How would you like a wood oven like this in your back garden?
My son sent me this photo. He found it in the house across the road from where he lives; the house was up for sale and he took a peak during one of the open inspections. And there it was!
I can imagine the range of goodies that have been cooked in that oven over the last 20 years.
Once the oven is fired up the heat would be utilized till the end.
High heat is required for the wood fired bread (enough for the week and perhaps one or two relatives) and plenty of pizzas for the the weekly occasion when the extended family visits.
And some for the grand kids’ school lunches.
Heat would not have been wasted. After the baking of the food that requires high heat, there may be some trays of biscuits that require moderate heat and then the oven would be utilized to slowly roast trays of meat or perhaps to finish off drying trays of dried tomatoes or left over bread to make into breadcrumbs.
My experiences of an Italian Christmas are limited to Sicily (with my grandparents) and Trieste (where I lived as a child) and with Christmas coming up I have been thinking about traditional food in other parts of Italy. If the people who lived in the house with the wood fired oven were from the eastern side of a central region of Italy called Le Marche, they may be preparing to make a traditional fruit and nut bread for Christmas.
Natale is the Italian word for Christmas and the fruit and nut bread the Marchigiani make is called a Pizza di Natale or a Pizza Natalizia; it is not a pizza, but because a pizza dough (same as a bread dough) is used for the basis of this traditional fruit bread, it is referred to as a pizza.
The following mixture will make two pizzas. The dough needs to rise for 6-8 hours so it would be preferable to mix it the day before you intend to bake it.As for the shape, you can divide the dough into two and shape it into two round loaves or each half placed into cake tins – preferably those with tall sides or with a hole in the middle (the shape will be called a ciambella).
PIZZA DOUGH
You can make pizza dough using your favourite recipe or buy ready made dough or use this recipe:
Ingredients:
1 kg strong white flour,1 level tablespoon fine sea salt,1 tablespoon sugar, approx 650ml (3 cups) lukewarm water, 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 sachets of dry yeast – one sachet or one envelope weighs 7 grams (2 teaspoons).
Mix the yeast, sugar into water and stir well and set aside while you prepare the flour. Mix the flour and salt into a large bowl, make a hole in the middle, pour the yeast mixture into the hole. Use your hands and knead the mixture to form a dough. You may need to add a little more flour if the mixture is too wet or more water if it is too dry. Knead it until you have a smooth dough. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover it with plastic wrapping or a tea towel. Leave in a warm room until the dough has doubled in size – about an hour. Add the oil and knead it again.
PIZZA DI NATALE
Mix together: 500 gr walnuts (broken up into large bits), 200g raisins, 200g dried figs (chopped), 100g of citrus peel, black ground pepper and nutmeg to taste (I like it spicy), 350g sugar and grated rind of 1 lemon and 1orange.
Juice of the orange and lemon to add to the mixture when you combine the dough with the fruit and nut mixture in case it is too dry. Or splash some rum or orange flavoured liqueur to moisten the dough – alcohol is my preferred choice, but is not traditional.
Combine the dough with the fruit and nut mixture and knead well.
Divide the dough into two and shape into round loaves or place it into two tins -the dough needs room to rise so choose suitable tins.
Leave the Pizza Natalizia to rise for 6 hours or overnight.
Bake them in the oven at about 210°C for about 40-50 minutes. Do the usual things that are done when baking, i.e. cover the tops with baking paper if the top is cooking too quickly, insert a skewer into the dough at the end of 40 minutes to see if it is cooked etc.
Store in cake tins or a couple of layers of foil till ready to slice.
Other posts about pizza- like Sicilian goodies
Scacce and Pizza and Sicilian Easter