Pizza Today - February 2017 - 50

A nice, crispy slice of guanciale cooks and
tastes somewhat like bacon with a fruitier
and juicier pork flavor. It also has a silkier
texture. It adds a perceptible but hard-toexplain depth of flavor to pastas and sauces.
Even though people love guanciale, the
usual reaction by modern eaters when they
find out that it IS a pig's face ends in an
"EWWW" moment. Some modern diners
and pizza eaters are getting more sophisticated and guanciale is one of those pizza
toppings that is competing cheek-to-cheek
with glorious bacon.
Guanciale's origin is said to be
Abruzzo, Lazio and Umbria, where

it was easier to get cooking fat from pork
than from olives. This wonderful pork cheek
is the basis for iconic Italian pasta dishes,
like Carbonara. As with many Italian foods,
recipes vary widely. But the craftsmanship
in using guanciale is to eat the thin strips
raw or to melt the fat from this cured meat
to cook other foods with.
I use guanciale in my pizzeria in many
ways. For example, I've placed paperthin slices of it on the cornicione (crust)
in numerous pizza competitions to melt
beautifully like lardo. This is especially effective after cooking a wood-fired pizza with
the "dome" method of raising the almostfinished pizza up to the very hot ceiling for
a final crisp. If the guanciale is fatty and
sliced thin enough, the simple placement
on the melty cheese of a hot pie delivers a
right-hook of pork goodness.
In the middle of the summer, I slice and
par-cook hard vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potato, parsnips, turnip and
celery root in a pizza pan with chunks of
guanciale. This is like the Italian "Soffrito,"
but not diced. Par-cooking in this wonderful fatty bath does wonders as I gently drag
the ingredients around the hot liquid. These
veggies are then destined for numerous different pizzas with more guanciale or bacon
toppings.
When it comes down to it, guanciale has
a broad spectrum of like-minded toppings.
Here are some: broccoli and broccoli rabe,
mushroom, ginger artichoke, pear, apple,
pineapple, onion, parsnip, pea, potato, dill,
cilantro, celery, cabbage, beef, fennel, beet,
egg, cumin, garlic, beans (think black-eyed
peas/cannellini), shrimp, tomato, truffle,
5 0 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 7

watercress, rosemary, rhubarb, coriander, allspice, apricot, Parmigiano, Pecorino, Manchego, ricotta, cheddar, goat cheese, beef,
chipotle, blueberry, blackberry, leek, spinach,
arugula, pine nuts, walnut, pecan, radicchio,
thyme, sage, oregano, fennel, orange, lemon,
lime, carrot, rutabaga.

Butternut Squash
and Guanciale Pizza
1 proprietary nine-ounce dough ball of
60-70 percent hydration
Extra virgin olive oil for the pan and crust
finish
4 ounces Fontina cheese
24 slices of braised butternut squash from
recipe below*
3 ounces of guanciale, cut thin and then in
small strips
A handful of raw pistachios chopped
rough
2 tablespoons maple syrup for the finish
Oil the pan with extra virgin olive oil. Toss or
roll out the dough into a square shape, mimicking the size of a square pan, only larger.
Place the dough in the pan, letting it rise
up the side of the pan on each side approximately ½ inch.
Starting in the middle, hold the dough from
the side with both hands using your thumb
and index fingers. Using your right hand, pull
away from the left only a few inches to stretch
the dough and bring the right dough back
over the dough on the left to complete a fold,
or "crimp." Pinch this together to adhere. Move
along the side of the pan, slowly repeating this
move every inch or two. When you get to the
corner, pull the dough up and into the corner,
not letting it lower to the bottom.
When finished, put both hands in the
middle of the pan and stretch out to let the
side dough relax and not cave in.
When the dough has rested 10 to 15 minutes, oil the rest of the dough on the top side.
Place the Fontina cheese all around the
square pizza dough. Place the small guanciale
slices over the cheese. Place the butternut
squash slices in an overlapping fashion along
the pizza.
Let the pizza proof for another 10 minutes
at room temperature of greater than 70 F.
Bake in a 500-550 F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and
the bottom of the panned dough is crisp and
golden brown.

Pull the pizza from the pan and plate. Toss
the pistachio and drizzle the maple syrup on
the pizza. You may want to brush the crust
with extra virgin olive oil, more maple syrup or
even guanciale fat for a shinier presentation
with more flavor.

*Braised Butternut Squash
One medium sized butternut squash,
weighing approximately 30 ounces.
Start by cutting the neck of the squash. For
this recipe, you will only need rounds made
from this neck.
Using a sharp knife, prop the squash neck
cylinder on the cutting board and cut the
skin off downward. You can use a peeler, but
the butternut's skin is so thick it will dull most
peelers. Knife-skin the squash, making sure to
get through to the most vibrant flesh. (Some
butternuts have a duller outer flesh.) Cut and
try to keep as much of the roundness of the
squash intact.
Using a vegetable peeler in one hand, peel
the jagged ridges formed by the knife to make
the cylinder smooth.
Using a Japanese Mandolin, cut 2- to 3-inch
rounds from the squash cylinder with a thickness of 1/8 inch. The yield on this squash will be
approximately 28 rounds.
Braising the butternut squash:
In a pizza or sauté' pan, mix 2 cups water
with ½ tablespoon powdered cinnamon and
2 tablespoons honey and stir with a whisk.
Place the squash in the pizza or sauté' pan.
Place in a 550 F pizza oven for 4 to 6
minutes until the liquid has par-cooked the
butternut squash. Or sauté on medium-high
for 6 to 7 minutes until par-cooked and
remove from the heat to continue to cook
in the increasingly warm bath. (The squash
should NOT be fork tender! This will cause it to
break while making the pizza.) Cool immediately and individually on a large tray with
parchment for an easy topping later. n
JOHN GUTEKANST owns Avalanche Pizza
in Athens, Ohio, and has a pizza blog called
Pizza Goon. He is an award-winning
pizzaiolo, baker, teacher, speaker and
author.

http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM

Pizza Today - February 2017

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