All the articles by silviocicchi

SILVIO CICCHI:Male Age:54 A restaurant-trained Executive Pizza Chef, he is the author of upcoming book of pizza recepy: “PIZZA e FANTASIA“, you can download it for free registering on this site. He currently resides in Spinetoli (ITALY) with his cats and dogs. Specialized in Business start up – Pizza dove – Pizza courses – Art of pizza.
Mint and Pizza

Mint and Pizza

Mint and Pizza. Mint is a perennial herb plant. There are many species of them, belongs to the labiacee family and has a spicy taste and strong aroma. It can be found in Africa, Asia and Europe, prefers sunny areas.

Widely used in cooking and for its therapeutic properties. The famous Hippocrates used it as an aphrodisiac and the Romans and Greeks used it as a perfume.

Mint and Pizza

I just did a survey and on 10 people, 8 they said it's used for cocktails, only two replied that it is used in the kitchen.

Lately it has come back into fashion in the pizzeria and is widely used. It is used a lot in mint flavored oil, or in the mint pesto version.

"La

Do you know some recipes?

No mint recipes come to mind? I give you a little help: Pizza with sausage potatoes and mint, Pizza with buffalo mozzarella and mint, Pizza with grilled courgettes and mint, Pizza with Pachino tomatoes and mint, Pizza 4 cheeses with mint pesto.

Something else comes to mind? Ok, then I continue: Pizza with grilled vegetables, mint and pine nuts, Pizza with ricotta and mint, Pizza with zucchini and mint pesto, Focaccia with potatoes and mint, Margherita pizza with mint, Pizza with artichoke cream and mint, Pizza with anchovies, zucchini, wild fennel and mint, Pizza with caramelized onions, zucchini and mint ricotta.

A perfect wedding

In our school of pizza makers we often use mint as an ingredient for the pizzas that the students who sign up for our practical courses prepare.

If you want more information about our professional practical courses, follow this link.

Scented ingredient

If you don't have time to come to our school for a practical course, I remind you that here on my site a fantastic Online Pizza Chef Course is available for everyone that you can follow directly from your home, just download to your PC or phone and sit comfortably on the sofa. Scover it at this link.

If you have not already done, it is already possible to download my latest book which is called: NOT ONLY PIZZA - What should have all the pizzerias in your menu. You'll find it here.

If you still have them 5 free minutes, visit my youtube channel, hundreds of pizza video recipes are available, all prepared by the pizza chef students who enroll in our practical courses every week, Sign up.

 

See you soon

Silvio Cicchi

How To Make Walnut Sauce

How To Make Walnut Sauce

How To Make Walnut Sauce. Delicious sauce famous all over the world. It varies from country to country and this is my version that I use a lot for bruschetta, pasta, vol-au-vent.

It is also very tasty on pizza, combined with rocket, ricotta or with vegetables.

Ingredients for 4 people:

  • 300 gr di nights
  • 250 ml of milk
  • 40 gr of bread crumbs
  • 40 gr of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 30 gr of shelled pine nuts
  • 1/2 glass of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • Salt to taste
How To Make Walnut Sauce
How To Make Walnut Sauce

How To Make Walnut Sauce

The preparation

Let's move on to the boring part, that is, that of shelling all the nuts. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk.

Put the walnuts in the blender, i pinoli, the garlic, grated Parmesan, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of fine salt. Drain the breadcrumbs from the milk and add it to your blender along with the rest e blend.

How To Make Walnut Sauce

If you like a creamier sauce, add a little milk. You can use it right away, or if you want to keep it for a few days, put it in a jar and cover it with a little oil.

In our "Professional Pizzaiolo Courses" that we organize in our school of pizza chefs, we often use walnut sauce to dress our pizzas. If you want to know more about our practical courses to become a professional pizza maker, Click this link.

How To Make Walnut Sauce

If you are a pizza lover, but you don't have the time or resources to come to our school, I remind you that here on our site there is a fantastic "Online Pizzaiolo Course" available for everyone that you can download on your PC or mobile phone and follow from the comfort of your home during your free time. For more information follow this link.

