It feels like 2014 is going to be a big year

With almost two months down we’re long overdue an update. If you’re already on our mailing list you’ll have heard most of this via our first newsletter a couple of weeks back and if you’ve not signed up then here’s the link.

So why the update. Why now? Well things are really starting to get somewhere. We’re accelerating.

Bertha's Pizza has wheels... albeit no oven

A couple of weeks ago we picked up the wheels for ‘mobile Bertha’, the perfect grey Land Rover Defender.

Okay, she's yellow. Very yellow. But yellow’s also Kate’s favourite colour and we may as well stand out at the markets. Some things are clearly meant to be.

It amuses me that my very first car is a two tonne Land Rover to which we’ll be adding an additional half tonne of oven. After collecting her from Birmingham we drove the 180 miles to Essex where we’re having our oven fitted by the excellent Dragon Ovens. Turns out life in a Landy moves at a slower pace. She has the aerodynamics of a shed. But having settled into a steady 60mph it was a fun drive.

One month to showtime

We now have a month or so of oven fitting ahead of us giving us time to finish the branding, order all the equipment, complete the food hygiene requirements and quit the day job. Exciting times. 

What do you think of the logo by the way?

We like that at the heart of it is the outline of the original Bertha. Where all this started.

On the lookout for suppliers, events and pizza eaters

So like I said, we’re getting there and hope to make you a pizza soon. We’re currently speaking to various markets and smaller festivals about arranging spaces. We also want to be involved with charity and community events and have a couple of exciting pipe dreams in mind where the focus will be on giving back.

We’re keen to meet more of our suppliers, watch this space for more videos, I promise not to use the Mario theme tune again. And if you or any of your friends happen to be looking for a caterer to provide wood fired, sourdough pizzas then get in touch.

All together now:

“We all live in a yellow submarine,

A yellow submarine,

Yellow submarine…”

Making Mozz

What’s Rhianna’s favourite cheese? Mozzarella-ella-ella.

Apologies. Even as cheese jokes go that’s a shocker. I’ve been wanting to make mozzarella for some time and inspired by the gents at Pizzicletta who are chuffed with the results of their own cheese making, I thought I’d give it a go this weekend.

So Saturday morning off I cycled to Stoke Newington Farmer’s market coming home with 2 litres of Hook and Son’s finest. I’m not going to regurgitate the recipe, that’s covered very well, here and here. Instead I wanted to share a few pictures of how it turned out:

All things considered it was pretty straight forward. Two litres of milk yielded 200g of mozzarella so it wasn’t the most economical. The recipe suggested a yield closer to twice that but I suspect at least part of that was down to my own over exuberance in kneading the cheese and my excitement of seeing it come together. The plan then was to make re cook the whey to make ricotta, literally “recooked” in italian, and then make Gjetost, a Norwegian brown cheese from what was left over.

This is where my beginners luck ran out though, the ricotta didn’t come together, and my brown cheese remained white. The Google diagnosis was that my whey was probably too acidic, not surprising given I couldn’t source citric acid powder so had guessed the lemon juice equivalent, one whole lemon proved in this case to be the incorrect answer, but you live and learn.

Naples Pizza Tour

A weekend's worth of pizza gluttony distilled into just over three minutes:

Naples Pizza Tour from BerthasPizza on Vimeo.

Restaurants (in order of appearance):

Trianon

Di Matteo

Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente
Di Matteo (again)
Locanda ‘Ntretella
Starita
Da Michele
Sorbillo

5 Reasons to visit Bravi Ragazzi

1) One of the best margheritas I’ve had anywhere let alone in London

2) Textbook charing

3) Cloud-like cornicione

4) Proper Pastiera - Neapolitan cheese cake made with ricotta, wheat and a hint of citrus. No photo, we demolished it before I remembered

5) Advice on Naples pizzerias - when I mentioned we were going to Naples for a weekend pizza tour their reply was “why? It’s just he same as you’ve had here”

They may have a point.

Bravi Ragazzi

PG tips

After Flagstaff I headed to New York which in my humble opinion has the strongest claim to the best pizza city on earth. The tea however is rubbish.

You only make the mistake of ordering a tea in a coffee shop once

I’m guessing they don’t have PG tips over there, but that didn’t matter I was here so seek tips from Mr Paulie Gee himself. I’ve talked about Paulie before, he needs no introductions in the pizza circles and was good enough to spare a couple of hours to sit down with us and share his advice. His generosity didn’t end there and before we knew it he’d picked out four of his favourites from his current menu. They were incredible. There are lots of great pizzerias in New York but where Paulie really stands out - his genius - is his topping combinations. The Cherry Jones with gorgonzola, prosciutto and cherries being just one example which ticked off each of the five tastes with aplomb. I’d like to show you pictures, but part and parcel of the unique interior is low level lighting and my phone camera didn’t do justice at all, so for now you’ll just have to take me word for it and visit in person as soon as you can.

