There’s something special about family recipes—they’re more than just the steps or the ingredients you throw in. They’re about the laughs, the stories, and the warm hugs that come with every get-together. I’d like to tell you about a pizza dough that’s become a bit of a legend in our family, all starting at a big party right after a wedding… Or maybe I must go back a bit further and tell you about where pizza started before I jump into our family’s story.
Way back before there were fancy ovens or food blogs, people were enjoying pizza’s granddad — flatbreads with stuff on top. We’re talking ancient times here, with the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans doing their version of a pizza party. Fast forward to the 1700s, and Naples, Italy, is bustling with life and a lot of hungry mouths to feed. The city’s working class, known as the ‘lazzaroni,’ were poor and needed a quick, cheap bite. That was the birth of modern pizza: a simple flatbread with tomatoes, oil, and other toppings sold on the streets, satisfying cravings on the go.
Pizza got its big break when a cook named Raffaele Esposito cooked up something special for visiting royalty in 1889. He whipped up a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil — the colors of the Italian flag — and boom! pizza Margherita got the royal nod from Queen Margherita herself. This wasn’t just a win for Esposito; it turned pizza into a national treasure in Italy.
Now, to our family recipe…Picture this: a house in Buenos Aires, full of folks buzzing with happiness, music floating in the air, and everyone feeling like one big family. As the fancy wedding finished, 30 or 40 guests who had travelled a long way for the special occasion, landed at a relative’s place, all set to keep the party rolling. The lady of the house, Isabelita, with her Italian roots running deep, decided to turn this gathering into an impromptu feast that nobody’s ever forgotten.
In between the chuckles and tunes, out came this gigantic pot, like the kind you would see in an army kitchen. There she was, the host, getting down to making pizza dough the way her folks taught her. Trust me, this wasn’t the average pizza—it was the real deal, like the kind you’d find in a tucked-away corner in Italy, made with heaps of love and years of family secrets.
Among the guests was a keen observer, my mother, soaking it all in, picking up every trick and tip from her in-law relative. She watched, she learned. But she didn’t just snag a new recipe to try out; she got her hands on a slice of our family’s past and a tradition that she’d keep alive in our own kitchen.
That pizza dough, made in a pot you could bathe a dog in, turned into more than a bunch of ingredients mixed together. It is what brings us back to those good old times at every family gathering, a tasty piece of history that is as much about the memories as it is about eating.
So, as I share this tale with you, why not dig out those recipes that are stitched into your own family’s fabric? What tastes take you back to those golden days? Come along on this delicious trip down memory lane as we raise a toast to the family recipes that keep us connected, one bite at a time.
And hey! Don’t miss out on our next article, where we’ll dish out another warm story about the recipes that get passed down from one generation to the next.
Cecilia
My Easy Pizza dough Recipe
(Thanks Mom!)
Ingredients for 3 large pizzas:
- 600 grs all-purpose flour
- 10 grs instant yeast
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 300 ml warm water
Instructions
Combine flour, salt, instant yeast diluted in a bit of warm water and oil in a large bowl.
Add warm water and use your fingers to stir and combine all the ingredients until the dough is forming into a cohesive, elastic ball and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough must be sticky but still should be manageable with your hands.
Lightly dust your hands with flour and form your pizza dough into 3 round balls. Transfer each ball to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth.
Use either your hands or a rolling pin to work the dough into circle and extend each circle over a pizza pan, which must be coated slightly with olive oil. Then cover the pans with plastic wrap or a clean cloth and place it in a warm place.
Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Preheating your oven to 170C at this point would be a good idea.
Bake for 8-9 minutes until you are able to turn the pizza upside down in the pan without breaking it. Then, bake for 4 more minutes.
Take it out of the oven and add desired pizza sauce and toppings. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until cheese has melted. Slice and serve.