Pizzaday with Stefanie Hiekmann
Editing and photography: Victoria Birgel | linea_weiss
The summer has also reached us in Germany clearly noticeable. High temperatures and plenty of sunshine are driving us outdoors. Outside of the midday heat, it can still be endured quite well, otherwise the garden hose or a cooling foot bath must be called in. For such beautiful summer moments, it is worth preparing the outdoor area at home for coffee at sunrise, the shady lunch or the pizza evening with friends. To make sure that the latter is not only a wet and merry but also a culinary success, a little flair is required when it comes to dough and toppings.
Cookbook author and food photographer Stefanie Hiekmann invited us for a relaxed trial run and pizza shoot day and let us in on a few secrets.
In the best weather, Steffi welcomes us beaming with joy, her fingers floury, the kitchen towel in her hands. Because pizza dough needs time and attention - that's already the first lesson, right on the doorstep. It is a pity and at the same time a relief that this important step has already been prepared - a whole 72 hours in advance, but more about that later.
But first we toast with a homemade iced tea made from red summer fruits - nice and cold, of course, with ice cubes and some basil. We comfortably discuss the most important steps to a perfect homestyle pizza, in the relaxed armchair of the POOL OUTDOOR LOUNGE family, with our feet propped up on the matching ottoman. In addition, I have grabbed the matching armrest tray, the drink so always within reach. Steffi, on the other hand, opts for the version with additional upholstered cover, which turns the POOL OUTDOOR LOUNGE into a cozy, weatherproof comfort chair.
After the verbal »dry run« it's time for culinary action. While Steffi smoothes out her dough in portions so that the individual pizza patties are the right size, we prepare the sauce. And it's quite puristic, that's how we like it best. For the obligatory red sauce on the pizza there are several basic recipes and possibilities. We sauteed onions and garlic in plenty of olive oil until translucent, so that they develop a nice sweetness. Deglaze with good canned tomatoes. In fact, they have extra flavor, especially if you're unsure about the quality of fresh tomatoes. »In summer, this is usually not a problem, quite the opposite,« reveals Steffi, who has been developing recipes and successfully writing and photographing cookbooks for about ten years.
Seasoned with spices and finely pureed, it already makes a great base for many other sauce variations. With basil or thyme? Perhaps still take something white wine for deglazing in addition? Vermouth also works wonderfully, says Steffi. She likes to work with a batch of steamed shallots, lots of garlic and olive oil, simmered down with Noilly Prat. "It really gives a lot of kick for sauces, but also for risotto and vegetable dishes," says the cookbook author from Osnabrück. For the tomato sauce that lands on the pizza dough, too, there are of course no limits to the imagination. In this case, however, Steffi likes to leave it purist; sometimes she even just takes high-quality San Marzano tomatoes, which she seasons with salt and garlic. This keeps the focus on the toppings of the respective pizza.
Speaking of toppings, the preparations in the kitchen are already underway. Fortunately, this is not particularly complicated: Simply select the tastiest foods and, if necessary, pluck or cut them into mouth- or pizza-size pieces.
Steffi's tip for the perfect pizza topping: Often less is more. Provided the ingredients are good, it pays not to overload the pizza dough. That way, they don't swell as quickly during baking and the dough retains its structure and texture. If you overload thin pizza dough with mountains of corn, kidney beans, tuna and peppers, as if you were placing a salad on dough, you will unfortunately rather shipwreck: The pizza takes so much too long in the oven and becomes much too runny in the middle part. It's better to limit yourself to a thin, well-measured layer of ingredients that doesn't slay the dough right away.
To start, a Margherita is put into the hot pizza oven, the mother of all pizzas, so to speak. The right cheese, preferably good mozzarella, plays the biggest role here. Steffi plucks it into fine pieces and spreads it evenly over the tomato-garlic base, which she has seasoned with a little salt. Garnished with fresh basil (after baking!) and a few Parmesan shavings,our Margherita is really a feast for the eyes!
We all take a seat at the large table, the FERRO LINE OUTDOOR from ASCO is already beautifully set, so we can immediately help ourselves. Hardly served, everything is already devoured, and the next creation can go into the oven. This time with a little more fanfare - after baking the Margherita is refined with wafer-thin slices of Serrano ham and arugula. Steffi also adds a few drops of good olive oil on top. Next tip from Steffi: Always add fine ham, such as Serrano or Parma ham, to the pizza after baking. So the great taste remains unadulterated and the wafer-thin slices do not burn in the up to 500 degrees hot oven. Margherita and Serrano arugula - both really delicious!In the pizza chapter in Steffi's book, by the way, there is another sensational Asia-style pizza, which is baked completely without cheese and instead is topped with a homemade miso chili mayonnaise after baking... And the white truffle cheese pizza should also find many fans...
Well satiated, we all lean into the comfortable back of the POOL OUTDOOR chairs. While we enjoy the sun's rays on our skin, we draw a conclusion to the successful pizza day: We definitely feel like more! So Steffi gives us another good hint for the successful pizza at home: The right oven is the be-all and end-all. She herself has put an extra pizza oven in the outdoor area. Because a normal oven, which can be found in every kitchen, rarely reaches the required temperatures for a Neapolitan pizza base - 350-500°C it should be.
Steffi's tip for those who bake pizza with a classic household oven:
In addition to the oven and the heat, the dough must also be right, as we learned today. Steffi has all the tips for her new book »Schnell. Gut. Kochen. So kochen Spitzenköch*innen zu Hause« (EMF-Verlag).
It will be published on October 18, 2022 and can already be pre-ordered wherever books are available. Until then, we have to be patient for the great dough recipe, but it is very worth it and we are already very much looking forward to the book, which in addition to the pizza chapter will contain many other exciting chapters around the fast and refined cuisine at home.
Steffi has been combining interviews and conversations with top chefs in her cookbook series for many years and uses the tips and ideas from the conversations to develop exciting recipes that bring a breath of fresh air into everyday cooking. This time the focus is on really fast cooking and in the conversations we learn what tricks the top chefs use to cook for themselves and their families at home after work - super exciting!
With a last cool glass of iced tea we say goodbye to our great hostess. The few remaining pieces of pizza are packed away for the hungry mouths at home. Soon we will have another meeting with Steffi. What exactly awaits us then, she is still silent about. But we are sure that it will again be delicious, comfortable and sociable.
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