There is much to tell about the pizza and how this today symbolizes Italian cuisine in the world. It is the dish that more than any other represents the spirit of the Bel Paese: the welcoming and warm character of the Italian people is reflected in pizza, which is par excellence a food that unites.
Despite its long tradition, even pizza continues to evolve, following the new needs of the customer: this is why over time we have started to talk about light doughs, quality flours, gourmet toppings, responding to the trends of the restaurant sector and also to cultural changes. And it is in this long journey that the Roman tradition fits in with its Crispy and thin pizzas, so far from their Neapolitan cousins.
FROM NAPLES TO ROME
The history of pizza has roots in a very distant era: the first recipe we know of dates back to the ancient Romans and was obtained by mixing wheat flour with water, aromatic herbs and salt. The dough was then rolled out like a focaccia and then cooked on the hearth.
The first texts in which the term “pizza” appears date back to the year 1000, but the first official definition dates back to 1500 when, in Description of the ancient places of Naples, the writer Benedetto di Falco writes “focaccia in Neapolitan is called pizza”.
An important stage in the evolution of pizza is marked by the use of tomato as a condiment: Neapolitans will be using it in this way since the early nineteenth century and for a long time it will be the capital of Campania that will be inextricably linked with the history of pizza.
The 1950s marked a new important turning point: while Neapolitan pizza began to establish itself throughout the world, Rome some bakers had the idea of presenting this product in their shops too. The bread oven, compared to the half-moon oven of the Neapolitan tradition, reached lower temperatures and cooked the pizza more slowly, which thus lost humidity until it became crunchy.
The bakers' pizza, typically crunchy and rectangular in shape, soon became a convenient take-away food: from this intuition was born the Roman-style pan pizza, whose recipe has been refined over time thanks to the use of a decidedly more hydrated dough, characterised by the presence of olive oil and a long leavening process.
Our Pizza by the slice It was born shortly after, mixing the Roman and Neapolitan schools: this recipe also calls for a very hydrated dough but the rolling out and cooking take place directly on the peel.
THE ROMAN ROUND PIZZA
Like its above-mentioned sisters, the Roman round pizza It was born in the second half of the 50s and is distinguished from its Neapolitan cousin by its crunchiness, by not having a crust and by being so thin that it is crumbly.
It quickly conquered the tables of restaurants in the capital and since the 1990s has spread throughout the rest of Italy. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Roman round pizza has also claimed its space in gourmet cuisine: the lightness of the dough and its crunchiness allow it to be combined with different types of fillings, even very sophisticated ones.
DI MARCO FLOURS FOR THE ROMAN TRADITION
The last stage in the evolution of the Roman pizza tradition is the one concerning the selection of the flours: today blends are carefully chosen to obtain maximum performance and to guarantee consistently excellent results. And this is where the flour Di Marco, the result of in-depth research, ideal for creating uniquely flavoured breads characterised by extremely high digestibility.
Always eager to offer the best for restaurateurs, we have also created La Pala, La Teglia And La Tonda, three innovative blends designed exclusively for the different formats of Roman cuisine.
La Pala allows you to obtain a highly extensible and easy-to-handle dough, perfect for adapting to the narrow and elongated shape of the shovel.
With La Teglia it is possible to make a product that is soft inside and crunchy on the outside even after many hours of exposure on the counter. For this reason, rice flour has been added to the mix, which retains water and delays the drying of the product
For the traditional Round Pizza instead we thought of a mix with wholemeal spelt and double sourdough of rice and wheat to give the dough a fantastic scent of ancient bread.
And you, which traditional Roman pizza do you love the most?
