We all love Pizzas, don’t we? Thanks to great Pizza Chefs for pleasing our taste buds over the years. In this post, we have discussed the key points that make a great Pizza Chef.
Whether you are wandering the streets of New York or enjoying the allure of Naples, Italy, one thing that you will readily notice is the local populace’s affection for Pizza.
Pizza making over the years has seen a lot of changes and that has helped it sustain the brunt of changing consumer taste.
So, how has our Pizza changed and what roles have been played by the great Chefs? More importantly what characteristics do these Pizza chefs possess to keep coming up with novel recipes and styles? There are a lot of Celebrity chefs who have excelled in the art of pizza making.
Let’s explore this further in this article.
Americans have always intrigued the world with their exemplary culinary skills, and their most recent range of Pizza bears little resemblance to Gennaro Lombardi’s Italian prototype.
Pizza; the beautiful, round-based, chewy dish made with a delicious outside made of fresh, flavour-rich sauce that’s sparingly sprayed and some meat, hasn’t always been a native American dish.
But, with the emergence of the current crop of Pizza chefs, the delicacy can, as well, be one of America’s very own. Actually, Pizza can take shape and taste based on a country’s culture and people’s tastes.
Pizza Chefs have made this possible to make Pizza everyone’s local dish.
Let’s get straight to the point now about Pizza Chefs.
Anyone can be a good Pizza Chef, but not great!
Roll out the dough, sprinkle some cheese and sauce on top and send it straight to the oven. That is a general notion out there, but not what great Pizza Chefs do.
The truth is nowhere close to this popular notion.
Lombardi initiated what turned out to be a revolution of the future. Lombardi was the first notable Pizza-chef in the US who began making coal-baked pies over a century ago.
Pizza has evolved ever since and so have the Pizza-Chefs. Italy is no more the only place you can have great Pizzas.
To be a great Pizza Chef, Lombardi’s novelty to contemporary taste and everything in between is required.
Innovation around taste and health is the key. A lot of Pizza Chefs have invented their own styles.
How about Haute Pizzas with toppings like Smoked salmon? A lot of unique combinations make Wolfgang Puck of Los Angeles, a great Pizza Chef and pioneer of gourmet Pizzas.
Innovation is thus a key to making great Pizza-chefs.
Here’s an incredible fact-
The world’s largest Pizza weighs 12.9 tons and was made in South Africa in 1990.
What’s your Pizza Making style?
Like the first commandment, you must know the type of Pizza that you would like to prepare before mixing the dough or firing the oven.
Is it going to be a Neapolitan or the Roman Pizza that you would like to attain mastery at?
Or is it the Provencal Pissaladiere or Al Forno grilled-styled Pizza that might differentiate between a good and great Pizza Chef?
The hardcore Neapolitan-inspired Pizza with fresh mozzarella and the crunchy New York-style pieces appeal to a small number of people.
When you are making someone for a substantially larger crowd, the Sicilian-styled and easy-to-knead, non-stretch pan pizza is ideal.
There are countless styles, and to be a prominent Pizza chef, you must exhibit a proper understanding of the most common ones.
Plus, you need to be an expert in a lot of special ones.
There is one thing common in most of the special Pizza-Chefs and that is a unique recipe.
Pizza fact– Pizza Marinara and Margherita are considered by a lot of Pizza Chefs to be the only true pizzas doing justice to all parameters of a perfect pizza. Do you agree?
Baking Pizza Is an Art and not science
While most of today’s celebrated Pizza chefs have taken to social sites in a bid to help their audiences understand how Pizza is made, it remains hard to be a renowned chef overnight.
Being a great Pizza-chef entails having an unwavering mastery of the various recipes and making tasty pieces within the stipulated time frames.
From perfect baking to the best bread and topping combination; a perfect pizza takes a lot of knowledge, precision and experience. Not everyone’s cup of tea for sure.
These chefs have their own style and are sort of artists in dealing with details and uniqueness.
Here’s a Pizza fact-
Word Pizza was first documented at the end of the tenth century in Italy when flatbread referred to as Pizza was considered food for poor people.
The flour and water don’t need to be from New York or Naples
Although flour is everything in kneading the dough, better qualities expectedly result in tastier Pizza.
Getting obsessed with location doesn’t help a lot.
Naples has a history behind it in terms of Pizzas but that doesn’t make it an obvious choice for Pizza materials.
The same is the case with New York.
Dealing with the minutiae of Pizza making is most important.
Gifted capacity to look into details and superior skills are what make a special Pizza Chef.
Components are important but not the key differentiator for the best Pizzas.
All-purpose flour works fine, albeit high protein brands are the best for the job.
Along with that, there’s nothing special with water from New York.
However, Pizza Chefs are extremely particular about the flour and dough.
Remember, without good dough, or more correctly, good flour, all the other ingredients are useless.
Experience Makes a Great Pizza Chef
Besides knowing all the best Pizza recipes, practising regularly perfects your skills.
Published pizza chefs like Italy’s Alessio Alioto and the LA’s Gourmet pizza pioneer, Wolfgang Puck honed their skills after years of experience.
It takes a lot of hard work and precision to be in the elite club.
With years of experience is the knowledge of the various ingredients, dosages, cooking techniques, and meeting the customer demands with confidence.
Dealing with various customer tastes and diverse work experiences helps further to serve the cosmopolitan crowd of pizza lovers.
The Parting Shot
Remember, you can never be a great chef after a week. Achieving greatness takes time.
Use the web to advance your knowledge and be a junkie. It works!
How about your love for Pizza? With the advent of technology, do you think the Pizza making Robots would be able to replace the great Pizza Chefs around the world?
We don’t think so. At least not in the next few years as Pizza Chefs are artists who have ensured that Pizzas keep evolving over the years may it be taste, health or the calorie count.
