Ricotta forte is a traditional Apulian cheese, typically made at home under the kitchen sink or in a dark cantina (cellar), although can be found in supermarkets in Italy. Found in both Puglia and Basilicata, it might also be called Ricotta scanta, 'scante, scanta, ascuante, or "ashquant" in local dialects.  Initially, it is made in the same way as ricotta, but using a strong flavored milk such as goat or sheep. The texture is similar to cream cheese, usually with an off-white color. It's definitely a cheese that spreads easily. The aroma coming from this cheese is not for the faint-at-heart, as we can attest to when confronted with ricotta forte one morning at a trullo bed & breakfast near Alberobello.

One sniff snapped our heads back, but we spread it on our toast anyway, our host drizzling some honey on top, then we tasted...  To be honest, it reminded me of when I was a kid and out bread developed mold, but that was bland compared to this stuff. The flavor is sharp as a Neapolitan criminal's stiletto, pungent, sour, bitter, with an intensity that burns your nostrils. This cheese is a total assault on your palette. Our eyes snapped open and then teared up. I got some on a sweet pastry sitting on my plate and later on when I bit into it, the whole sweet taste was ruined. It took literally an hour or two for our taste buds to relax back to normal. 

Many Pugliese still make this cheese today, a remnant from the days when shepherds came up with this devilish bastardization of the ricotta we all know and love. They placed the freshly made ricotta into small ceramic or glass jars, sprinkled with sea salt, then placed it under their sink or other dark place. A few times each week the lid is removed and stirred in a process that lasts for 3 months. As it matures it grows a fungus which gives this a flavor with more kick than any blue cheese you've ever tasted.

It's a regional specialty that locals enjoy spreading on warm crostini, either plain or drizzled with honey or balsamic. In my opinion, it contrasts too much with sweet things like figs or grapes, but tomatoes and other savory items like anchovies are a better match.

Watch the following video to learn how Ricotta Forte is made. It's in Italian with Italian text, but if you remember the words giorno (day) and mesi (months) you'll figure out how to make it and the time period intervals involved.

In case you'd like to try it yourself, here is one place you can buy a jar.

Enjoy!

--Jerry Finzi

Focaccia is one of the world's oldest flatbreads with roots in ancient Greece and with the Etruscans, even before the Roman Empire reared its head. The Romans called it panis focacius (bread of the hearth) in Latin. In its basic form, it is a leavened bread, very similar to pizza but without all that cheese.  There have been versions of focaccia all through the Mediterranean coastline in Europe and northern Africa. In ancient Roman days, it looked like a very simple, flat round of pull-apart bread. It was a meal to be carried by shepherds and fishermen and meant to be eaten later.  In regions of neighboring France it's called fougasse. In Argentina and Brazil--both with large Italian immigrant populations--its name is fugazza and they can be either topped with stringy cheese or even double-crusted and stuffed.

The common modern form of focaccia is dimpled with fingertips to make little wells that can hold savory items like olives, cherry tomatoes, peppers, red onion, sliced potatoes, garlic or even sweet things like figs, pear slices, blueberries, walnuts, dates, honey, anise seeds, bulbing fennel (finnocchio), orange zest or grapes. The top is usually brushed or drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary, sea salt, pepper or other spices. Of course, you can sprinkle a bit of cheese (usually grated), but go to far and you've crossed the line between focaccia and pizza. The variations are endless.

In Italy, most pasticceria (pastry shops), panetteria (bread bakery) and even bars will have slices of focaccia often sliced and priced by weight. (Note: A "bar" in Italy is a family friendly place to get cappuccino and pastry in the morning and panini for lunch.)

Focaccia is usually baked in 1" deep, dark steel pans. The texture is usually bready and for that reason a high protein "strong" flour (bread flour here in the U.S.) is used. The thickness also has the benefit of being used to make panini, slicing through the middle and stuffing with provolone, mozzarella, prosciutto or thing slices of salami.

Ingredients
Yeast mixture:
1-3/4 cups warm water (110-115F)
1-1/5 tablespoons fast acting yeast
1 tablespoon honey

For the dough:
1 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
2-3 cups King Arthur bread flour (plus extra bench flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil for the pan

Toppings:
Extra virgin olive oil (for brushing)
Cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup grated cheese (using 1/4 holes/box grater), provolone, asiago, or caciocavallo
(cheese is optional)
Dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, fresh ground pepper, sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 435F with a pizza stone or steel on the center shelf.

