@Pizza: Contemporary Roman Bakery Pizza
Hidden away on Charlotte Lane, @Pizza’s modern twist on the Roman bakery style pizza is really rather refreshing as Edinburgh has become flooded with modern takes on Pizza Neapolitan.
The restaurant has a strong industrial feel to it; the shapes are very blocky, and the colour scheme is mainly grey and silver. Most tables can conformably fit a party of six with long benches allowing to squeeze a few extra people on. It is contrasted by a large mirrored ‘@’ sign and collection of hanging round lights.
Sauces, cheeses, proteins, vegetables and finishes are set out in front of the customer as the chef asks what they would like as they make the pizza. All in all, there are over 64,000 different combinations that can be made. You can have as many toppings as you wish for ten pounds.
The sourdough base starts scrunched up, as it is easier to store. The chef stretches the dough to size into a rectangular shape. Once cooked the dough is light and with a crisped exterior while retaining an aired fluffiness, which is achieved by using sourdough.
The ‘Classic Tomato’ sauce is not made with the typical San Marzano tomato that is very often used in most of Edinburgh’s pizzerias. The tomato used is not sweet, in keeping with the Roman Bakery theme. With a hint of salt and garlic, the sauce is quintessentially Roman.
Although not always synonymous with Rome’s bakeries, the mozzarella pearls, which are high in moisture, melt similarly to buffalo mozzarella, which prevents the cheese from crisping, leaving the softly melted cheese to compliment the lightness of the dough and not overpower the sauce.
The pizzas take only 90 seconds to cook on @Pizza’s custom-made conveyor belt oven.
@Pizza stock local beers from the Edinburgh Beer Factory and Stewart Brewing and they have a homemade craft soft drink station where you can get unlimited refills.
My Pizza
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As this was the first pizza, I had of the series I wanted to keep it Italian. However, I love heat on my pizza, so I stuck with typical Italian toppings for the most part, except for one or two.
I went for the sourdough base with classic tomato sauce and used two kinds of cheese; mozzarella pearls and sparing amount of Scottish mozzarella. I chose the latter of the cheeses to add a slight crisp to the cheese as it has less moisture content.
Salamello salumi (peppered salami) and basilicata picante (Italian Sausage) worked well as the pepper and the salt from the salami and the sweetness from the fennel in the sausage complimented each other nicely.
To add some more heat on top of the pepper from the salami I added jalapeños. I chose mushrooms which gave another layer of texture to the pizza.
To finish, basil and oregano gave the Spicy Italian pizza some fresh and peppery notes from the basil and an aromatic earthiness from the oregano.
I washed it down with a local beer called Paolozzi from Edinburgh Beer Factory.
