Pizza nei testi

[Hermann Morr]

Ever seen this cooking technique ?

 

 

A reference with pictures in italian language. Could'nt find any in english.

 

http://cheprofumino.blogspot.it/2009/02/la-nostra-pizzasenza-forno.html

 

 

[slkinsey]

So-called "pizza sul testo" appears to be more or less an adaptation of the technique for making the typical fried bread disks of Romagna, Marche and Umbria called piadina, crescia, crostolo, etc. depending on the local dialect.  Instead of folding it over a filling, it's topped like a pizza.  And I suppose they may be using leavened dough whereas the others would typically be unleavened.  

 

This particular setup in Corchia, a medieval village in Romagna, seems to be unique.  This is generally considered a "home technique" that would be made just by putting a domed lid over the testo.  A "testo" or "testo romagnolo" is a flat ceramic or cast iron disk used for frying piadina.  In some iterations it would have had a heated ceramic lid placed on the top, perhaps including embers as well, but nowadays a lid is rarely used and is likely to be tempered glass.  The setup in Corchia is kind of like going to an "olde thyme" kitchen in the US where they are shoveling coals on top of the lid of a Dutch oven.

 

Anyway, this technique isn't particularly interesting to me and doesn't seem all that promising.  Mario Batali implemented something a bit like this at Otto, and the results were less than spectacular.

[Dave W]

Cool technique, would've been cooler if the video showed what the pizza came out looking like.

 

Seems like a huge bit of kit for cooking pizzas at home, though.