Pizza

Illustration: John McGowan

I went to an opening a few weeks back. Not living a Beckham lifestyle it was a treat to get first go at a hot new establishment. The place in question was The Hearth, Lewes’ new pizzeria/bakery in the hipster venue of the old bus station. Bit of a mob scene to be honest and not as exclusive as my fantasy, but the food was delicious and the complimentary wine a cut above. It did make me wonder though, why Lewes is so well endowed with Italian eateries.  By my reckoning there are currently six, but I’m sure it’s been as high as ten in the heyday of Si and that strange one that used to be on South Street. Does Lewes like pizza that much? And would one sushi bar be too much to ask for?

It’s odd, this phenomenon of similar shops clustering together. It would seem reasonable to assume that similarly-themed businesses would spread out. “I’ll take Lewes and you take Ringmer,” kind of thing. Make sure everyone has a particular sort of shop handy. When you start to look though, it turns not to be like that at all. From film producers in Hollywood and hi-fi shops in Tottenham Court Rd, through to book shops in our own high street, it seems that similar businesses often want to be near each other. In fact it is sometimes even a formal economic policy to develop business clusters. The idea behind these is to drive inventiveness, specialist skill development and inward investment, all in a single location.

This suggests that the decision to open another pizzeria in town is not necessarily a mistake, as it might at first appear. Rather than everyone getting a smaller slice of the pie (an appropriate metaphor if ever I saw one), Lewes, like Silicon Valley, could instead become a magnet for entrepreneurs, discerning consumers and venture capitalists. We already have a bunch of pizza restaurants offering innovation in the form of fads like jars of pickled vegetables and leather chairs (Prezzo), faux-realism (those pretend wooden tables in Ask), and sourdough spirituality (the aforesaid Hearth). There are also more lasting verities like family (Famiglia) and being classier than Pizza Hut (Pizza Express). It might get to the point where fancying a pizza means the phrase, “let’s go to Lewes” isn’t far behind.

All of this might drive the opening of more restaurants, potentially creating a local equivalent of Douglas Adams’ “Shoe Event Horizon” where it is economically impossible to open anything else but a pizzeria. It’ll go nicely with the coffee takeover we’ve already had. If you like pizza this is obviously good news. However, even if you could live on the stuff, don’t you ever get a slight craving for something different now and then? All those hungry people coming into town might sometimes be wooed away too. By a little branch of YO! Sushi maybe? Or Brighton’s finest, Murasaki. In fact if the YO! or the Murasaki people are reading I’d like to point out that we’re just up the road, the town is full of pizzerias and some of us fancy a quick nigiri platter before our next deep pan slice.

Baking Bread

Anyone not like homemade bread? No? I didn't think so. It’s a byword for serious cookery, often delicious and the smell alone is reckoned to turn a shoddy house into a saleable property. It also seems to be the piety of the week for those of an environmental turn of mind. Not just regular bread either. To be truly committed to the earth these days sourdough is de rigeur. Just like our ancestors used to make in the days before we were corrupted by modern luxuries like coal-fired power stations, global trade and er... yeast. I can’t help but wonder though: what’s so sustainable about making your own bread?

Undeniably, home baking appeals to those with a  self-sufficient streak, though most of us don’t grow our own grains and mill them. Even so, with a bag of flour from Tesco you have a fighting chance of attaining the glow of self-righteousness  that radiated from Tom and Barbara in The Good Life. Rather inconveniently for the emissions-conscious though, baking a loaf in a domestic oven uses many times the amount of energy of commercial oven. You can get around that one fairly neatly using one of those very clever bread machines which not only consume less lecky but also do some of the work.

It’s the hassle factor that seems to be the main sticking point.  If you’ve ever tried bread-making you will have noticed that it requires a certain commitment. Even if someone has a bread machine how likely are they to use it regularly? Some of us might be good for a few loaves or maybe a month or two of obsession, but who is going to live off home made bread unless they have to? Then there is the problem of who is going to eat a diet of our hearty loaves (not my kids anyway). It’s no wonder that one of the earliest specialist trades in human society was that of a baker. A professional who could make economies of scale, a range of products and leave the rest of us free to get on with other stuff. Without bakers, it’s difficult to see how we would ever have got out of the stone age.

“Hello axe-maker. I’d like to upgrade my old flint hatchet to one of those new bronze ones.”

“Sorry guv I don’t have time for this bronze-smithing lark. I’m too busy punching down my dough.”

One might reasonably assume that we wouldn’t have science, medicine, art and technology (including bread machines) if people had been piddling around all day with their sourdough starters.

Even if oil runs out and we’re left in a Mad Max-like future, spending our Lewes Pounds on home grown vegetables, it’s hard to see bread-making catching on en masse. Still, though it may not last more than a few minutes as the latest eco trend, it is good to see someone blowing the trumpet for a homemade loaf. In that spirit then let me finish with a recipe.

Venetian Olive Breads

This recipe accompanied my Viva Lewes Column on the 17th of November 2011

Konditor and Cook, posh bakers extraordinaire, do roll-sized versions of this Northern Italian classic. If you’re near the Borough Market this means lunch is sorted. Here is an attempt at something similar. Use whatever bread dough you fancy but this one is easy and works well. The whole thing takes about 5 1/2 hours all-in though you can do the first rising overnight.

Makes 8 rolls

For the Bread Dough

400g strong white bread flour or Italian’00’ flour if you can get it.

225 ml tepid water

1 level teaspoon of easy blend yeast

1 teaspoon finely chopped oregano

1 egg

25ml olive oil

Pinch of salt

For the filling

1 lump of fresh buffalo mozzarella

200g pitted green olives

1.    Heat the inside of a mixing bowl with boiling water. Mix the 225 ml of warm water and the yeast and  then beat in 175g of flour to make a batter. Cover with a towel and leave for 2-4 hours or overnight.

2.    When you come back to it fold in the oregano, egg (beaten first) and olive oil trying not to tear the stretchy glutens too much. Then fold in the flour and salt in a similar way. Use more flour if you need to but you’re trying to get a slightly sticky dough.

3.    Give it three quick kneads over the next half hour on a lightly oiled surface. (Sorry if you like kneading but the idea that a lot of it is necessary to build glutens is a myth). Then cover and leave for 30 mins.

4.    While you’re waiting slice the mozzarella thinly,  and make sure you have this, the olives and a small bowl of water handy. Grease a cookie sheet and put that nearby too.

5.    Put the dough on a lightly floured board, give it a quick knead and then cut it into eight roughly equal sized pieces. Roll one piece of dough into an approximately circular shape about 1/4 inch thick. Put a slice of the cheese in the middle of the dough circle and then 2-3 olives on top, then another slice of cheese on top of that. Then gather the edges of dough around the cheese and olives to make a kind of sealed parcel with the filling inside. Try and make sure it’s completely sealed. Wetting your fingers at this point might help it stick. Then flip it over and put it on the cookie tray with the round side up. Go through the same process with the remaining bits of dough, making sure the finished rolls are spaced out on tray. Once all the rolls are on the cookie tray cover them with a wet dish towel and leave them in a warm place to rise for 90 minutes or till they’ve doubled in size.

6.    Preheat your oven to 200C (180C fan) or gas 4. When they have risen take of the towel and bake the rolls for 12-15 minutes. You can brush them with beaten egg before cooking if you prefer. Leave them to cool a bit before eating.