2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
If you want to eat the most perfect and perfect pizza in the world, you have two options. One is to go to Rome and order a Margarita pizza from some of the hidden family restaurants in the Eternal City. The other is to solve a complex and long thermodynamic equation to learn how to make an Italian dish even in the oven at home.
At least that's what a new book called The Physics of Baking a Good Pizza, published last year in arXiv magazine, says. The publication is the work of two physicists - Andrei Varlamov of the Institute of Superconductors, Oxides and Other Innovative Materials and Devices in Rome and Andreas Glatz of Northern Illinois University. The two also received help from food anthropologist Sergio Grasso. The book is the result of many years of research that the three are doing in and around Rome.
The three decided to focus their efforts on inventing the recipe for perfect pizza Margarita. According to them, this is the original or pizza of the pizzas. The perfect combination of crispy dough, tomatoes, mozzarella and basil is in red, white and green - the colors of the Italian flag.
Among the many conversations with master pizzerias, scientists have come to the conclusion that the secret to making delicious pizza is the physics of the brick kiln. With a wood fire in one corner, the heat radiating evenly through the curved walls and stone floor of the oven ensures even baking on all sides of the pizza. Under ideal conditions, the authors write, a Margarita pizza can be baked to perfection in exactly 2 minutes in a brick oven heated to 330 degrees Celsius.
Of course, not everyone can afford to own a wood oven at home. The authors have described how to better simulate the conditions for making a perfect pizza with a standard electric oven. According to them, the answer is simple - simple physics!
If you bake pizza in an electric oven, you will most likely use a metal pan. As the thermal conductivity of the metal is significantly higher than that of the bricks, the bottom of the pizza will absorb heat much faster than the rest of the dish. Baking the dough at 330 degrees for 2 minutes will turn your pizza into charcoal, the authors write.
Using a long thermodynamic equation, the authors found that a pizza cooked in an electric oven could meet similar conditions to a Roman brick oven by lowering the temperature to 230 degrees Celsius and baking the pizza for 170 seconds. It is crucial, the authors note, to prepare a topping with a higher water content, mainly from any additional vegetables, as well as to leave the dish in the oven longer, as the pizza will return more heat to the oven by evaporation.
The authors conclude that while your homemade pizza will probably never be as perfect as its fresh counterparts made at the Colosseum, physics can help you take a step in the right direction.
Recommended:
Japanese Scientists Have Proven: White Wine Is Served Only With Fish
The sommelier's law - to serve meat with red wine and fish - with white, was proved by Japanese scientists, who analyzed almost a hundred varieties of wine for months. Biochemist Takayuki Tamura gathered tasters to try different combinations of fish and wine.
Scientists Have Found The Best Cure For A Hangover
As the Christmas holidays approach, you can hardly imagine the inevitable "bump" with the crowd in the malls in the "annoying" search for gifts, but you probably think about the home coziness that is associated with these holidays.
Unique Einkorn Beer Was Created By Bulgarian Scientists
Using a completely new technology, Bulgarian scientists from the Agricultural Academy created einkorn beer under the Einkorn project - an ancient innovation. Beer, like new technology, is yet to enter the beer business. Professor Valentin Bachvarov from the Academy says that Bulgarian einkorn beer has no analogue in the world, but it will not yet enter mass trade.
Bulgarian Scientists Have Created Bread That Does Not Fill
A new bread that is rich in protein, amino acids and has a very low content of sodium chloride was created by Bulgarian scientists at the Institute of Cryobiology. The new bread will help reduce bad cholesterol in the body. It will be recommended for consumption by people with diabetes and heart problems, reports 24 hours.
Scientists Have Selected New Varieties Of Beans Resistant To Heat And Drought
New varieties of beans that are resistant to heat and drought have been selected by scientists from Rome. They have managed to create 30 new varieties that will grow well even at high temperatures caused by global warming worldwide, informs Reuters.
