SONNY SINGH I

Growing up in Rome, Sunny Singh started making pizzas part-time during his years in school. After moving to Canada just over four years ago, Sunny is now an award winning veteran pizza chef working at Calgary’s local Lina’s Italian Market. In 2019, Sunny won third place in the ‘Pizza Canada Expo’, qualifying him for the 2021 ‘Pizza Olympics’ in Las Vegas. Moving around from restaurant to restaurant is something Singh says helped him acquire his skills.

“The more you move the more you learn. If you stick to one place you will never learn new [different] recipes and what else is going on in the world,” says Singh.

Italian “pizza season” starts in March and ends in December, leaving employees with a two month break at the beginning of each year. Most pizzerias will offer a 6 month contract, allowing employees to move around with ease.

The pizza scene is vigorous - “when you’re making 400, 500 pizzas a day, you need to have young guys. It’s not heavy labour, it’s just speed, speed, speed” says Singh.

In Italy the “experience” of pizza is collective. Pizzeria kitchens are open concept, allowing customers to see what’s being made; making for an environment of interaction and community. Customers love to chat or joke as their pizzas are made, “sometimes they come up and say ‘can you put a little bit more of that on mine?’,” Singh says.

Pizza is universal, and it is adopted and created differently all over the world. One thing’s for sure, it’s hard to pass up a slice when you get the chance, and what better way to enjoy it than making it yourself!

WHY?

Dough

YOUR DOUGH SHOULD BE SOFT & AIRY

During fermentation there is a chemical reaction that requires oxygen. After making the dough you must let it rise, allowing time for the enzyme (typically an amylase) to eat all of the sugars. Your dough should rise for a minimum of 12 hours before using, making it more airy and subsequently causing more “bubbles” to form on the outer edges of the crust when cooked.

Flour

Semolina Flour Is Best To Use When Forming Your Crust And Cooking Your Pizza

WHY?

While 00 flour is best used to make the pizza dough, Semolina flour is ideal to help form your crust and prevent the dough sticking to the pizza peel. Semolina is rimacinata, meaning “twice milled”, and is made from durum wheat. Durum has a higher protein and gluten content than white flour. Semolina flour helps keep your dough moist, as opposed to a white flour that simply sits on top and traps the dough’s moisture. In order to have a soft crust the flour must be absorbed into the dough.

When using an Ooni oven you should have it set to roughly 300 degrees celsius. According to Sunny, an Ooni is one of the strongest ovens you can use for pizza.

The stone inside the oven needs to be worked, meaning the more pizzas you make in the oven, the better each one will get.

Note

Once you’re ready to cook, have a pizza peel at the ready in order to transfer your pizzas to the oven.