FRANCO PEPE
Pizza Artisan
Who is Franco Pepe? Patron Pepe in Grani
Franco Pepe is a modern artisan with an old passion for pizza. His skills are based on the experience of three generations of master bakers, developed over the years and enriched by the passion and dedication to the preparation of the dough which has made Franco known worldwide, and has also made Caiazzo (Ce) (the small town where he works) an international reference point for lovers of the most famous “Italiana” in the world. Always active in the search for excellent and representative products from Alto Casertano (the northern part of the region) – such as the oil made with the olives from Caiazzo, cured meats from black pigs bred in this area, the chickpeas from the hills surrounding Caiazzo, onions from Alife and conciato romano (a kind of seasoned cheese), Franco Pepe makes his pizzas with the flavours of the region, promoting the spread of noteworthy products and producers.
The skill and completeness of the pizza maker have been recognized by key figures in Italian cuisine, with the approval of the major opinion leaders, journalists and food industry experts.
Even abroad, Franco Pepe is known as a guarantee for his singular focus on the highest quality traditional food. The award-winning Pepe, has been inching onto the international celebrity-chef circuit and in a few years has obtained the highest ranking in famous magazines and guides of Italian restaurants, from Gambero Rosso to Identità Golose; he has also been cited in the Wall Street Journal, earning numerous mentions and publications dedicated to his extraordinary pizza. It is worth mentioning also the newly
“Pepe in Grani”, a multifunctional establishment in Caiazzo, the town where he was born and his love for dough has grown up with time, and where the artisan dedicates himself to pizza making, research and reception.
Pizza in the manner of Franco Pepe is the result of accurate research and continuous experiments on flour mixed with craftsmanship to create a fragrant, tasty and light dough, rigorously handmade following his family’s tradition.
His method has no fixed rules, but puts together ancient practices and gestures and is based on free combinations of different types of flour that Franco searches to make mixtures that are studied and improved day-by-day taking into consideration gluten, humidity and temperature of the environment.
No pre-packaged ingredients: just well tested touch and sensitivity to measure the desired “consistency of dough”. His pizza is “wireless” and its preparation is not bound to any form of technology because the dough is hand made in the wooden box and naturally raised at room temperature.
Meeting Franco and the taste of his pizzas are the reasons why the visit is worth the trip, wherever you come from. There are many foodies who travel many kilometers to reach the narrow street of the Old Town just to taste the “Alto Casertano products” simply tasting a pizza. Three are the gastronomy routes proposed by Franco and many are available à la carte.
The most famous and traditional pizzas made by Franco, not to be missed by every new customer, are undoubtedly the “Calzone con la scarola” – stuffed with curly raw escarole, anchovies from Cetara, oil and olives from Caiazzo, capers – The Pinsa conciata (of ‘500 (or Mastunicola) – a soft dough seasoned with a thin layer of black Casertano pork suet, basil, pepper, oregano of Matese, seasoned Romano cheese (Slow Food Presidium) and white figs jam from Cilento. Although of recent introduction, other ingredients and products are well worth a visit to “Pepe in Grani”: “La Ceci of the Caiatine hills” – light mozzarella, chickpeas, lonzardo (loin+backfat) of black Casertano pork, olive oil form Caiazzo, garlic and raw curly scarola – and “La Sole nel piatto”, made to celebrate the presentation of the film “La Sole nel piatto” by Bruno Gambacorta dedicated to Neapolitan pizzas – consisting of buffalo mozzarella (PDO) Campana, the piennolo tomatoes, oil and olives from Caiazzo, anchovies from Cetara and oregano from the Matese mountain.
Pepe in Grani is the new project of Franco Pepe. Since July 2012 he has left the old family Tavern to start, in October 2012, an original solo experience in the heart of the old town of Caiazzo, in an ancient Palace of the ‘700 in Vico S. Giovanni Battista No. 3. Pepe in Grani is the place where his desire to experiment and his experience as a passionate baker meet. Pizza, research and warm welcome are the three elements around which the entire establishment revolves with the aim to be a window on the territory, on the gastronomic traditions and the virtuous production of Alto Casertano. All ingredients and products on the menu are sought and selected personally by Franco and follow the seasonality, as do his pizzas and “ripieni (stuffed calzone)”. The menu is simple and strongly tied to tradition and local products, as is the wine and beers list.
Menu of pizzas and stuffed calzoni, cured meats and cheese from Alto Casertano, fries and poor cuisine now in disuse, including stockfish, pancotto (an extremely simple Italian bread soup) and soffritto.
