Balla’s Stefano Manfredi has opened the Italian street food themed Pizzaperta at Sydney’s The Star (read more about that here). We chat to the ‘Godfather’ of Italian cuisine about what diners can expect at the laidback new eatery, and their take on ‘healthy’ pizza.
What inspired the opening of Pizzaperta?
Travelling to Italy and discovering there is evolution and experimentation with everybody’s favourite fast food. Young pizzaioli are playing around with fermentation, hydration and special stone-milled flours as well as non-traditional toppings to raise the level of pizza in Italy. I endeavour to do this in Australia.
Why do you think the faster and more casual food trend is here to stay?
Eating on the run should not mean that we have to compromise healthy eating. The integrity that is inherent in our food values at the restaurant level is becoming more and more important in the wider community. Pizza is a great example of a street food or fast food whose health benefits can be improved. This is what we are doing at Pizzaperta.
What can diners expect from Pizzaperta?
Pizzaperta’s dough is made from unrefined stoneground Molino Quaglia ‘Petra’ flours imported from Italy. The dough is matured and then leavened naturally for a minimum of 24 hours using a classic biga method, resulting in a more easily digested dough. Pizzaperta is also experimenting with sprouted grains, such as germinated chickpeas and buckwheat, adding them to the dough to enhance the flavour and texture of the pizza base. Our work is to achieve one goal – to make pizza with the flavour of the grain, a texture that’s soft and airy, easily digested and a balance of flavours from the quality of our ingredients – fresh herbs, tomato, seafood, mozzarella, ricotta and burrata.