Evening With a Professor! (EWAP)

Twice a semester, students are given the opportunity to partake in an evening with a professor, known as EWAP. Students and professors have the option to make pizza or pasta, eat a tex-mex dinner, or do a wine tasting. Last Monday I did my first evening with a professor and decided I wanted to learn how to make pizza.

We went to a small, but homey, pizzeria in Asolo. The pizzeria is known here at CIMBA as “Maria’s.” The pizzeria is owned by an older couple, who have been in the business for many years. We were fortunate enough to have the pizzeria to ourselves, because normally they are closed on Mondays. Servio, the husband of the couple, taught us how to make pizza. He told us everything we need to know about pizza making. Servio first told us all about how to make the pizza dough. He told us that the amount of water and yeast you use to make the pizza is different in the winter than it is in the summer. The temperature of the water also varies. We also learned that if you use pizza dough that is fresher, it is easier for the pizza maker to roll out the dough. But, a customer prefers for the dough to sit over night because it tastes better.

Servio told us that he could make up to 40-60 pizzas in an hour, which I found super impressive! After we learned all about how to make good pizza dough and how to use the pizza oven, it was our turn to actually make the pizza. On my pizza I put cheese and spicy salami, which is pepperoni in America. The pizza took only about five minutes to cook. This was the definitely the best pizza I have had since I have been in Italy. The crust was cook perfectly and the cheese was melted just right! I will definitely be going there again for a dinner out with some friends. Going back to American pizza is going to be hard because Italian pizza is much better in so many ways! I can’t wait for the next EWAP event; I am hoping to learn how to make pasta!

Quick tip: if you ask for a pepperoni pizza in Italy you will get a pizza with peppers on it. Here in Italy, a pepperoni pizza is called “diavola.”