Description

*Slow Rise Pizza On-Demand courses may be viewed as many times as you’d like for 60 days, starting from the time you sign up.*

On-Demand Pizza Romana with Biga Pizza & Bread Class in a Home Gas Oven with Italian Master Pizzaiolo Michele D’Amelio –  Advanced Level 2

In this On-Demand, advanced pizza and bread making class, World Champion and Italian-born pizza maker Michele D’Amelio joins Noel to cover a variety of biga-fueled styles including Pizza Bianca, Pizza al Taglio, and Ciabatta. 

Pizzaiolo Michele D’Amelio will work with us to introduce the traditional Italian pre-ferment known as biga and explore this process to improve high hydration doughs—both in their flavor and performance. This class is perfect for experts and advanced bakers looking for pizza classes at home aimed at improving their knowledge of traditional pre-ferments. 

Many of you already know Michele from his popular live #ZoomPizzaClasses including his now streaming Neapolitan 2.0 Online Pizza Class which was sold out when it went live and has been streaming to great success since early 2023.  Still, others of you who have taken our Advanced Level 1: Expert Online Pizza Class, where we introduced you to the joys of high hydration mixing as well as with the wonderful world of pre-ferments, may find this class an excellent follow-up.

Whatever the case, Roman-style pizza and bread recipes and techniques have become immensely popular over the last 10 years and show no signs of slowing down.  Different from Focaccia to the North and Sfincione to the South, Roman-style pizza, or Pizza Bianca alla Romana as it is also sometimes referred to, have many qualities which have made it the enduring rising star of pizza for so long now.

Let’s review just a few of the qualities that people love about this pizza style…

• the texture is incredible because of the variety: crunchy on the bottom, crispy on the top, light and airy in the middle
• the light and airy crumb owes to the high level of water (or hydration) compared with other pizza styles
• the crunch bottom comes from a longer less intense bake compared with Neapolitan pizza for example
• the intensive mixing style allows the baker to “inject” more air into the dough for a very light texture
• the style often calls for extended fermentation time which improves flavor, aroma and shelf life
• the toppings can be both traditional and modern; light, season and fresh; often served Bianca-style ie. without tomato sauce

Another thing that people love about this Roman Pizza style or “Pizza Romana” as it is often called generally is that you can make a variety of different pizzas and breads (Pizza Bianca, Pizza al Taglio, and Ciabatta) using the same basic dough recipe. Often the only difference can how the dough is fermented after mixing, how and when the dough is shaped after fermenting, whether dough dough is cooked directly on the oven hearth (as with Pizza Bianca) or in a steel pan (as with Pizza al Taglio), or whether it is served without “pizza toppings” (as with Ciabatta).

Finally, Noel Brohner has been trumpeting this family of bread and pizza styles for over 10 years as he has traveled far and wide to sample so many of the great pizzerias and bakeries who offer variations on this theme.

Here are a few of Noel’s favorites, for those of you who are not yet initiated, just to name a few…

• Jim Lahey’s wildly popular and often imitated New York institution, Sullivan Street Bakery
• The Roman bakery where Jim Lahey learned this style while studying architecture in Rome, Forno Campo de Fiori
• Campo de Fiori’s main Roman bakery “competition” thought you do not have to choose between them: Antico Forno Roscioli
• The upstart Roman Bakery where Gabriele Bonci became known as the Michelangelo of Roman Pizza, Bonci Pane (aka Pizzarium)

More About Michele from PMQ Magazine:

“Born in Avelino, Italy, in 1988, D’Amelio grew up in Lioni, a small town outside of Naples. At a young age, he started playing with dough while his mother baked bread in the family’s wood-burning oven. He quickly learned to make pizza for the family. At age 19, he began working in a local pizzeria.

D’Amelio has won several prestigious pizza competitions, including finishing second place in the Regina Margherita Association’s Margherita STG event in Naples, Italy in 2010. In 2013, he traveled to Las Vegas with the Caputo/Orlando Foods team of master pizzaioli and won first place in the Italian Style category at the Pizza Expo. In 2014, he won second place in the Pizza World Championship in Parma.”

Suggested Class Prerequisites: Intermediate Level 1 & Advanced Level 1

Noel Brohner is a Los Angeles based pizza consultant who offers both Live Zoom and Video On-Demand online pizza classes for professionals and home bakers alike. These online pizza classes will allow you to progress to Neapolitan, New York Pizza, Detroit-Style Pizza, and even Sourdough and high hydration pizzas.

All photos courtesy of Michele D’Amelio.  

After you Register:

We will send you an email with a link to login to our site and access your dashboard. All class materials and recipes are available on the video page, and you can begin watching immediately after registration.

Don’t hesitate to email us at classes@slowrisepizza.com if you have any questions.