Learning All About Activated Charcoal Flour

Words & Photography by Caroline Ghera and Luiz Hara

Name: Flour Power Masterclass at Pizzicotto 

Where: 267, Kensington High Street, W8 6NA, www.pizzicotto.co.uk

Cost: Flour Power Masterclass costs £50 per person, and will run from 28th June 2016 from 18:30 for 1½ hours.

About: The Flour Power Masterclass at Pizzocotto is a fun introduction to the more unusual types of flour including activated charcoal, chestnut and buckwheat flour, used to prepare a range of dishes and pizze, which participants will cook and eat at the end of the class. This feature describes a Flour Power Masterclass I attended recently and the dishes we prepared.

Pizzicotto is the second restaurant by the Chiavarini family who have run the popular Il Portico only a few doors away for 50 years on Kensington High Street. Like its sister restaurant, Pizzicotto is a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant drawing on the family heritage of Emilia Romagna and a small network of regional Slow Food and artisanal producers who supply the restaurant exclusively.

For the first half of our class we were introduced to the basics of pizza making by Pizzicotto's head pizzaiolo, Andrea. We learned that the wood-burning oven’s domed shape helped to evenly distribute the heat (425C), while the mixture of beech and larger burning logs adds a touch of moisture into the oven preventing the pizza from becoming too dry.

We were shown how to stretch the soft dough (made with a mix of semolina, rice and corn flours) into pizze, topping them with tomato and mozzarella for a Margherita pizza. The white dough had been proved for a staggering 72 hours (it is usually 24 hours in a good pizza restaurant). The result was an extremely light base, with a blistered crust and an airy texture when cut.

Using the same white dough, we later also savoured the Spacca Napoli Pizza, topped with anchovies, mozzarella, olives and capers, which was deliciously salty and with a hint of chilli and garlic.

A variation on a theme was the introduction of creamed asparagus to the plain white dough, to create a green, slightly softer textured pizza base. Topped with tomatoes, rocket and mozzarella, this was my favourite pizza dough, the delicate but distinctive flavour of asparagus adding a delicious touch to the faintly green crust.

Our last dough used activated charcoal flour, a striking black powder which had been added to the blended white dough and left to prove for 48 hours. Pizzicotto is championing the use of vegetable charcoal, an extremely porous ingredient which has the ability to draw toxins from the body in a process named adsorption. Being insoluble, activated charcoal is then eliminated from the body, flushing those toxins away. Activated charcoal is supposed to aid digestion, lower cholesterol, improve skin and has even been claimed to be a cure for hangover, though that has not as yet been scientifically proven. Its main medicinal use is to prevent the absorption of medicines taken in accidental overdoses, from the stomach and intestines into the blood stream.

Our charcoal pizzas were topped with mozzarella, spicy sausage, rocket and tomatoes. Despite their dark coloured bases, the addition of charcoal was not noticeable in taste. Having been proved for 48 hours, the dough had a finer texture but was extremely light, definitely worth trying for its potential health benefits without any compromise on taste. 

The second half of our Flour Masterclass was taught by Pizzicotto's head chef, Marianna Giglio, and focused on pasta. Starting off with 00 flour, an Italian stone ground flour where the bran and germ are extracted after milling to produce a finer, whiter flour, which is also richer in nutrients than its English counterpart.

The dough was rolled into a thin sheet and cut into irregular shaped ribbons (known in Italian as maltagliati). The handmade pasta was later served with a delicious beef ragu, a simple but wonderful dish due to the sheer high quality of ingredients and the freshness of the handmade pasta. This was my favourite dish of the evening.

We moved on to use chestnut flour, an expensive autumnal speciality from Piedmont. We kneaded the chestnut flour with a touch of 00 flour, Parmesan and ricotta to make gnocchi.

The gnocchi were served with butternut squash, mushrooms, Parmesan and a reduced red wine jus. This was a hearty autumnal dish, and while I enjoyed the delicate flavour of the chestnut flour gnocci, I felt they were rather overwhelmed by the squash and mushrooms, and would be better appreciated on their own with a little butter and Parmesan.

The practical side of the masterclass ended with the use of gluten-free buckwheat flour to produce a dough that was again rolled into a thin sheet and cut into triangles. The pasta had a distinctive texture and was served with a delectable mixture of spring vegetables. This was a good option on the menu for gluten-free diners.

