8/10/2023 0 Comments Ken forkish pizzaThere, Franco Pepe, a third-generation pizzaiolo, has established a new pizzeria (Pepe in Grani just opened in 2012) that has quickly developed a reputation for being one of the world's very best, because of its utter respect for tradition (the dough is naturally leavened, it is hand-mixed, and Pepe uses no refrigeration in its preparation), on the one hand, combined with its willingness to push the envelope when it comes to toppings (fig jam with grated Conciato cheese, anyone?), on the other. One can get a sense of what Forkish is after, and just how elusive this goal might be, in his opening chapter, "The Soul of Pizza." Here, Forkish describes a trip he paid to Pepe in Grani in Caiazzo, Italy, roughly 30 miles outside of Naples. That utterly transcendent crust is what Forkish experienced on numerous occasions over the course of his pizza pilgrimages, and it's that utterly transcendent crust that is the ultimate goal of The Elements of Pizza. Top-shelf ingredients and creativity aren't worth a hoot if the pizza crust isn't sublime. Beginning with chapters on Ken's pizza pilgrimages and his breakdown of pizza styles, it follows this up with a number of very helpful chapters, such as: 8 keys to unlocking the secrets of top-notch pizza crusts sourcing ingredients and acquiring necessary pieces of equipment methods and pizza dough recipes before offering another 120 pages worth of actual pizza recipes.īut the emphasis is placed quite squarely on achieving Perfect Crust Forever, as it should be. And it is meticulously detailed and filled with all the inspiration an aspiring pizzzaiolo could ever ask for. It is sufficiently comprehensive, beginning with the great traditions of Italy, Naples and Rome, where Forkish locates "the soul of pizza," but also encompassing a number of the most important American traditions: New York, Trenton, NJ, New Haven, Detroit, and a whole host of new-school pizza enthusiasts (like Roberta's, Motorino, Emily, and, indeed, Ken's). It is written with passion and conviction, and with a great deal of personality. The book that resulted, The Elements of Pizza, represents a major leap forward for Forkish and for the ever-growing body of pizza lit. And, of course, the baking of pizza was also altogether different. Pizza dough needed to be made differently, fermented differently, and handled differently. There might be some overlap between the two, they might share a similar skill set, but bread and pizza were fundamentally different. What he learned was that from the perspective of an Italian master pizzaiolo this was categorically untrue: bread was bread, and pizza was pizza. Hell, that was much of the premise of Flour Water Salt Yeast. It forced him to part ways with a number of the pizza truths that he'd believed to be self-evident, including one that had been a cardinal belief of his: that the fundamentals of artisan bread baking and artisan pizza making were identical. And doing so forced him to scrap much of the pizza wisdom he'd developed over the years. Instead, he embarked upon a series of pizza pilgrimages. He could have gone back to the well and just expanded upon the lessons he'd already laid down in Flour Water Salt Yeast. Forkish's pizza section featured the same passion and attention to detail that characterized the rest of his book, and along with the teachings of people like Jim Lahey and Anthony Falco, it proved to be an important step in my pizza education.
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