The margherita pizza, queen of pizzas with its tomatoes, cheese and basil which recalls the green white red tricolor of Italy. It is the simplest of pizzas but also the ultimate test that demonstrates all the know-how of the pizza maker. Because it is there that we realize the quality of the dough and that of the oven, the two most delicate points of the art of pizza. If Giuseppe “Peppe” Cutraro, former chef of Big Mamma, won no less than the world pizza championship in 2019 thanks to a creation now marketed in each of its three Parisian addresses (one of which is considered the best in Europe) under the name of Campione del Mondo (yellow tomatoes, raw ham, provolone, mozzarella di buffala, toasted grilled almonds and organic fig jam), he returns with pleasure to his fundamentals. And shares its secrets with you.
In the beginning was fire
No pizza without fire, that’s for sure. But not everyone is lucky enough to have a pizza oven capable of reaching 400 or 500°C at home. Not so bad for “Peppe” Cutraro. He only raises the temperature of his oven to 375°C. And for those whose oven does not exceed 250°C? “You just have to place in the middle of the grid a refractory stone which will store the heat, to place the pizza on it, then to double, or even triple, the cooking time. »
Peppe recommends cooking the tomato-covered dough first on a fan-assisted oven for five minutes. Then cover with cheese and basil for another five minutes on the grill. The operation will have lasted ten minutes instead of the two sufficient in a professional oven. But this is how the amateur will have been able to get away with it. And you can still bring back a store-bought pizza and enjoy it at home, “provided you reheat it in an oven preheated to 250°C”, insists “Peppe”. There’s nothing worse for him than a lukewarm, even cold, pizza that tastes like cardboard.
The dough from which pizzas are made
Most of the pizza is in the dough and “Peppe” takes care to hydrate it a lot “so that its water level remains at 70%”, he specifies. That is, it constantly moistens it during the entire manufacturing process. “I just do that and I never answer the phone during that time. This is what gives it its crispness and lightness. “Peppe” says he uses a mixture of three flours, without specifying exactly which ones except that they are “as low as possible in protein or gluten”.
In his book Neapolitan pizzas, published in full confinement at Marabout, the world champion details two recipes, even the simplest of which is quite complicated: for eight 300 g dough pieces, pour 1 kg of flour into a large bowl and crumble 2 g of fresh yeast (or 0 .8 g of dry yeast) in it. Add 435 ml of water and start kneading. After 10 minutes, add 27 g of fine salt, then 7 g of sugar and little by little 235 ml of water. Add 10 g of olive oil at the end. Knead more and more vigorously until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough. Let stand 10 minutes. Place the ball of dough on the work surface and make a few light folds. Let it rest again for 30 minutes under a damp cloth. Divide the dough into small 300 g balls and roll each ball on itself. Let them rest for 6 to 8 hours, at room temperature, in a well-closed container with plastic wrap. “After which, your pizzas will be ready to be topped and baked,” he wrote.
The quality of the ingredients
However, it is the ingredients that will make the difference. And it is, of course, appropriate to choose them in season. Except the tomato, which can come out of a box. If “Peppe” prefers San Marzano, he recommends crushing it by hand, in order to keep its fibers intact and not to oxidize it. For the cheese, the former chef of Big Mamma recommends a first mixture of pecorino and parmesan, before adding strips of mozzarella “fior di latte” previously drained “to avoid the risk of wetting the pizza during cooking”.
Another drizzle of olive oil to dynamite all this and finally some basil, of which the world champion lays down a few leaves before cooking, and others immediately when he comes out of the oven. The former for the fragrance, the latter for the taste. Cut the pizza like him with scissors, take the parts between your fingers. And bon appetit!