PIZZA IN CHICAGO has long been famously deep dish, but here’s the skinny on a red-hot trend. Chicagoans are increasingly hungry for thin-crust pizzas, especially pies evoking the Neapolitan heritage of pizza.
There’s Spacca Napoli in Ravenswood, Piece in Wicker Park, Gruppo di Amici in Rogers Park, Sapori di Napoli and Frasca in Lakeview, just to name a few. So big is the trend, vacationing Chicagoans can even find wood-fired thin-crust pizza in Indiana’s Michiana Shores, at the Stop 50 Wood Fired Pizzeria.
What’s more, thin-crust pizza is doable at home to a degree far more possible than one might think, and at a fraction of the time you need for deep dish–but more on that later from the experts.
Ask Spacca Napoli’s Jonathan Goldsmith why there’s a thin-crust revolution going on in the deep-dish capital of the world, and he laughs.
“I’m just a pizza guy, I don’t know,” he said. “People are influenced by our media and our culture. People want something new.”
For Goldsmith, making Neapolitan-style thin-crust pizza with authentic ingredients and flavorings is an outgrowth of his deep love for all things Italian. A casual suggestion that he open his own pizzeria sent him on a two-year quest to discover what pizza, particularly Neapolitan pizza, was all about. As he notes on the restaurant’s Web site (spaccanapolipizzeria.com), Goldsmith was “determined to bring the essence of the Italian markets, the street life, and the abundance of Italy right back to Chicago.”
Spacca Napoli opened on Valentine’s Day in 2006. That Goldsmith could sell thin-crust deep inside deep-dish turf was a good omen to Chris Bardol, who was poised to open Stop 50 Wood Fired Pizzeria in Indiana. Bardol’s first bite of thin crust was at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix and he was converted. But he wondered if his prospective clientele, which included large numbers of Chicagoans, would go for it.
Enter Goldsmith’s venture. “I really felt we would do well if someone could see the opportunity in a deep-dish city,” Bardol said.
Phil Vettel, the Tribune’s restaurant critic, traces the city’s fondness for thin crust to 1985 and the opening of Franco Zalloni’s Trattoria Pizzeria Roma. “It brought to Chicago’s mainstream the concept of appetizer pizzas, small pizzas with crisp, blistered crusts topped with all manner of creative (but appropriately Italian) ingredients.
“In a way the deep-dish pizza was a more `serious’ choice over the floppy thin alternative; a deep-dish pizza is real knife-and-fork eating,” Vettel added. “But this new wave of thin pizza provided things that deep-dish did not: crispness, and lightness, and a much wider variety of cheeses and fresh toppings.”
Turning on the light
Lightness may be the key. Goldsmith, for one, talks of his pizza being lighter with cleaner flavors.
“The essence of the pizza is the bread,” he said, referring to the almost ethereal, slightly smoky crust his pizza is noted for. On this dough goes the toppings, doled out with an almost poetical spareness. Take his pizza Margherita: A squiggle of olive oil, a scant quarter-cup of tomato sauce, a handful of mozzarella chunks and a few fragrant basil leaves are all that’s required. “The idea is less is more,” Goldsmith said.
For Bardol, simplicity is the key.
“Certainly there’s some romance about a wood-fired oven, but what it comes down to for me is the ultra-simplicity and quality when I had this style of pizza,” he said. “You can taste each ingredient and each ingredient stands on its own.”
Jeff Ruby of Chicago Magazine said the fuss is less over the crust’s thinness and more over how traditional the pizza is.
“It seems [what has] happened here is pizza is going in two separate directions,” said Ruby, co-author of “Everybody Loves Pizza” with his magazine colleague, Penny Pollack. (Chicago magazine is owned by Tribune Co.) “There’s California Pizza Kitchen where anything goes. Then there’s the backlash. People are going back to the basics and following strict Neapolitan rules.
“Pizza has evolved so much in America it’s come full circle,” he said.
Pizza has come home literally as well as figuratively. Do-it-yourselfers can make a pizza successfully at home. You just have to know what’s doable and what’s not.
First thing to remember: Making pizza at home isn’t as easy as tearing open a frozen pizza carton or calling in takeout.
But the work is half the fun. Take a deep breath, relax, and give it a go. The biggest difference between a home kitchen and a pizzeria is heat and capacity. Spacca Napoli’s custom-built 13,500-pound oven burns wood and reaches temperatures of about 1,000 degrees; most home ovens are lucky to reach 500 degrees without smoking up the kitchen. That means an at-home pizza is going to take longer to cook; crust textures will be different.
