Pizza, you normally smell the aroma in the air before you see it. Recently I went out with friends to have pizza. When we were there you could see the man making and placing the pizza into his wood fired oven. It came up in discussion, where the first wood fired pizza ovens came from. It was unanimous, it must have been Italy!
Curiosity got the better of me and after reading many articles my findings are Italy was not the first!
They called the earliest ovens "Earth Ovens" A hole dug in the ground where people heated and cooked different foods. In Ukraine archaeologists found ovens in the ground dating back to 20,000 BC. They say there were mammoth bones in them!
Many different kinds and bizarre ancient ovens have been found by archaeologists, but the history of the wood burning oven as we know it today stems from Ancient Greece. The clay oven, or "Iponos" as it is called, is what Greeks used for cooking bread. Traditionally heated with brushwood, olive wood, oak or beech wood. When they finished using the oven for their main purpose, the remaining heat was not wasted: food baked consisted of rusks or drying fruit and nuts.
Rock ovens were used in Rome. A person called a "Law Giver" from Athens stated that bread should be consumed only during the Olympic Games as it was a very expensive product.
The origin of the Italian pizza can be traced back to Ancient Greece about 7000 years ago where they made a flat bread called "Plakous" which was flavoured with toppings like herbs, onions and garlic. I wonder if the Italians will disagree with this finding?
I found an article where Archaeologists were surprised when 30 brick ovens were found in superb condition in the ruins of Pompeii. The Roman city was buried in moulton lava and ash in 79AD. The ovens had petrified bread in them. It is said these ovens were inspired by the Ancient Greeks. They consisted of bricks, ceramics and argyle.
I am glad the wood fired oven was invented to enjoy pizza. You can cook many things in them, but pizza is my favourite!
Since I have you in the mood, what about my homemade pizza?
Bernadette's Pizza
Ingredients
For the pizza dough
25 ml of olive oil
Half a tablespoon of sugar
450grams of plain flour
1 x 7 gram packet of yeast
Half a teaspoon of salt
One tablespoon of semolina
For the pizza topping
200mls creme fraiche
Quarter of a cup of cream
Quarter of a teaspoon of nutmeg
150grams of pancetta, thinly sliced
Half a red onion, thinly sliced
Quarter of a cup of rosemary, finely chopped
200 grams of thinly sliced peeled potatoes
A handful of rocket
Extra olive oil
Method
For the pizza dough.
Mix together in a bowl, water, olive oil, sugar and yeast and put to aside for 5 minutes.
Pour the flour into the yeast mixture and mix together. Put onto a lightly floured board and knead until light and elastic like. Roll into a ball and place back into bowl for 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Topping
Mix together the creme fraiche, cream and nutmeg.
Pre heat oven to 250 degrees celsius.
Take dough and on a floured board knead it for about 10 minutes. Roll it out to approximately half a inch thick.
Sprinkle a little semolina evenly over the oven tray and place the dough onto it.
To assemble pizza, spread the creme fraiche mixture over dough base. Place the potato slices, red onion, pancetta and rosemary.
Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until the base is cooked through and crispy.
Remove from oven, place rocket on top and drizzle a little olive oil.
Cut into equal portions and place on table to enjoy!