At Pepe in Grani, there is space for ancient traditional food such as the fragrant pizza “a libretto” (that ca be folded in four like a booklet), the wooden box or the steel stove, used to deliver pizza home or to entertain with various tastings the guests waiting for a table. A two floor building dedicated to catering, vocational training and welcoming clientele, 92 seats in inside and outside rooms. Upon request and only for a few close friends, it is possible to dine on the terrace, surrounded by the hills overlooking the picturesque landscape.
Dinner every evening from Tuesday to Saturday. Lunch on Sunday.
Closed on Monday
Pizza and research
The Guardian
theguardian.com
Is this the best pizza in the world?
Experts writing for a new pizza bible pick a pizzeria in a village near Naples, where chef Franco Pepe tops his handmade dough with local artisanal ingredients
Los Angeles Times latimes.com
Franco Pepe is the master of italian pizza Franco Pepe used the same basis for each pizza, a highly hydrated dough that, even raw, feels light but strong.
Cooked, it has a thin crusty shell and is extraordinarily tender yet chewy a hypnotic combination that is both earthy and ethereal.
Daniel Young
phaidon.com
What people say of him:
He combines respect for tradition and old-school ways with great openness towards new ways
Where to Eat Pizza number #1 Top best pizza in the world “Questa lista non è stata modificata per renderla varia, o per includere il maggior numero possibile di aree geografiche o di stili. Non c’erano quote predefinite. Io non ho portato su un posto che mi è sembrato sottovalutato, né ne ho tirato giù uno che magari ho ritenuto sopravvalutato. Si tratta di una classificazione basata sul numero di candidature
Buzzfeed
buzzfeed.com
This is the best pizza on Earth. No one can touch the skills of Franco Pepe. Every ingredient he uses is from the area. Each pizza tells a story: about the land, the people, the town itself.
What people say of him:
Sofie Delauw
thecuriouseater.com
[…] Franco Pepe is considered one of the best pizza makers in Italy
In a methodical way, Franco Pepe has been experimenting with different types of flour for years. Different blends, different leavening times, different lavorazione. There are no recipes. It’s a delicate interaction of the senses: weighing the salt, feeling the dough, hearing the sound of the oven wood.
There is nothing forced; nothing is ready before it should be.
Joel Weickgenant
wallstreetjournal.com
His kitchen reveals a blend of high-cuisine ambitions and pizza’s peasant past.
Outside Naples, in the town of Caiazzo, a wood stove burns on the first floor of what Franco Pepe calls his laboratory. The stone house, which sits astride a hillside alley, is home to his latest restaurant, Pepe in Grani, which opened last month.
Mr. Pepe is busy testing different flour combinations in a search for the perfect dough for the pizzas his new establishment and pizza maker training facility will serve.
Nicola Orichuia
franoi.com
A third-generation pizzaiolo, he still kneads his dough without the benefit of mechanical intervention.
Seasonality plays a big part in the menu at Pepe’s pizzeria.
It is one of the three fundamental components of Franco’s pizza: the ingredients, the person kneading the dough, and the environment in which the pizza is made. His vision embodies the return to time-honored ways that have been embraced in recent decades by movements like Slow Food.
Sara Bonamini
gamberorosso.it
Franco Pepe, the fantastic pizza maker in Caiazzo.
[…]He had to give his lesson at the same time when in the main auditorium the audience was taking place to listen to one of the most eagerly anticipated congressional interventions: the one from Massimo Bottura. This caused him an agitated status and relief at the same time “I am sure there will be few people listening to me,” Franco had said on the phone a few days earlier. Not at all. Blue Room 2, 12:30 hours: completely full. This year congress will be remembered with the image of Franco Pepe with his hands still “dirty” with pizza dough, leaving the stage to be interviewed. He will be remembered as he is: the artisan of the pizza.
Alba Pezone
da un articolo di Stefano Bonilli [paperogiallo.net]
What a beautiful book about the pizza has been written by Alba Pezone.
“Alba where shall I go to have a good pizza”?
How many timessomeone has asked her, a Neapolitan living in France,this question? So she has decided to come back to her hometown to tellthe story ofthe mostfamousfood in the world:the pizza.The book is beautiful because Alba has been in Naples, visited the best pizzerias and carried out a precise field research tasting dozens and dozens of pizzas,the most tasteful in Naples, Lucky her.
She was at Enzo Coccia’s, Franco Pepe’s,Ciro Coccia’s, Gino Sorbillo’s and Enzo Piccirillo’s,she has written down the recipe of every pizza tasted, from the margherita to marinara, from the pizza with tuna and onion topping to the one with provola e friarelli (semi hard cheese and rapini) as well asthe recipes of stuffed calzoni, fries and omletes, all “seasoned” with Laurence Mauton’s photos.