You’ll also have to cook pizzas one at a time unless you have multiple ovens. Art Smith, author of the upcoming cookbook, “Back to the Family: Food Tastes Better Shared with Ones You Love,” has a wood- and gas-powered oven set up in the yard. He makes pizza in his kitchen too.
“You can bake in a home oven at 400 degrees and with a pizza stone,” he said. For him, the most important thing in pizzamaking is giving the dough a rest before attempting to shape it. Letting the pizza dough chill in the refrigerator 24 hours or overnight turns it into a “big, bubbly thing” that won’t stick when you work with it, Smith said.
Flour from Italy
Goldsmith of Spacca Napoli makes his dough using Neapolitan flour (he proudly wears a T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the company, Molino Caputo) in an industrial mixer that holds 50 pounds of flour. Two huge mechanical arms reach into the bowl to lift and mix the flour and water together. Once the dough is made, he kneads and shapes it. His dough rests 10 hours. When ready to use, it is as soft and smooth as a baby’s bottom, he said.
The dough is pliable too. Goldsmith and his assistant, Henry DeLeon, gently poke balls of dough into flat rounds with their fingertips. There’s not a rolling pin in sight.
“A rolling pin would flatten the dough like the Roman pizza,” Goldsmith said. The men pick up the lightly floured discs and, holding them aloft, begin slapping them and spinning them with their hands. Gravity helps pull the dough into thin circles no more than 1/8-inch thick in the center. When ready, DeLeon’s dough hangs from his fingers almost to his elbow.
All the while, the rims are left untouched so they will puff into dramatic collars once the pies are in the oven.
Pollack learned to be brave while making pizza. “You shouldn’t be afraid,” she said. “If the dough is too sticky, add flour. Trust yourself and trust your instinct.”
And trust you’ll get it right eventually. The experts all agree on baking the pizza on a heated pizza stone; most models are meant to be left permanently in the oven. Baking stones are sold in kitchen stores and department stores.
Those who don’t understand a stone’s appeal needed only to peek into Spacca Napoli’s oven as DeLeon slid the pizza onto the superheated terra cotta floor using a long-handled paddle. Set just a foot from the glowing embers of the fire, the dough bubbled to life; colors deepened, aromas emerged–all as the flames roiled lazily along the tiled ceiling of the domed oven.
It was the most delicious sort of culinary theater, over in about 90 seconds. The finished pizza had a crust crispier around the edges and a softly chewy center. That’s the Neapolitan way and can’t be replicated in the typical kitchen, Goldsmith insisted.
“At home, you can do a Roman-style pizza,” he said. “That three- to four-minute cooking time means your crust is more like a cracker crust.”
The nuances of it all can make your head spin but don’t give up. “I’m telling you, it’s a science,” Smith said. “It’s also a lot of fun and a lot of fun to do with your family.”
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Upper-crust flavors
Look at the pizza menu of Chicago’s Spacca Napoli, 1769 W. Sunnyside Ave., and you realize a pie can indeed charm with only the most essential flavors. Like the marinara, with tomatoes, oregano, garlic, basil and olive oil, or the white pizza (pizza bianca) with provola and Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, arugula and olive oil. And don’t forget pizza Margherita, one of the world’s most famous pizzas: tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil.
Here are some more pizza topping suggestions from the Good Eating staff to consider making at home:
– Italian sausage, either sliced or crumbled, sprinkling of oregano, mozzarella
– Marinated artichoke hearts, pesto or fresh basil leaves, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, Parmesan
– Caramelized onions, oilcured black olives, anchovies, Parmesan
– Roasted chicken, tomatoes, arugula, mozzarella
– Grilled shrimp, olive oil, chilies, lemon rind, feta
– Roasted garlic, fontina cheese and spinach
– Sauteed yellow squash and zucchini, walnuts, fresh sage, mozzarella
— Bill Daley
How to make Neapolitan pizza the Spacca Napoli way
Henry DeLeon of Spacca Napoli first flattens the dough ball into a round with his fingertips.
He pushes the center of the dough up as he spins it.
Gravity is counted on to pull the dough down, which stretches it into a thin disc.
DeLeon gently smooths the supple dough, leaving the rim untouched so that it will puff up in the oven.
Time to add ingredients, which are applied sparingly.
Two versions of Spacca Napoli’s pies demonstrate that less is more.
The wood-burning oven, with temperatures of 1,000 degrees, can cook a pizza in 90 seconds.