1. Liberally oil a dark half sheet pan with the olive oil and set aside.
2. Place the water in a small bowl and whisk in the yeast and honey until dissolved. Let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attached, place 1 cup of all-purpose flour, sugar and salt, then mix until blended for a few seconds.
4. Once the yeast is foamy, pour it into the mixing bowl and turn the speed to a low setting.
5. Use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides as you are adding flour.
6. Little by little, add 1/3 cup of bread flour, each time waiting until it blends into the dough mass. Keep adding flour, a bit at a time until it begins to come together in a wet, loose mass.
7. Turn up the mixer speed to medium high and let the dough mass slap against the sides of the bowl until you see strands of gluten sticking to the sides. You might need to occasionally dust a little bit (tablespoon) of flour into the mass, as you work, but don't add too much. You do NOT want a dry dough ball.
8. Once you see strands have developed and your mass is no longer wet but still sticky, slow the mixer's speed down, then dust with a small amount of flour just to help turning it out onto the work surface. Use the spatula to help release it from the dough hook and bowl.
9. Prepare a medium sized bowl by liberally coating it with olive oil. Flour the work surface.
10. Turn out the dough mass onto your floured surface. Flour your hands.
11. Dust the top of the dough with a little bit of flour, then start kneading, folding the close end over the rear edge, while pushing it with your palm in a downwards, rolling motion. Turn the dough--1/4 turn, then repeat for 2-3 minutes.
12. With your cupped hands, form the dough into a round ball.
13. Place the ball into the oiled bowl and turn over to coat both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes.
14. Once the dough has risen, without punching it down, roll it out onto the center of your baking pan. The dough should feel very fluffy with a coating of oil.
15. Using the fingertips of both hands, starting in the center, gently press and slide the dough out to fill to the edges of the pan. The dough might be stretchy and slide on your oiled pan, so you will need to let it rest for 5 minutes before you can nudge it to fill the corners of your pan.
16. After five minutes, adjust your dough so it fills the pan to both the edges and corners. Set aside in a warm place to rise in the pan for about 30 minutes before topping.
17. Prepare any toppings: cutting cherry tomatoes in half, grating cheese, mixing spices together, etc.
18. Next, press cherry tomato halves into the dough about 1-1/2" to 2" apart. Placing the tomatoes before the dough rises in the dough will help embed them as the dough rises.
19. Once the dough has puffed up to about 1" thick, first drizzle and then brush very lightly the whole surface with extra virgin olive oil. Be delicate. If you brush too firmly, you might deflate the risen dough. If any large bubbles show up, you can pop them gently with a pointy skewer. 
20. Sprinkle your spices and salt evenly across the top of the focaccia. Pay attention to the tomatoes--they will taste better with a sprinkle or salt and dried oregano.
21. Bake in the 435F oven for about 15 minutes, or until both bottom and top are lightly browned (check underneath with a metal spatula). The sides should separate from the pan.
22. Slice into 3"x5" strips or 5" rectangular pieces and serve hot, or let cool and serve at room temperature.
23. Keep in a Tupperware in the fridge or wrap in foil (stored at room temp) for eating within 3 days.

You can reheat in a microwave by wrapping with a damp paper towel, then heating for 30 seconds (time depends on the power of your unit). To kick it up a notch, try a fresh drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (we really recommend unfiltered) or an aged balsamic. For a quick lunch, top with a draping of prosciutto. You can also slice focaccia in half and use to make a panino (sandwich) filled with thin sliced colt cuts and cheese or even cooked ingredients like grilled eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella or roasted vegetables.

Now that you know the basics of making focaccia, consider getting creative, as these examples illustrate. Look for color contrasts, textures and interesting shapes with your choice of toppings. Consider unusual things like asparagus, cauliflower, beets, basil, cilantro, kale, mushrooms, berries, capers, chives, colored course sea salt, and various seeds. Depending on your ingredients, you might have to partially bake your focaccia first with ingredients that can cook during the entire bake time and need to be pressed into the dough. For other things that might burn, like seeds or tender leaves like basil, position on top during later stages of baking.