It's already available for download my latest book called: NOT ONLY PIZZA - What should have all the pizzerias in your menu. You will find it at this link.

If you remain 5 free minutes, visit my youtube channel, you will find hundreds of video pizza recipes prepared by the pizza chef students who attend our courses.

 

See you soon

Silvio Cicchi

Reheat the French Fries

Reheat the French Fries

Reheat the French Fries. French fries represent "street food" Junk Food for excellence, everyone loves them, young and old. Every time I prepare them I exaggerate and there are many left over. I am for non-waste, so I often have to heat them later.

How do you heat French fries in your home? Almost everyone will answer to use the microwave or oven at home. Let's see together what seems to be the best solution.

Reheat the French Fries

Use of the microwave oven: I've tried dozens and dozens of times, but always with bad results. Irremediably they become soggy and if you overdo it with time, they harden on the outside.

An alternative could be to put them in the previously heated oven, but there is a great risk of drying them too much on the outside, losing their tasty crunchiness.

Reheat the French Fries
Reheat the French Fries

Reheat the French Fries

Like it or not, the best solution is always to fry them again for a few minutes. Seeing is believing.

It is definitely the right choice, seed oil in a large pan and after bringing the oil to temperature, pour in the chips to be heated. You will see that the seed oil will bring back the lost crunchiness to our chips as if by magic.

Reheat the French Fries

This fantastic solution can be used for all fried foods, even cutlets to reheat the next day.

There is a method of preserving french fries? unfortunately no, Dear friends, it is always advisable to dry them well with absorbent paper from excessive frying oil, but there is no way to preserve its fragrance.

This is why I always suggest to prepare only the necessary quantity.

Reheat the French Fries

We have also reached the greetings today, before doing it, I would like to remind you of some of the useful links that you can find here on my website entirely dedicated to pizza.

All information on the Practical Courses of Pizzaiolo that we regularly carry out here at our school. Follow this link.

For those who do not have the time or resources necessary to personally attend our practical course, I remember that an excellent one is available here on my site Pizzaiolo Online Course that you can follow directly from your home, maybe sitting comfortably on the sofa. Just download it to your PC or mobile phone and ready to go.

If you remain 5 minutes available, visit my youtube channel, you will find hundreds of video pizza recipes available.

 

See you soon

Silvio Cicchi

How To Prepare Pesto

How To Prepare Pesto

How To Prepare Pesto. After the tomato pasta, is the pasta al pesto the second most used sauce in the world, each country has its variations and additions of ingredients. It represents the real Made in Italy.

Although when we say pesto, almost everyone thinks that we are talking about the classic Genoese sauce made with basil, Pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, pecorino, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt, this is not always the case.

How To Prepare Pesto

Indeed, pesto is a technique, not a recipe. A marble mortar and a wooden pestle and… everything makes pesto. Vegetables, herbs, nights, ricotta, dried tomatoes and so on.

Those who do not have a mortar can use a modern blender, being careful not to let the ingredients overheat. Creamy and very quick to prepare, ready in 10 minutes.

How To Prepare Pesto

There are many variations, I will mention only a few:

Rocket pesto: Rocket salad, pecorino, nights, fresh ricotta and extra virgin olive oil.

Sicilian pesto: Tomatoes, ricotta, Pine nuts, basil and extra virgin olive oil.

Avocado pesto: is nothing more than a revisited version of guacamole, with cashews, mint, chili pepper.

Zucchini pesto, of beets, of black cabbage, of green beans, of spinach.

I often prepare one with the leftover vegetables that I find in the refrigerator.

How To Prepare Pesto

In our School pizzaioli joined our practical course to become a pizza chef, Mr. Leo from Argentina. In his area they prepare pesto but with a variation: In place of pine nuts impossible to find, they use nuts. Even so great.

You got hungry? You just have to prepare a good pesto with the ingredients you have in the pantry. Before moving on to greetings, as usual, I remind you of some useful links that you can find here on my site.

Here you can download my latest book which is called: NOT ONLY PIZZA, just follow this link.

