Why Does My Pizza Look Burnt?
It is a totally normal question to ask. You order a pizza and it’s covered with big, black spots. It must be burnt, right?
Well, it’s not technically burnt, it’s actually charred. And, there is a perfectly good and delicious reason why!
Let’s begin with a little bit of history. Pizza originated in Naples, Italy. It started in ancient times with flatbread that was baked in wood-fired ovens. It was part of the diet for most people back then.
Neapolitan style pizza was created in the 1800’s. It was still baked in a wood-fired oven but toppings were added. The toppings consisted of tomatoes and mozzarella. Imagine only two choices for toppings!
Later around 1899, a baker created a pizza based on the colors of the Italian Flag, (red, white and green) to serve the king and queen. The classic Neapolitan pizza: tomatoes, mozzarella and basil was born!
Traditional Neapolitan pizza has charring on both the edges and bottom. The pizza is baked in a wood-burning oven at 900 degrees and cooks within minutes.
Charring is a result of the high heat from baking the dough directly on the oven and the heat coming down from the oven ceiling.
Charring is inevitable when cooking at high heat. When the soft dough hits hot the oven, the edges puff up. The crust becomes crispy and charred on the bottom. It also develops charred spots. This spotting is called leoparding.
Leoparding is the big, brown bubbles that develop on the crust as it is cooked. The bubbles form a spotting pattern similar to that of a leopard’s coat. Hence, why it is called “leoparding”.
The charred spots add to the flavor of the pizza. As the charring darkens, the crust becomes bitter. The sugars are released from the dough and they start to caramelize.
The sweetness of the tomato sauce and the creaminess of the cheese combined with the bitterness of the crust create a balanced and flavorful pizza.
The end result is:
Delizioso! So delicious!
Fun Fact:
Tomatoes were believed to be poisonous back then. Many Europeans thought people were dying because of tomatoes. It was later discovered that the acidity of the tomatoes mixed with the lead from pewter plates caused people to die from lead poisoning.
Tomatoes as a pizza topping weren’t recognized until the poor in Naples started adding them to their flatbreads. Word got out about how amazing these flatbreads were! And, visitors started flocking to poor neighborhoods just for the flatbreads!
