Pizza and pasta! Chef Chris Douglas of Tavola and Ashmont Grill spent the day with us teaching us how to make pizza and homemade pasta. Both pizza and pasta seem complicated to make, but once you have it down it is simple. I am still learning about how to tell when dough is ready, the right consistency and texture. But this only comes with time and a lot of practice. Always a joy to have as a teacher, Chef Douglas, is knowledgeable, patient, and brings a lot of great ideas and concepts to the table.
Key concepts:
-there are hundreds of types of pasta/noodles
-the type of flour is important - see other posts for more detail. But the flour in pizza has higher protein than all purpose so to build more gluten (the elasticity)
-activating yeast is not as important as it used to be
-less toppings on the pizza the better - the dough is considered the art! You should be able to hold the pizza vertical and no toppings should slide off - if so, too much water and toppings
-Use semolina on your pizza board so you can easily slide your pizza into the oven - the semolina creates "wheels"
-2 cups flour + 3 eggs = pasta (make a well, and slowly with a fork mix the flour into the eggs)
-ravioli templates are a life saver! Anything can go into ravioli
-pasta can be flavored, can have herbs between layers etc. let your imagination be free!!
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