadian flour for structure along with a small amount of rye, resulting in a slightly nutty flavour and the perfect NY-style chew. The dough is then fermented for a minimum of 48 hours ensuring a super light, but crisp crust. As for the toppings, Hot Saint will serve classics as well as new takes like the Spicy Hawaiian: San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, guanciale and smoked ham hock, pineapple, smoked chilli and jalapeños;