Be creative and make a masterpiece for a special occasion, or simply make simple focaccia for every day snacks and meals...

Buon appetito!

--Jerry Finzi

Now that you've gathered together a basic pizza making toolkit, let's start actually making one... ​

My "Measure Water First" Method

First, I'd like to explain my basic concept that I've developed over the years. Most pizza dough recipes will give you precise measurements for flour in either cups (in the U.S.) or by weight (Europe). I don't really measure flour. Instead, I focus on measuring the water, depending on the type of pizza, style or size that I'm making, and then judging the look and feel of the dough as more flour is added while mixing or kneading. You can and should learn what a good dough for a particular type of pizza should look like. Making any type of dough for bread, pizza or even pasta is not precise like pastry or cake recipes. It's all about the look and feel.

There are many advanced pizzaiolo's recipes as ratios by weight of all ingredients, especially the ratio of flour to flour. They talk in terms of "60% hydration", sometimes more, sometimes less. This is true, but it's a complex, fussy method for beginners who just want to learn how to make great pizzas easily.

Still, they are correct in that the hydration of a particular dough gives each type of pizza its unique characteristics. Hydration also governs how light and airy a crust can be--or how dense. Of course, as you get more advanced you'll learn that other things also contribute to each type of crust: mixing types of flour; using honey versus sugar; using salt or not; olive oil or not; and how long and how many rises the dough is given. Often a subtle change makes a big difference in texture, taste and structure.

Water & Yeast

The first thing I do is place warm water (110-115 F) into a glass measuring cup, and ensure the measurement is correct for the size and type of pizza I'm making. For example:

1 - 1/4 cups water for a 12"-14", basic pizza, baked on parchment, on stone or steel.
1 - 1/2 cups water for a 14-16" basic pizza, either on stone or in large pan.
1 - 3/4 cups water for half sheet pan focaccia or "Grandma's Pizza", or 2-4 personal pizzas.

For now all you have to learn is how your dough should look in the mixing bowl. Some basic things to look for in the bowl of a stand mixer after adding the first 1 -1/2 cups of flour and pouring in the water/yeast mixture:

• At a low speed, add a bit of flour 1/4 cup at a time...
• Look for the dough to start getting thicker like a slurry...
• This is the time to add olive oil or salt...
• After adding a bit more flour, mix and watch the dough develop...
• If it's still watery or loose, add a little bit more flour...
• Scrape down any bits from the side of bowl as needed...
• After the dough starts to develop into a sticky mass, add a little bit more flour...
• Then turn the speed up to medium high and watch...
• You will see gluten develop as stringiness sticking to the sides of the bowl...
• This is developing both structure and texture...
• As the dough starts to clump around the dough hook, dust lightly with a bit more flour just to help release the stickiness from the bowl...
• When you touch the dough it should still feel sticky and a bit wet...
• This is when you can turn your dough out onto a well floured work surface...
• Next you can dust lightly and try to form, knead and turn, then knead again and repeat until you have a much smoother ball shape. The dough should not bounce back when you insert a finger.

So, if you understand my method, the water measurement is critical for the type/size pizza being made, but the amount of flour added will always vary depending on if it's a rainy day, if it's in the middle of a hot humid, summer's day, or if it's the middle of a dry winter with your heat drying out the air in your house.

Remember, you can't remove flour if you add too much. Add flour slowly and use your eyes to see when it's getting thick like a pliant, damp, sticky putty... but NOT as dry as a child's Play Dough. If you add too much flour, your pizza will be dense and heavy. When a dough is dense, it makes it difficult for the yeast's gasses to lift and rise the dough--in other words, if there are no air spaces, all you have is a dense bread.

​
Ingredients for Three Types of Pizza Dough
Proofing the Yeast​ For a 12-14" pizza...
1 - 1/4 cups warm water (about 115 degrees F)
1  packet "instant" yeast (or 1 tablespoon packaged/dry yeast)
1  tablespoon honey or sugar
Use 1 to 1-1/2 cups All-Purpose flour to start, then use Bread Flour for the rest.

Proofing the Yeast​ For a 14-16" focaccia or pan pizza...
1 - 3/4 cups warm water (about 115 degrees F)
1 heaping tablespoon packaged/dry yeast
1  tablespoon honey or sugar
Use only Bread flour.

