Physics of Pizza

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Here's an article on the physics of pizza, or why we can't make authentic pizza at home.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...rick-ovens-bake-the-perfect-italian-style-pie

Follow the links to the paper published by scientists (which must have been a fun paper to put together), and also the link to the article on Neapolitan pizza making UNESCO's heritage list.
Interesting. Also possibly an excuse for my failure to bake a perfect pizza! Yea! I’m off the hook! (Although I must admit my last pizza [with the food processor dough and the three day refrigerator rise] was pretty good.)
 
Here's an article on the physics of pizza, or why we can't make authentic pizza at home.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...rick-ovens-bake-the-perfect-italian-style-pie

Follow the links to the paper published by scientists (which must have been a fun paper to put together), and also the link to the article on Neapolitan pizza making UNESCO's heritage list.
Hmm! Perhaps someone ought to tell the generations of nonnas who've been making pizzas in their kitchens with all sorts of ovens - gas, electric, wood, oil or coal-fired - including the elderly neighbour who taught me, that they've been doing it wrong all these years.

Important to duck after telling them!
 
A few years ago the work of a group at a British university proved that babies stop crying and go to sleep when rocked. Talk about the bleedin' obvious (please excuse my language!)

They also "proved" that there is an optimum rate of rocking that works best.

All information that millions of mothers all over the world could have told them, free of charge and without expensive educations.
 
And then there's grilled pizza, which is also pretty darn good when the proper process is used. Lots of way to make a good product, and although none may work exactly for a "proper" Neapolitan pizza.

Folks have been making pizza and pizza-like topped flatbreads in most parts of the world for a really long time. Not everyone has access to a brick oven, but we manage to adjust for that deficiency.

I attended a pizza party with some Italian friends when we were in Italy, in a small town near Varese. Alberto has a wood fired pizza oven on his deck, and each of us got to top his own crust, then Alberto baked them for us. It was a 2 minute bake - 1 minute, turn 180°, bake for another minute and done. I don't know if it was the pizza or the ambience, but that was probably the best pizza I ever ate. Of course there was a sufficiency of Italian table wine (both red and white to cover all bases) with the meal, as well as just good people having a good time, so the whole experience was memorable.
 
Although I have a pompeii brick WFO I don't think I've ever made anything close to a perfect pizza. One thing I know is that due to thermal dynamics I can't bake a thick (layers of toppings) in the brick oven.
 
Hmm! Perhaps someone ought to tell the generations of nonnas who've been making pizzas in their kitchens with all sorts of ovens - gas, electric, wood, oil or coal-fired - including the elderly neighbour who taught me, that they've been doing it wrong all these years.

Important to duck after telling them!

It's not wrong - it's just not the same; this article refers to a specific style of pizza. Until recently - and even now in many places - Italians did not have ovens at home - they took their breads to the town bakery and baked them there. And Neapolitan pizza was pretty much a street food bought from bakeries.
 
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It's not wrong - it's just not the same; this article refers to a specific style of pizza. Until recently - and even now in many places - Italians did not have ovens at home - they took their breads to the town bakery and baked them there. And Neapolitan pizza was pretty much a street food bought from bakeries.
Well the many Italians who lived near me when I lived in a "cotton" town in the North of England and who had come to England at various times from the 19C to post WW2 couldn't take their pizzas to the bakers because there weren't any Italian bakeries and I'm certain that the same applied to Italian immigrants to the USA.
 
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Well the many Italians who lived near me when I lived in a "cotton" town in the North of England and who had come to England at various times from the 19C to post WW2 couldn't take their pizzas to the bakers because there weren't any Italian bakeries and I'm certain that the same applied to Italian immigrants to the USA.
Again - the article was referring specifically to Neapolitan-style pizza, which is made in a brick wood-burning oven. That doesn't mean people can't make pizza in other types of ovens, or that they won't taste good. It means that it's not authentic Neapolitan-style pizza.

Did you read the article? It's pretty clearly explained.
 
One thing, regarding authenticity, that article didn't get into the specific type of brick oven for making these pizzas. The Neapolitan pizza oven has a very low dome ceiling compared to a "pompeii" oven with a standard dome height ceiling which is ideal for cooking other food items besides pizza.
 

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