Pizza chefs became stars and researchers, books and TV programmes were created. However, a scientific work of coding and “high-level” diffusion of the technical elements of Neapolitan pizza was missing. A necessary work of codification.

Enzo Coccia – the genius pizzaiuolo of La Notizia – worked on this together with Paolo Masi, professor in Food process engineering at Università di Napoli Federico II, and Annalisa Romano, manager at Caisial in the same university.

Together they worked at length on the book “La Pizza Napoletana…più di una Notizia scientifica sul processo di lavorazione artigianale” (published in Italian and English by Doppiavoce Edizioni) who some have already defined as a real “code” of Neapolitan Pizza.

The book, presented by the authors on 30th May inside the Royal Palace at Portici together with anthropologist Marino Niola, author of the preface, is a precious guide to the technical elements of the work of a pizza chef – from raw materials’ chemical-physical properties to the various steps in its preparation – with illustrations, photos, graphics and tables that enrich its educational capacity and the scientific rigour with which the work of the artisan was analysed for the first time.

«We’re pizzaioli inside – says Coccia – those in this profession have it in their DNA, and this is a deep gratification. Yet we also need to give a scientific answer to questions arising from experience: tradition, technique and scientific research are links in the same chain».

The book is thus an essential “handbook” for Neapolitan pizza in which concrete elements – such as why does salt make the dough easier to handle? Why using hot water spoils it? – are thus analysed deeply, giving scientific explanations and solutions.

A strongly recommended reading not just for pizza chefs but also to those who want to understand what’s behind the pizzas they eat.

Luciana Squadrilli
source: http://newsletter.identitagolose.it/email.php?id=518

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