Naples style pizza at home

Pizza is one of the joys of  life. Making great pizza at home is easy. This recipe is in the style of the original delicious pizzas from Naples Italy. Even without a wood burning oven you can make a delicious pizza. It is so much better than the chain pizzas, Have it with your favorite wine or beer.

-Ciao
Nonno Giorgio & Rory

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Movery – An Italian Travel planner

Movery is a platform designed for travel planning. It is an intuitive and easy-to-use portal where you can create your own journey by choosing the destinations to visit. On the website you can easily find all the information about the points of interest in the area, including the lesser-known ones that are outside the usual tourist routes. The content is created by authors who know the area well, so that using this portal is a bit like having a trusted friend who recommends to you the best places to visit, allowing you to experience the area as a true local.

Their claim is “Movery amplifies your travel experience”, and their intent is precisely to assist travellers in creating and managing their personal tour.

The first step is to create a profile with your travel preferences, so as to start immediately the search for the best points of interest to add to your itinerary. In this way you have the opportunity to optimize the time to organize your journey.

The recommended destinations on the portal can be viewed both on the map (in order to plan the itinerary also based on the distance between one point of interest and the other) and through the “Destinations” section, divided by city.

To give further ideas in the planning of the itinerary, the Movery Blog offers recommended routes divided by theme:

• Travel for All: recommended routes for travellers with specific needs: those travelling with a 4-legged friend, those travelling with children or those who need information on routes without architectural barriers.
• Typical Tastes: itineraries dedicated to the discovery of the food and wine excellence of the territory.
• Settings of Endless Stories: collects paths inspired by films and books.
• History Travellers: paths dedicated to history enthusiasts, in order to retrace the places that have acted as a backdrop to great events or the passage of great personalities.

It will soon be possible to share your itinerary created on Movery with your travel companions (and in general with friends, via social channels). At the moment the project is dedicated entirely to the Campania region, but they aim to gradually expand it to cover the entire Italian country.

My YouTube channel. My aim in my BLOGs and VLOGs is to provide quality information on Italy to make your trip easier and more fun. Movery meets these goals.

Movery Information:

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Ciao,

– George

Eating well but cheaply in Italy

We love the food and wine of Italy. It is unique in our world in that it is fresh, local and delicious.

Italy has different types of restaurants:

• Ristorante
• Trattoria
• Osteria
• Pizzeria
• Bars
• Pasticceria

By knowing the differences, as explained in this video, you can eat well for not a lot of money.

Ciao,

– George

Scandinavia

We took a 3-week trip to Scandinavia in April 2019. We flew from Florida to Frankfurt Germany. From Frankfurt:

• we flew to Oslo Norway
• Took a scenic train over snow covered mountains from Oslo to Bergen Norway
• Few from Bergen to Stockholm, Sweden
• Took a Viking overnight cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki, Finland
• Few from Helsinki to Copenhagen Denmark
• Flew back to Frankfurt to return to Florida USA

It was cool in the beginning of April and we had snow flurries in Stockholm. Helsinki, which is the farthest north of all the cities we visited, was the warmest. Easter in Copenhagen was warm and beautiful.

Our thoughts on this trip:

• Norway was our favorite followed by Finland and Denmark.
• The scenic train ride from Oslo to Bergen, Norway is a MUST do
• The Viking cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki was a pleasure and a must do
• We will talk about what we saw, what we ate and the great hotels we stayed in
• If Scandinavia is not on your bucket list, it should be

We are walkers and all of these cities are walkable. They also have great metros and lots of bicycles to rent. Taxis are very expensive so we will talk about fast, easy and safe public transportation from the airports to the central train stations. Hop-On-Hop-Off Busses and boats are a great way to get oriented and see all the main sites.

Scandinavia has a reputation for being expensive and it can be. We saw everything, ate well and travelled fast between cities and within cities for an average of $100/day for two people. Our hotels cost on average $100/day as well.

I will be doing a VLOG on how to travel cheap soon. Look for it.

Now, sit back and travel with us to these four wonderful countries:

Ciao

-George

Rome 2

Rome or Roma in Italian is a wonderful city to walk around. There is good and safe public transportation but if you enjoy walking, you can walk everywhere in Rome. The food and wine are first class. Of course you can find great pastas and pizzas but Rome has so much more to offer including great fish.

This is my second VLOG on Rome and brings the familiar places and some not so familiar. I hope you enjoy this video and get to experience Roma!

Come walk with us around this amazing capital city. Watch my YouTube video below and discover Rome and these sites:

• Spanish Steps
• Trevi Fountain,
• Temple of Hadrian
• Pantheon,
• Campo dei Fiori,
• Old Rome,
• Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verita),
• Aristo Campo Trattoria in Trastevere,
• Saint Peter’s Basilica,
• Vatican City Museum & Sistine Chapel,
• Colosseum,
• Arch of Constantine,
• Pizzaria San Marco,
• Orvieto,
• Tivoli,
• Villa Borghese and the Museum,
• Trolley ride in Rome.

 

-George

Spain and Italy

This is a summary of out trip to Spain and Italy and gives details on how we planned the trip. Rory and I travelled to Madrid, Seville, Barcelona, Venice and Rome. How did we plan this trip? How many days do you need in each place? How do you get from one city to the next?

these questions and more are answered in the YouTube video below:

Ciao,

 

George

 

Naples Style Pizza at Home

Naples is considered the birthplace of pizza. It started in the late 1700’s. Early pizzas had things like tomatoes, cheese, anchovies and garlic on them. In 1889 after Italy became unified, King Umberto & Queen Margherita visited Naples. Chef Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi and his wife created a new pizza for the Queen and named it after her. It was to have the colors of the Italian flag: Red – tomato sauce, Green – Basil and White – Mozzarella Cheese.