Proofing the Yeast​ For a 3-4 individual, thin crust pizzas...
1 - 1/2 cups warm water (about 115 degrees F)
1/2 tablespoon dry yeast
1  tablespoon honey
Use only All-Purpose flour.

Proofing the Yeast​ 2 Neapolitan style, individual pizzas...
1 - 1/4 cups warm water (about 115 degrees F)
1/2 tablespoons packaged/dry yeast
1  tablespoon honey
Use only Italian style "00" Flour.

Mix the yeast and honey (or sugar) with the warm (115 degrees F) water in a medium size measuring cup. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to "proof" (foam up). If the yeast doesn't show "proof" that your yeast is alive and growing, you should shouldn't use it. Yeast should be alive.

To understand what's going on, the honey (or sugar) feeds the yeast and as it grows, it produces gasses that will lift the dough. After you make your dough, the yeast is still working during any successive rise periods and and will lift the dough (puff it up).

Pizza dough is a leavened crust (more akin to bread). A dough without yeast (or less yeast) makes more of an unleavened bread--like a cracker. If you want a bread-like dough (focaccia, sfincione or Grandma's style) use more yeast. If you want a thin, crusty pizza, use less.

After kneading, you can do a "window" test as in the above photo. Stretch the dough until it gets paper thin and translucent without tearing. If it tears easily, there isn't enough gluten development.

​
TIPS: You want to mix the dough until it separates from the bowl--but it should still be a bit sticky. Go slow with adding more flour. A dough that's too dry will make a tough, leathery crust. You want it soft and a bit sticky.  One more tip... I use mainly King Arthur's flours for my pizzas. I've done tests using others like Gold Medal or Pillsbury and never got good results. The protein level of King Arthur's is higher, resulting in better gluten development. For Neapolitan style, I'll use 00 type flour (doppio zero, double zero), either Caputo or Anna brand.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand. Flour both your hands and flour the top of the dough on the board. Fold the dough over toward you, push forward with the heel of your hand, then turn 1/4 turn and keep repeating until the dough looks smooth, soft and slowly bounces back when you stick it with your thumb.

Some say you must knead the dough for 5 or even 10 minutes or more, but I think this produces too much stringy gluten--the glue in dough--and can cause the dough to be tough. Gluten development happens even without much kneading. Besides, I'd rather be eating my pizza sooner rather than later.

Tuck in or pinch together the bottom of your dough round and shape into a flat, round   shape, then put it in the oiled bowl to rise. Oil both sides of the dough.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 45 minutes. On dry days, I usually help along the humidity a bit and lay a damp paper towel on top of the plastic wrap. You could even use a damp cotton chef's towel.

There are two ways to proceed now. One is the quick way--a single rise--the other is longer... a double rise. Typically, for our weekly, Saturday night pizza, I'll do a short, single rise, unless I'm trying something a bit different:

• 45 minutes at room temperature, then punch down the dough gently and start forming the pizza.

If I'm trying to make a special artisan pizza or focaccia recipe I'll do a double rise:

• 45 minutes at room temperature, then punch the dough down gently and let it rise a second time for 1-2 hours (or even overnight)  in the fridge. Take it out, let it rest on your workbench for 5 minutes or so (to relax the gluten... this makes it less springy and makes it easy to form it out to a pizza shape). Then you can form your pizza.
  
  

There is also another type of rise for deep dish and pan pizzas... where I do a first rise at room temp, then form the dough to fit into the deep dish pan and let it rise again in the pan at room temp.  More on that when I get to my pan pizza recipes.

The longer the rise, the more complex flavor develops in the crust... something I think is unnecessary for a quick "get dinner on the table" pizza. But if you  like to experiment, let your dough rise overnight before making pizza. A longer, cold rise will develop better flavor!

--Jerry Finzi

When I starting making pizza about 20 years ago, I made a lot of terrible pies... doughy, pale-looking, tasteless, flat, oily, floppy, burnt--you name it. Lots of mistakes. But that's the part of life I love--learning from our mistakes and really fine-tuning a craft, talent or skill. You have to crawl before you walk or run. On guitar, one must pluck before you strum and then learn chord changes before making really beautiful music.  On my penny whistle, I squealed like a pig before I could play a tune that my wife wanted to sit and listen to. My love of carpentry started when I was 5 years old... with me holding the board while my father sawed it through. Now, I can built pretty much anything I set out to build. 

