Making and Eating Neapolitan Pies at Kesté Pizza (VIDEO)
Pizza is a family affair for Roberto Caporuscio and daughter Giorgia Caporuscio. Roberto is a pizzaiolo, Italian for master pizza maker. Giorgia is a pizzaiola, a female master pizza maker — one of the few in the United States.
Together, they run Kesté Pizza, a place where you can order a delicious pie or learn how to make one yourself. Kesté Pizza and Vino is a pizza shop and school.
Roberto is the U.S. president of the Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers, the Italian governing body that teaches Neapolitan pizza making.
The former cheese maker and farmer says his pizza making began in the city that started it all: Naples. From there, he came to America, honing his skills at Il Pizzaiolo in Pittsburgh (which Alison will tell you is the ONLY place to eat pizza in Pittsburgh).
From Pittsburgh, Roberto became a traveling teacher.
After Giorgia graduated from high school in Italy, she came to New York City and eventually followed in her father’s footsteps, helping with the restaurant and also teaching.
So how hard is it to teach someone to make pizza?
Roberto says teaching someone who has never done it before is actually easier because they follow directions. Giorgia adds that they don’t have bad habits.
With a pizza shop on every corner in New York, what makes pizza from Naples unique? Just about everything, Roberto and Giorgia say, from the ingredients to the pizza maker and the culture of eating.
Pizza from Naples is made with natural flour, is stretched and cooked differently, and is meant to be eaten slowly, sitting down, in the company of friends.
Roberto and Giorgia showed us how it is done.
The key to getting the crust just right is a soft touch. You don’t toss this dough in the air or it will break. Then you add the sauce, the basil, and finally the cheese on top of the basil so the leaves don’t burn in the oven. Just a few minutes by the fire and our pies were done and delicious.
We went from pizza novices to pizza makers in less than an hour.