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| Sandesh enjoying lunch at Nolita |
Multidimensional, multi-talented and focused, winner of 2020 Times Food and Nightlife Restaurateur of the year award, Sandesh Reddy has business in his blood. Reticent, he prefers to work behind the scenes, still, the world knows him. He, on the other hand, knows only those he chooses to know and is friend through thick and thin to a chosen few. The man has his heart in the right place. Although himself affected during this pandemic, he has helped as many people as he could, offering the strong hand they could hold through troubled times.
Sandesh is a person I respect: for his opinion, his savvy business skills, ability to adapt to change and to swing into a boardroom wearing his most comfortable outfit – cotton t-shirt and cargo shorts.
I knew of him, had heard a lot about Sandy’s, eaten innumerable Tiny Chocolate Cakes on birthdays or simply when I felt like an indulgence (which was every time I drove past Sandy’s Chocolate Laboratory).
I admire Sandesh’s drive, bold experiments, conviction and clarity. He does everything first before letting his chefs take over. Nobody, but nobody can take him for granted. A bit of a control freak in the kitchen, he is very particular about… everything. Not even his wife, Mansi Reddy, is allowed to touch his ingredients.
Discussing the topic of my blog, Kitchen Adventures, he said, “I don’t usually have pleasant surprises arising from accidental discoveries. Even if we get some undesired results, we end up testing all sorts of hypothesis to ensure we are able to retrace steps so we can understand from those learnings.”
But, the one time something unexpected happened, was in Nolita’s kitchen.
The story in Sandesh’s words
At Nolita, we were actually trying for a traditional Neapolitan dough that is light and airy. We had no intention of making a sourdough pizza with a long ferment. Proper sourdough has no yeast in it. This lends itself well to a dough with controlled rise without it losing any of its elasticity by over proofing. We were also working our oven at different temperatures just to see which one works best for our dough. During one of these days we found a sheet pan (generally used to store prepped food in hotels) full of dough sitting in the fridge. The dough had not even been proofed. This dough was made the previous day and shaped and left in the coldest part of the cooler. Later, we moved the dough close to the oven, again with plans of throwing it in the bin because we thought the dough was old and inactive and not proofed enough.
The intense heat from the oven woke the dough up nicely. Just when I was about to toss the dough, I realised that it had good proof and strong distinctive sour smell. So, we ended up making a couple of pizzas with this dough at they tasted great. We standardized this dough as there were so many variables. Challenges surfaced. We found difficulty retracing our steps. We tried various permutations and combinations that caused this incredible pleasant tasting dough that didn’t detract from the toppings yet stood out well on its own. The pizza itself wasn’t baked at the same temperature as Neapolitan pizza temperatures (standard Neapolitan oven temp is 400 -450*) as this was turning our dough quite soggy. We still bake at over 370 Degrees Centigrade but work with colder spots in the oven to give it that crisp yet chewy crust. For me, this pizza is as close to perfect as I would want it to be. To know that this started off as an accident is quite remarkable.
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| The pizza just before it goes into the oven |
Sandesh’s Sour Dough Pizza
Ingredients:
00 Flour (flour used traditionally for making pizza) - 1 kg
Cold water - 700 ml
Yeast - 3 grams
Salt - 25 grams
Olive oil - 50 ml
Method
Don’t wait for the yeast to bloom.
Mix the whole thing into a dough ball and let it rest at room temperature for 45 mins.
Divide and shape it into 200-gram dough balls.
Cold ferment them overnight.
Then left at room temperature for an hour to gain volume.
During this time we ensure oven is up to 370-380 degrees C.
Always, always, always hand stretch the pizza using a series of pulls and tugs to keep the dough light and preserve all the air trapped inside the dough.
Don’t over sauce the dough or add tons of cheese or toppings on top as this causes the dough to deflate while baking.
Once all the oven is nice and hot, bake only for 1.5-2 mins. And that’s it!
“My favourite recipe to make with this dough is a simple bread, salami and mozzarella pizza (NO Sauce !! ) topped off with olive oil and parmesan. It is the absolute comfort food for me.
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