Here you will find instead over 300 pizza recipes freely available, add it to your favorite sites, it will surely be useful next time you prepare pizza at home.

Visit my youtube channel, hundreds of pizza video recipes are available.

 

Appointment in a few days for more news about pizza.

Ciao

Silvio Cicchi

 

Grow Basil at Home

Grow Basil at Home

Grow Basil at Home. Spaghetti with tomato sauce, Caprese salad, margherita pizza are just a few recipes they have the basil as the main ingredient. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is probably the most famous and used aromatic plant in Italian cuisine.

To always have it at hand both at home and in the pizzeria, we just have to plant it in pots. Let's see how to plant it. For a good result it is better to use a terracotta pot, lay stones on the bottom to avoid water stagnation.

Grow Basil at Home

Moisten the soil before sowing or transferring the seedlings, bury the seeds at ½ centimeters and about ten centimeters apart. Cover everything with soil and water.

To obtain always luxuriant plants, always keep the soil moist. Do this work early in the morning. It grows very fast, already after four weeks it can be harvested.

Grow Basil at Home
Grow Basil at Home

Grow Basil at Home

Although it is a predominantly summer plant, you can make an attempt to grow it even in winter, must never miss direct light and keep it indoors at a temperature around 20 degrees.

Little light in the house? Use indoor grow lights.

Grow Basil at Home

With the arrival of the new year, our Practical Courses to become a pizza chef return to our school of pizza chefs. You can find all the information at this link.

Finally you can download my latest book is called: NOT ONLY PIZZA - What should have all the pizzerias in your menu. It is possible to download it from this link.

You lack the time or resources to come to our school to take a practical course? All you have to do is sign up for our fantastic "Online Pizza Chef Course", you download it on your pc or mobile phone and it's done. All information at this link.

Find out more 300 pizza recipes freely available here on our website entirely dedicated to pizza. Be found here.

In the meantime, if you have some free time, visit our YouTube channel with lots of video pizza recipes proposed by the pizza chef students who attend our practical courses to become pizza chefs.

 

See you soon

Silvio Cicchi

 

How To Make Natural Food Colors

How To Make Natural Food Colors

How To Make Natural Food Colors. It has happened to everyone at least once in their life to want to give an artistic touch with color to our foods, but if the choice falls to make use of artificial colors we immediately gave up.

Just look at the labels and immediately we realize that they contain a large number of chemical additives which I don't think are very good for our health.

How To Make Natural Food Colors

Just look around to understand that we are surrounded by colors that nature itself makes available to us, with what surrounds us it is possible to easily create healthy natural dyes.

How To Make Natural Food Colors
How To Make Natural Food Colors

Natural Food Colors

Let's see together how to create natural colors in our home in a simple way:

ROSA: Beets, Red Cabbage + Lemon

ROSSO: Tomatoes, Strawberries or Cranberries, Red Cabbage, Blueberries + Vinegar

ORANGE: Curcuma or Curry, Carrots

YELLOW: Saffron, Peppers

VERDE: Spinach, Kiwi, Mint syrup

BLU: Blueberries, Red Cabbage + Bicarbonate

VIOLA: Blackberries or Berries

BROWN: Cacao, Chocolate, Soluble coffee

NERO: Charcoal

WHITE: Coconut flour, Grated Parmesan cheese, White chocolate

Prepare Food Coloring

Easy no? On our site entirely dedicated to pizza you will find many curiosities like this as well as more than 300 pizza recipes available at this link.

If you are real pizza lovers, I remind you that here on our site there is a great "Of Pizzaiolo Online Course”, you can follow it comfortably seated from the sofa of your home, just download it on your mobile or on your PC. Follow this link.

How To Prepare Dyes

If you want to become a professional Pizzaioli instead, sign up for one of our practical courses at our pizza school. You will find all information at this link.

For those who have not yet done so, I remember that it is possible to download my latest book which is called: NOT ONLY PIZZA, Lots of recipes and photos of classics of Italian cuisine. For more information click this link.

