Pizza Making Honor

Household Arts

Requirements

1. Do a brief research on the history of pizza.

   Answer: Pizza has an ancient origin: peoples such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans already ate flatbreads (baked on stone) with olive oil, herbs, and other ingredients on top. Pizza as we know it was born in Naples, Italy, in the 17th-18th centuries, when the tomato (brought from the Americas) began to be used on the dough. In 1889, the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created the Margherita pizza in Naples (dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil) in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy, with the colors of the Italian flag (red, white, and green). With Italian immigration, pizza arrived in the United States and Brazil (especially São Paulo) at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, spreading throughout the world and becoming one of the most popular dishes.

2. Make a list of the basic ingredients of pizza dough.

   Answer: The basic ingredients of the dough: wheat flour, water, yeast (biological), salt, and olive oil (oil). Some add a little sugar to activate the yeast. — Flour, water, yeast, salt, and olive oil — five simple ingredients form the base of every pizza.

3. Describe the fermentation process.

   Answer: Fermentation is the process in which the yeast (the leavening organisms) consumes the sugars in the dough and releases carbon dioxide, forming bubbles that make the dough RISE and become light and airy. The dough should be left to rest, covered, in a warm place, for a while (generally 1 to 2 hours, until it doubles in volume). — In fermentation, the yeast produces gas that makes the dough rise — that is what makes the pizza light and soft.

4. What is the difference between Neapolitan pizza and Roman pizza?

   Answer: Neapolitan pizza (from Naples) has a thicker and softer dough, with tall, fluffy edges, baked quickly in a very hot oven. Roman pizza (from Rome) is thin and crispy, with the dough stretched very thin and crisp throughout. — Neapolitan is thick and soft with a fluffy edge; Roman is thin and crispy — two classic schools of pizza.

5. What are the three different ways to bake a pizza? Describe the differences in detail.

   Answer: Three ways: • Wood-fired oven: high temperature and a slight smoky flavor, bakes in a few minutes. • Electric or gas oven (domestic/industrial): practical and with controlled temperature. • Conveyor oven (high-volume pizzerias): the pizza moves along a conveyor belt that bakes it evenly in a standardized time. (There is also the pan/griddle pizza.) — Wood gives flavor and intense heat; the electric oven is practical; the conveyor standardizes — each oven changes the result.

6. What is the ideal temperature for baking a pizza in: a wood-fired oven and an electric oven?

   Answer: Wood-fired oven: very hot, around 350 to 450 °C (bakes the pizza in 1 to 3 minutes). Electric oven (domestic): as hot as possible, generally 250 to 300 °C (bakes in about 10 to 15 minutes). — The hotter the oven, the better the pizza — wood reaches 400 °C; the home electric oven, around 250-300 °C.

7. Prepare a margherita pizza.