Neapolitan pizza dough
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Resting time: 8 hours, 30 minutes
Standing time: 2 hours
Yield: 6 (8-inch) pizza rounds
– All-purpose flour is called for in this recipe, adapted from Peter Reinhart’s “American Pie: My Search for Perfect Pizza,” but do experiment with Italian “00” flour. We tried using both types of flours and found the dough with “00” flour lighter and smoother. (“00” flour can be found at specialty or Italian markets and online at chefswarehouse.com.) Reinhart said you may need to adjust the amount of water used depending on the flour brand. Make this dough a day in advance and refrigerate. Dough balls also can be frozen.
5 cups unbleached all-purpose or “00” flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cool water (65 degrees)
1. Mix all ingredients with an electric mixer (fitted with a dough hook if you have one) on low speed; beat until a course ball forms, about 4 minutes. Let dough rest 5 minutes; beat until dough is slightly sticky, soft and supple, clears sides of the bowl and sticks just a little to the bottom, about 2 minutes. (If it is too soft to hold its shape, mix in more flour by the tablespoonful; if too dry, add water.)
2. Transfer dough to a floured counter; dust the top of the dough with flour. Working from the four corners, fold the dough into a ball. Place the ball in a bowl brushed with olive oil; turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature 30 minutes; refrigerate at least 8 hours. (If you must use the dough the same day, let sit at room temperature 90 minutes, punch it down, reshape into a ball and return to the bowl. Cover, refrigerate for 2 hours.)
3. Remove dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before you plan to make the pizza. Using a plastic bowl scraper dipped in water or wet hands, transfer the dough to a floured counter. Work carefully so as not to deflate the dough too much. Divide the dough into six equal pieces. Round each piece into a ball; brush with olive oil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; brush with olive oil. Place dough balls on pan; loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let rest at room temperature 2 hours before making pizzas.
Nutrition information per pizza round: 381 calories, 3% of calories from fat, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 80 g carbohydrates, 11 g protein, 681 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
Pizza with prosciutto and olives
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 to 2 servings
Adapted from Art Smith’s upcoming cookbook, “Back to the Family.”
1 prepared pizza dough ball, see recipe
Cornmeal
1/2 cup black or green olives, pitted, sliced
6 ounces manchego cheese, shredded
1/2 bag (from a 6-ounce bag) fresh baby spinach
6 thin slices prosciutto
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
1. Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Press and stretch pizza dough as thin as possible into a small individual pizza. Transfer to a pan or pizza stone lightly dusted with cornmeal.
2. Top the dough with the olives and cheese. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove to cutting board. Top pizza with the spinach leaves. Top with prosciutto slices; drizzle with oil. Season with pepper to taste. Cut into pieces; serve hot.
Nutrition information per serving: 602 calories, 48% of calories from fat, 32 g fat, 14 g saturated fat, 64 mg cholesterol, 49 g carbohydrates, 26 g protein, 1,996 mg sodium, 4 g fiber
Rosemary and red onion pizza
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 1 to 2 servings
Art Smith contributed a pizza recipe to “Everyone Loves Pizza,” by Jeff Ruby and Penny Pollack, that uses this fragrant topping.
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large red onion, sliced in 1 4-inch rounds
1/4 teaspoon each: sea salt, freshly ground pepper
1 prepared pizza dough ball, see recipe
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; let cool.
2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 500 degrees. Press and stretch pizza dough as thin as possible into a small individual pizza. Transfer to a pan or pizza stone. Distribute onions over the dough; sprinkle with the Parmesan and rosemary. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Bake until the crust is golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. Serve hot or cool to room temperature.
Nutrition information per serving: 486 calories, 50% of calories from fat, 27 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 47 g carbohydrates, 14 g protein, 944 mg sodium, 2 g fiber
Rodiana pizza
Preparation time: 12 minutes
Baking time: 8 minutes
Yield: 1 8-inch pizza
Jonathan Goldsmith created this pizza topping in honor of his Italian “hometown,” Rodi Garganico, in Puglia.
1 prepared pizza dough ball, see recipe
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Press and stretch pizza dough as thin as possible into a small individual pizza. Transfer to a pan or pizza stone. Rub dough with olive oil; sprinkle cheese over dough. Top with oregano; sprinkle garlic slices evenly over mixture. Arrange cherry halves, cut side down over pizza.
2. Bake until cheese is beginning to spread and the crust is crisp, about 8 minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition information per serving: 447 calories, 46% of calories from fat, 23 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 43 g carbohydrates, 18 g protein, 854 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
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wdaley@tribune.com