Before saying goodbye, I wanted to remind you to take a look at my youtube channel, there you will find hundreds of video pizza recipes, subscribe, you will be inspired next weekend when you make pizza at home.

 

Ciao

Silvio Cicchi

 

Pizza With Sausage Tomato Mozzarella and Tomatoes

Pizza Cooking Temperature

Pizza Cooking Temperature. In the many years that I have been doing this job, friends and followers of our site entirely dedicated to pizza, they ask me so many questions, but there is one that is certainly at the top of the ranking: At what temperature should I set the oven to cook the pizza?

This question has no standard answer, because it depends on the type of oven we are going to use to cook our beloved pizza.

Pizza Cooking Temperature

Wood-fired oven? Static or ventilated electric oven? Gas oven? The home oven or a professional pizza / bakery oven?

As you can see the question regarding the temperature, sometimes it can be misleading. Unlike bread that cooks at a low temperature, around 190 degrees and takes just under half an hour, the pizza should be cooked at a higher temperature to prevent it from drying out too much by remaining in the oven for a long time.

At What Temperature

So let's try to solve once and for all which is the right temperature for each type of oven.

home baking. Unfortunately the home oven does not reach high temperatures, most of this type of oven reaches the maximum temperature of 250 degrees, so it's not very good for the classic plate pizza, but you can overcome this problem by putting it to the maximum and preparing the classic pan, maybe only with tomatoes and adding the ingredients and mozzarella only in the last few 5 minutes of cooking.

Cooking Temperature of the Pizza

The convection oven is not suitable for cooking a quality pizza, it may dry out and still remain moist inside, let's say that with a setting of 300 degrees, an acceptable product is obtained.

The professional ovens in electric or gas pizzeria, are set around 320/330 degrees, while the wood-burning oven can also reach i 400 degrees for the Neapolitan pizza version.

Pizza cooking at what temperature

For pizza lovers I remember that here on our site there is a fantastic Online Pizzaiolo Course that you can follow from the comfort of your home sofa. To find out more, follow this link.

For lovers of the classics of Italian recipes, I suggest reading my recipe collection which is called: Not just pizza - What all pizzerias should have on their menu, it is a collection of classics of Italian cuisine ranging from panzerotti to supplì that you will find in this link.

I'll meet you in a few days for other news regarding the world of pizza.

Ciao

Silvio Cicchi

 

Pizza oven with convection rapid dough

Pizza oven with convection rapid dough

Pizza oven with convection rapid dough. Today we prepare pizza very quickly, unleavened, without leavening, with instant yeast, with any type of flour, even if of poor quality, without ripening, super fragrant outside and soft inside.

My God, I feel bad just writing all this ca..ate, but the internet is absolutely full of articles containing all these tips. Non sto dicendo che non si possono realizzare, ma per favore “NON CHIAMATELA PIZZA”. Sono perplesso dal fatto che big G non punisca in alcun modo questi “indovini” classificandoli FAKE.

Pizza oven with convection rapid dough

Come se il meccanico suggerisse di mettere nell’auto olio di semi di arachidi in sostituzione dell’olio per motori. In questo caso sono sicuro che in molti storcerebbero il naso 🙂

Ho passato la mattinata a fare qualche ricerca sul web, vi assicuro che non ci sono meccanici che consigliano olio di arachidi, but it is absolutely full of people suggesting:

Dough for pizza without yeast

Pizza with instant yeast

Pizza without leavening

Cooking pizza in a ventilated oven

Pizza dough by mixing salt and yeast together

Pizza dough using water a 37 degrees to dissolve the yeast along with salt and sugar.

Pizza In All Possible Ways

All this does not surprise me, we live in a fantastic democracy, where everyone has the right to speak, so everyone can write whatever they want. But if nobody calls spaghetti with the name Tagliatelle, because anything round is called pizza?

Now let's move on to the suggestions for these "Soothsayers": On my site there is a fantastic "Of Pizzaiolo Online Course”, very simple and you can follow it comfortably seated on the sofa of your home, I am sure that after reading this course, you will no longer call anything by the name pizza, with FAC-SIMILE PIZZA.