Whilst in town we also managed to squeeze in visits to a couple of other pizza places I’ve been longing to try. Roberta's had been on my wish list for some time and being just around the corner from where we were staying we swung by on our first night. There we shared a Barely Legal, with the broccoli and pork sausage I thought this would be a take on a classic salsiccia and friarielli but the horseradish and caramelised onion took it to another level. The best things about it was the crust though, really distinctive and like nothing we’d tried before, it had a light interior but was crisper than usual on the outside.

Motorino completed the trinity of my must visit Neapolitan joints although if I’m honest we came away underwhelmed, it felt like very Americanised pizza, heavy on the toppings. There’s no denying their Brussels Sprout with smoked pancetta, garlic and said sprouts is a brilliant combination but the toppings were piled to deep pan heights and it lacked the subtlety and sophistication of what we’d seen elsewhere. Perhaps just an off night.

From there it was only fair that my other half participated more in the restaurant selection and we were spoilt by all the other culinary delights New York has to offer.

As another Englishman in New York recently put it:

Better Out Than In, Banksy in New York

Rocket not Arugula

24 hours travelling, Government shutdown, elocution lessons and silly amounts of pizza.

Flagstaff is a long way from the UK, I appreciate that now, it’s also much higher and hence colder than I’d envisaged, so much for shorts and t-shirt desert weather. Yet it’s a great destination, if like me you arrive on public transport and remain close to the historic old town, it’s a quaint American town, so quaint it’s possible to avoid strip malls and the golden arches of McDonalds entirely. Ahh, bliss. It’s also dark, very dark, if you happen to arrive late at night, on a new moon, having travelled for 24hours straight I’d recommend a torch, it’s the world’s first International Dark Sky City - amazing for star gazing, less good for finding your motel.

Day one was a struggle, 3 batches of dough, gelato, prep, full service on little sleep. That night I slept like a log. As the week progressed I settled into the groove, fuelled by coffee from one of the town’s many roasteries and the banter from my new colleagues. They couldn’t have been more welcoming. Caleb threw open the doors to the whole operation and answered all my questions without hesitation. In return I did my best not to get in the way and helped out where I could. My accent provided the amusement, and it appears the American equivalent of sending the new guy out for a ‘long stand’ is to request one egg to be collected at a time from the store room, either that or was just unlucky with the orders. The highlight of each day was being let loose on the oven, a beaut of a Stefano Ferrara, and my skills progressed as I got used to the high hydration, 3 day ferment dough which they’re famous for, delicious and delicate in equal measures.

I helped with the bakes, something I’d been really excited about seeing beforehand and I wasn’t disappointed. They’re a pizzeria first and a bakery second but I don’t think there’s a bakery out there which wouldn’t be proud of the results. It’s no fluke, this is a real labour of love and Scott and Caleb were both in on their day off to run a test bake always looking to hone their skills. In fact that’s probably what struck me most, the whole team cares. Really cares. This was genuine, and they all mucked in to ensure the best experience for anyone who stops by.

The best testament to what Pizzicletta stands for was probably not the pizza, it was the team, the Pizzicletta family.

Baby Steps

This weekend I’ll travel 5000 miles for pizza. That’s got to be close to some kind of record, it’s five times further than the Proclaimers were prepared to go. I’ll be going to spend some time at Pizzicletta. There are arguably better pizzerias around, and definitely closer ones but I doubt there’s one which is closer to my vision - a friendly neighbourhood restaurant serving good ingredients on good bread. It helps that they make everything from scratch, including their own gelato, that they focus on the best of local ingredients and even bake their own bread in house – not even the oven’s residual heat is wasted here. So it’s not hard to understand my attraction, what takes a bit more explaining is why I’m taking my allotted two week’s annual leave and flying to the other side of the planet to work 14 hour days and stay in a crappy motel.

The truth is I can’t wait. It’s a first tentative step towards my dream. The dream of running my own pizzeria. The trip is a test, I love the idea but am I prepared for the reality.

The owner, Caleb also started out in a very different field, as his name suggests he’s not Italian, but he’s got pizza in his soul and his story has been an inspiration to me for some time. Whilst over there I’ll also be spending some time in New York – it’d be rude not to – and ticking off some of the long list of pizza joints I’ve wanted to try for an age. I’ll also be meeting another legend from the pizza scene a Mr Paulie Gee who’s generously agreed to spare some time to share his own experiences in moving from IT professional to owner of one of the most popular restaurants in New York. Cheers Paulie!

As for what happens after that, who knows. One step at a time. Baby steps.