Learning to make truly great Pizzas requires the same attitude--learning from mistakes--and successes, as they add up. I would say that it took me about a year to learn how to make a really pizza deliziosa. It was perhaps another few years until I could make pretty much any style of pizza... crispy thin crust, bready focaccia, steamy Chicago deep dish, Detroit style, Grandma's pizza, Sicilian sfincione, a classic Neapolitan or even variants like pizza rustica or pizzagaina during the holidays.  I'm not saying it will take you a year, especially since you have me to help you along! You have to start somewhere, and with that simple fact, you need a simple dough that works. I am going to show you how to make my all-around, Basic Pizza Dough... ​
​But, first... 

To make a good crust, you really need a rectangular pizza stone... or better yet, a baking steel. A baking steel transfers heat to the crust or pan much more quickly. The size should be at least a 16" rectangular or square to make virtually any type or shape of pizza (or bread). Round stones are limited and difficult to slide loaded doughs onto without overshooting and dropping dough over the back edge. A rectangular stone/steel can efficiently bake pan pizzas, regardless of shape. Remember to preheat your stone in the oven before baking. With a baking steel, preheat for 45 minutes to an hour before baking.

Baking pan pizzas on a pizza steel or stone a stone affords shorter bake times and a crispier bottom crust.  Placing a pizza in a metal pan directly on a stone speeds up the transfer of heat from the stone to the pan. On a rack, the air in between the rack's wires insulates most of the metal and slows down this transfer of heat from the rack to the pan. 

TIP: A dark pan will brown your pizza faster, brown better and gives a crispier bottom crust. ​

You should also pick up a pizza peel to prep your pizzas on and to remove pizzas from your oven. You might have seen a TV pizzaiolo on occasion loading up their dough rounds with toppings right on their floured, marble work surface, and then drag it onto a peel. Don't even try this. Your dough could stick, you could tear it and heavier toppings will go all over the place. (Because of the way it's made, commercially made dough is often tougher than home-made, artisan pizza, which can be very delicate.)

Also, don't be tempted to toss your pizza round up in the air. This is a very advanced skill that requires technique and a stronger dough.

While I shape my pizzas on a wooden peel I use a metal peel to remove them from the oven. if space is a premium in your cucina, a wooden one can also do double duty. If you plan on using a wooden peel to remove your pizzas form the oven, select one with a longer handle to make lifting heavily topped pizzas more manageable and make sure it has a tapered front edge. In my opinion, a  long handled metal peel for removing pies from the oven is a lot easier to slide under finished, loaded pies. For most kitchens, a 30" long peel will do fine.

​TIP: In case you have a small, galley style kitchen, make sure you have room to back a long handled peel in or out of the oven before buying one!

When planning to bake pizzas directly on the stone, I recommend using parchment paper on top of your wood peel when shaping your dough.
​The process: cover your wood peel with parchment; after kneading the dough on your work counter, shape the dough on top of the parchment; next, add the toppings. An alternative method is to shape your pizza round on the work counter on top of a sheet of parchment, then slide the round and parchment onto your peel.

Parchment does two things: It helps slide your pizza (with the parchment underneath) onto the baking stone (even with heavily loaded pies); and it helps keep your stone and oven clean. When I first started making pizzas, I used to use stone ground corn meal on the wooden peel (some use flour). You can do this, but I've found that some always falls into the oven itself, gets burned and makes a mess on both the oven and stone.​

For serving, buy flat, round 16-18" pizza serving pans (the larger  size can also fit 16" rectangular pizzas with a little ovehang). Do not use this type of pan to bake pizzas on, simply because they are usually silver and won't crisp a crust bottom that well. 

You might also consider a large wooden pizza serving board for serving--and cutting--your pizzas on. Finally, don't forget to buy a decent, large diameter pizza wheel (cutter).  

Another good addition to your pizza toolkit is a pair of pizza shears. Common kitchen shears are too short, plus its best to have offset blades for slipping under loaded pizzas. When making pan pizzas, a pizza wheel can cut across the pie, but a scissor can be used to go back and cut the edges the wheel missed.