But it's a pizza or a donut

If you have a few days off from commitments, sign up for one of our practical courses at our "School of Pizza Makers", at the end of the course you will understand the difference between PIZZA and FAC SIMILE. You will find all the information about our professional practical courses at this link.

Now a really useful thing for those who make pizza incorrectly. It is already possible to download my latest book called: NOT ONLY PIZZA, Many recipes of Italian cuisine, as the name says it's not just about pizza. Engage in the preparation of these recipes, you can find it at this link.

And stop calling anything that is round "Pizza", altrimenti suggerisco al vostro meccanico di aggiungere olio di arachidi nel vostro motore 🙂

See you soon

Silvio Cicchi

 

Differentiated Where to Throw the Pizza Carton

Differentiated Where to Throw the Pizza Carton

Differentiated Where to Throw the Pizza Carton. Making a collection differentiated well done, from waste new objects can be created that are useful for our entire community.

Because I want to talk about this? Because often it is still not very clear how to differentiate correctly.

Differentiated Where to Throw the Pizza Carton

Today I want to clarify once and for all where the pizza box should be thrown correctly. In Italy, the most consumed take-away food is certainly pizza, therefore it is important to properly dispose of its cardboard.

Classical, Neapolitan, square, in pieces or wedges, after consuming it at the table or on the sofa, with friends or family, there is always the bulky cardboard to be disposed of.

Throw away the pizza box

What to do? How empty cardboard should be disposed of? How the differentiated is managed? Most people get it wrong, fold the cartons and throw them into the paper bin, while the leftovers of pizza (if there are any) throws them in the wet. Quite right??

unfortunately no, this is not the way to dispose of empty pizza boxes. After consuming the pizza, the cardboard usually contains food residues or even oil stains, therefore it must be thrown into the undifferentiated collection. Greasy cartons or with food residues thrown into the paper could ruin an entire batch of paper destined to be re-qualified. Be careful next time.

Where to throw the pizza box

Also today, before saying goodbye I would like to remind you of some useful links that you can find here on our site:

A fantastic During pizza online that you can follow from the comfort of your home sofa. You can find it here.

My latest book is already available for download called: NOT ONLY PIZZA - What should have all the pizzerias in your menu. It is a collection of classic recipes used in pizzerias, monuments of Italian cuisine. To know more follow this link.

See you next week for more news on the world of pizza.

Ciao

Silvio Cicchi

 

 

Microwave pizza

Microwave pizza

Microwave pizza. The pizza with the microwave It can not be done. We are talking about pizza, take a good look at the title of this post. Despite the technology offered by some models of microwave ovens, see "Crisp", the product obtained is unfortunately very far from a pizza.

Certainly if you don't own a pizza oven, try making it in a pan, and, a non-stick pan with an airtight lid. The product obtained will certainly be better than that obtained in the microwave.

Microwave Pizza Not Worth It

If the pizza is often prepared at home, I wonder why you don't buy this type of oven:


 

Making Pizza with the Microwave

Here another type of oven:

 

Perfect Microwave Pizza

These ovens that are great for the home, reach temperatures of 400 degrees and you can also prepare a perfect pizza in your home 3 minutes.

I'll finish today by reminding you of some important links that you can find here on our site:

For all pizza lovers who want to learn this fantastic art, I remember that in our school of pizza makers professional practical courses are available weekly. You will find all the information about our courses at this link.

For all those who do not have the necessary resources to come to our school and attend a professional practical course, I remember that on our site there is a fantastic "Pizzaiolo Online Course”That you can follow from the comfort of your home by simply downloading it to your PC or Mobile. You will find all the information at this link.

I conclude by reminding everyone that it is already possible to download my latest book which is called: NOT ONLY PIZZA - What should have all the pizzerias in your menu. A fantastic collection of old and new recipes that are monuments of Italian cuisine. Follow this link.

Finally, I remind you to visit my youtube channel, you will find hundreds of video recipes for pizza. subscribe.

 

Appointment in a few days for more news on the fantastic world of pizza.

Ciao

Silvio Cicchi