After the masterclass, we finally sat down to enjoy our creations. Our evening came to an end with a dessert pizza with a Nutella-stuffed crust, topped with custard cream, more Nutella, thin ribbons of green apple, grapes and raspberries.

Likes: I enjoyed learning how to cook with new flours at Pizzicotto, particularly the striking activated charcoal flour, the mixture of flours used in their white dough, and the 72 hour proofing.

Dislikes: While I thoroughly enjoyed the class, I wish the black charcoal flour pizza as well as the other dishes we learned were available on the restaurant menu. Unfortunately these are only available for participants in the flour masterclass.

Verdict: This is a great opportunity to learn about different Italian flours, and to increase the repertoire of ingredients in your Italian cooking. Recommended.

Huge 20-Inch Pizza and Bold Flavours at Homeslice Pizza

Name: Homeslice Pizza

Where: 13 Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden, WC2H 9DP, http://www.homeslicepizza.co.uk/

Cost: 20” pizze at £20 each, or individual slices at £4, soft drinks £2, craft beers £5, Camden Hells Lager priced at £2.50 and £4 for half or full pint, £4 to £5 for a 125ml glass of wine.

About: Homeslice, in the heart of Covent Garden in the busy Neal’s Yard, serves pizza by the 20 inch size, all at £20, or individual slices for £4 for three of the most popular flavours.

Flavours change seasonally, with one or two pizzas making an appearance every few weeks. On our visit, beyond the Margherita and Caprese, there were also some unusual pizza toppings including: Calabrian peppers, chervil and Lincolnshire Poacher; celeriac with wild garlic, cows curd and roasted hazelnuts; chorizo, corn and coriander; and braised beef brisket with pickles on a barbecue sauce base.

Owned by a Kiwi and two other business partners, Homeslice started as a street-food venue in East London in 2011. Their first permanent restaurant in Covent Garden opened in May 2013 with a new branch opening in Fitzrovia's Wells Street in the summer of 2015.

This is pizza not as you know it - expect some unusual but surprisingly great flavour combinations.

With plain wooden tables, benches and floors, paper plates and no cutlery, no menu and blaring rock music, to state that the place has an informal feel about it would be an understatement. But not in a bad way - I enjoyed the raucous vibe of the place, the chatter and the eavesdropping possibilities.

On the Sunday evening we were there, the queue was long. Homeslice does not take advance bookings so queuing is to be expected.

What We Ate: The 20 inch pizzas can be ordered with up to two flavours, and we opted for a combination of (1) goat’s shoulder with savoy cabbage and sumac yoghurt and (2) anchovy, caramelised onions and Kalamata olives.

The sumac yoghurt had a refreshing tartness and flavour that cut through the richness of the goats shoulder, with the cabbage adding a crunchy texture. We really enjoyed this unusual topping. The anchovy pizza, a more traditional combination of flavours known as the Napoletana, was also very delicious.

Pizzas are served whole on a large wooden platter, and diners cut it for themselves. The dough is thin, proved for 36 hours, and cooked through in a smouldering wood oven to give a delicious charred flavour. A standard pizza is 9 inches, but here they serve 20 inches, so it is more than enough for two people.

The pizza is served with no cutlery, and the base was so thin and soft that we had to roll it up and eat it with the fingers like a wrap. But it's none the worse for that. So be prepared to get your hands dirty.

What We Drank: For wine, there is a choice of house red, white or Prosecco (£4.50 per glass). Bottles of unlabelled 1.5L house wine are brought to the table, and diners are charged for the volume they drink as measured by a ruler when the bill is requested.

With a limited choice of unlabelled house wines, we decided to go for beer, and that was a good decision. We had a pint of Camden Hells lager (£4.50), and a 330ml bottle of Pressure Drop Pale Fire pale ale (£5), with some lovely toasty hoppy, aromatic flavour, this was a great discovery and an ale I shall be looking out for from now on. All the beers on the menu are brewed in London.

Likes: we loved our choice of pizza and craft beers, it was refreshing to be served tap water freely available on arrival.

Dislikes: tables are cramped (the pizza occupies 90% of it). There is no drinks menu, and waiting staff, while friendly, did not on our visit know the prices of drinks.

Verdict: Homeslice serves huge 20” pizze with bold flavours and creative combinations of ingredients that work a treat! There are no frills, but if you come prepared to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, there is some great pizza and beer on offer. Recommended.