24
Dec/10

PIZZA A CASA

24
Dec/10

Mark Bello teaches pizza lovers how to make great pies at home (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

PIZZA SELF-SUFFICIENCY CENTER
371 Grand St.
Classes Thursdays at 6:30, Saturdays & Sundays at 12 noon, $150
212-228-5483
www.pizzaacasa.com
pizza a casa slideshow

You think you love pizza? Native New Yorker Mark Bello, chef and founder of Pizza a Casa on the Lower East Side, lives and breathes one of the world’s most beloved foods. While earning a master’s in sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, Bello missed the classic pizza of New York City and decided he could sculpt his own artisanal pies. He eventually studied the classic concoction of flour, cheese, and sauce in Italy before returning to New York and opening Pizza a Casa in 2005. In February 2010, Bello transformed a Grand St. storefront into a pizza-making workshop, where he installed a regular home oven so he could show his ravenous students how to make the same kinds of thin-crust pizzas in their own kitchens. A gregarious fellow with a playful sense of humor, Bello takes his pizza very seriously, leading classes through every step of the pizza-making process as if creating a work of art, from choosing the flour (he recommends the hard-to-find King Arthur brand), mixing the dough, and adding proofed yeast to proper hand kneading, rising, and rolling, sauce preparation (he prefers San Marzano tomatoes), toppings selection, and, of course, baking, including the right ways to get it into and out of the oven. Bello uses video skillfully: Students can watch him directly as well as on a large-screen wall monitor mounted behind him that zooms in on the all-important details of pizza craft.

It’s not a stretch to say that Mark Bello loves making pizza (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Bello teaches his classes, which are limited to twelve people, how to make red pies, white pies, and dolci (sweet pies); each session comes with a menu of “today’s possibilities,” which could include such classic delights as margherita (with Alleva mozzarella, Fulvi pecorino, and fresh basil) and sopressata (the same cheeses with sweet or spicy sausage), the more complex sensations of potato rosemary, pizza bianca, and bacon & eggs, or such delectable dessert pies as Dorset & truffle honey, pear and blue, and nutella banana with pine nuts. Participants get to make between four and six pizzas each, so check out what the others are doing and be sure to share plenty of slices before going home with extra dough and leftovers: There should be enough for a few more tasty meals. Bello also sells high-quality pizza utensils and supplies at reasonable prices, and every student leaves with a “Make Perfect Pizza at Home” guide. He has also recently added a hands-on pasta workshop as well as a Big Cheese + Little Cheese Pizza Class, for children six and up with an adult (regular pizza workshops are for thirteen and older). The standard classes, which are $150 (gift certificates are available, especially as last-minute gifts) and run four hours, are a tremendous amount of fun, as Bello tells stories about his life, plays great music, and might even turn on the disco ball if you ask nicely.