This pizza was not known outside of Naples until around 1940’s. Today it can be found all over the world. The original style, still made in Naples, uses a wood burning oven (between 600 & 750 F), 00 pizza flour, live yeast, fresh basil, EVOO and buffalo mozzarella cheese. It is thin crusted and light. Each person gets a whole pizza, which is NOT sliced and eats it with a fork and knife or takes a slice in the streets of Naples in paper. It was street food for the poor.

 

ORIGINAL NAPLES PIZZA RECIPE:

Making the dough:

Mix flour, water, salt and yeast. Pour a liter of water into a dough making machine, dissolve 50-55 g of salt, add 10% of the total amount of flour you are planning to use, then dissolve 3g of yeast, and start mixing gradually adding the remaining 1.8 Kg flour until the dough reaches the desired texture and consistency, defined as “Il Punto di Pasta”, smooth to the touch and very extensible .

Rising:

Let the dough rest on a marble slab or a wooden surface for 2 hours covered with a damp cloth and then divide into individual ball-shaped portions of 180 grams each.

Set aside in a container to rise for a second time for 4-6 hours at room temperature.

Rolling:

Use your hands and with a round motion roll out the dough on a marble slab covered with flour until it becomes 3 mm thick with a 1-2 cm edge.

Filling:

Take about 60g to 70g of chopped tomatoes and using a wooden spoon place in the center of the disk of dough.  With a spiraling motion, spread the tomato over the surface.  Then add a pinch of salt on the tomatoes, 80 – 100 g of DOP buffalo mozzarella, cut into strips and some basil leaves. Again with a spiraling motion starting from the centre, add 4 to 5 grams of extra virgin olive oil.

Cooking:

Cook in a wood- brick oven at a temperature between 450C° to 480C°, rotating the position of the pizza frequently to make sure the heat is spread evenly.

Eating method:

Use your hands and enjoy the taste of Italy!

 

Our Pizza:

Often, we make our own dough, but today we were testing some prepared doughs from both Trader Joes and Publix Supermarket. We also make our own pizza sauce from marzano tomatoes, but sometimes you just have to have a quicker alternative:

Dough Balls from Trader Joes and Publix

Sauce – Premium Organic Paesano Tomato and Basil (available at Costco)

Buffalo Mozzarella from COSTCO

Fresh basil from our supermarket

We brought the dough to room temperature, divided it into two balls and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then on a floured surface, we pressed the dough out in all directions from the center to form a circle. You then grab a side of the dough and pull out and fold back over your hand to increase the size of the pie. This is continued all around the pie several times until it is the size you want (around 10”). The center should be paper thin and thicker around the edges. The Trader Joe’s dough was the best to work with and had the best results, forming a larger pie without tearing. The Publix dough was a bit more delicate, but also made a very good pizza.

Next ladle some sauce on pie in center and spread it out in circles around pie. Then season the sauce with Parmesan cheese and garlic (if desired). Next place the fesh basil and finally the Buffalo Mozzarella cheese. Then sprinkle some EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) over the top.

Pre heat your oven to 500-550 with a good quality pizza stone in it. After it reaches temperature wait another 15 minutes to allow stone to reach the temperature. Use a pizza Peel to slide the pie onto the stone. It should only take about 5-6 minutes to cook. The edges should be brown and check bottom so it doesn’t get to dark.

The crust edges should be crispy but the bottom center should be soft. Take pie out of oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing or serve whole like in Italy.

If you are doing a second pie, allow oven to reach temperature again before putting it in.

Enjoy…

 

Below is a video VLOG of us making this pizza …

 

– George & Jo Febish

The Wonderful Foods of Italy

There is a lot to say about the food of Italy and its all good. Except for very touristy places, the food is fresh, well prepared and delicious. Italians love their food and so does the rest of the world. You may think you know Italian cooking because you eat in Italian restaurants in England or America or your parents were Italian but it is not the same as what is served in Italy.

Italy’s restaurants serve local fresh foods usually organic. The dishes are simple but extremely tasty. It may be a simply cooked meat or fish over a grill fire or a pasta cooked al dente with a wonderful sauce or fresh vegetables. You can eat well in any non touristy ristorante or Trattoria. These places pride themselves in the food they prepare and serve.

Come with us as we talk about the different foods around Italy. It is not just pasta and pizza. Our YouTube video below explores these wonderful foods.

 

– George J Febish

Campania, Italy

Campania is in southern Italy below Rome. It includes famous areas like Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Campania has wonderful Blue Flag Beaches and some very interesting mountain towns. You have everything thing here including: museums, beaches, mountains, great food & wine and friendly people.

We chose this area to have a second home and have fallen in love with it. Come walk with us through several towns in the great region.

– George

Why I love Italy

This is a different VLOG for me. In this one I talk about the reasons I love Italy and give tips to both first time travelers to Italy well as experienced Italian travelers.

The video covers several sections:

• Why I love Italy
• Top Reasons I love Italy
• Museums
• What to do in Italy
• Finding Places to Eat
• The Metro (Subway)
• Time to go
• Hotels
• Currency (Euros)
• Airfares
• Hopper App
• Driving in Italy
• Put Italy on your Bucket List

If Italy is not on your bucket list, it should be. Watch the video below and see why so many people love and go to Italy.

– George