Lorenzo Sandano
scattidigusto.it
Can people be really addicted to food? Now I can say yes…
…or at least I can say I have been a witness to habituation to food: The true Pizza “La Vera Pizza Napoletana”. Franco Pepe is the prototype of the host/chef of old traditions and recipes, with unique passion and humility he puts in his work. Entering his Inn, within walking distance from the town old centre of Caiazzo (Caserta), is how to make a jump into the past, to turn the clock back. Here the Pepe brothers are custodians of ancient tastes and methods inherited by their father Francesco “Ciccio” who began in 1937, and still today stand out for their handmade dough, hardworking and not only. The most obvious effect is the extreme digestibility.
What people say of him:
Monica Piscitelli
campaniachevai.it
The feeling today is that Franco Pepe has “turned”. Definitely. Indeed all have to know The feeling today is that Franco Pepe has “turned”. Definitely.
Indeed all have to know. But he is peaceful as always. He talks about his handmade dough and says “it is the only one I can make”. He makes the dough the same way as his grandfather and his father did. There is no reason to change. This does not mean that the technology is not used. He uses that to study the dough and its maturation, to search confirmations or the reasons for phenomena that he is aware of but only empirically, in numbers and science. Pepe investigates. And we can swear he will never stop doing that. He uses his hands, he needs them, he says, “to feel” the flour, the temperature, the texture, to speak to the dough, to feel it is ready.
Just few words about the pizza. A simply amazing dough. A slight dough which speaks of the embrace between water and flour, a dough on which the yeast blows. The ingredients are those of his homeland: Campania first, and Caiatino. The main ingredients: fresh and healthy triumphs on the “altar” of a large disc of dough. Memories of an exciting harmony accompany the guests to the door.
An imperative: come back to Caiazzo as guests!
What people say of him:
Valentina Santonastaso
identitagolose.it
All substance, no special effect.
Just a feeling of amazement and wonder at the taste of so much honesty and extreme simplicity Pizza in the manner of Frank Pepe has no secrets. Its goodness is the result of a method acquired and refined over the years, shared and handed down with passion, intuition and sensitivity from father to son. All substance, no special effect.
Just a feeling of amazement and wonder at the taste of so much honesty and extreme simplicity.
A continuous research, an experiment moved from a sort of tacit agreement with the clientele and the need to ensure the continuity of quality, difficult to be delegated to third parties nowadays. The pizza maker from Caiazzo, a former physical education teacher, is dedicated to the study of flour, experimenting flour combinations and studying properties, gluten and texture, until he is able to choose the best products, which blend and enhance his dough, without changing the delicate taste of its taste that is its true strength.
Elisia Menduni
gazzettagastronomica.it
What people say of him:
Franco has completely changed my idea of leavened dough.
Almost two years ago, Maurizio Cortese invited me to Caiazzo and I was introduced to one of his friends: a pizza maker. He was waiting for us in the small square in the center of the town and together we went to a restaurant, not to his pizzeria.
I do not remember anything of what I ate during that lunch because I spent time asking questions to whom seemed a special pizza maker: humble, human, true, sincere, honest and with that irrational flair that made me laugh and move at the same time.
When I come back to Caiazzo to taste his pizza, Franco has completely changed my idea of leavened dough. I did know a new pizza. His Calzone is without any doubt the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. Cooking is terrific, the filling is “mystical” and looks almost like a fried ball. The Marinara and the Mastunicola are incredibly good. The dough has plenty of wide and lightweight air-pockets.When you bite it after the crunchy edge, it melts like butter.
The baptism to true pizza.
What people say of him:
viatoribus.com
[…] Just taste Franco’s pizza and you will understand that pizza is an aspect of the culture of local people and their territory.
Humility is true and his modesty is not false; his knowledge and sensitivity belong to the whole territory. It’s easy to say pizza, and you can make it fast, Franco Pepe’s pizza is “the pizza”, one of those who deserves a trip and, and becomes the drive, the starting point of many other trips. Try it to believe it. Franco is the pizzaiolo which better than any other is able to blend the knowledge of tradition with openness to new experiences, without ever betraying the identity of the true pizza that doesn’t allow many variations on the theme.
gastronomiamediterranea.com
Nowadays Franco is a reference point of the art of pizza “…you know, I’m basically an artisan”! It is true, and so he likes it. Franco Pepe has almost an uncomfortable feeling to be considered among the best Italian pizza makers (that is in the world) and among the greatest chefs he has been meeting regularly.
Franco is a reference point of the art of pizza and his handmade dough has conquered even the most skeptical.
What most intrigued me were some pizzas on the menu, which were a real memory retrieval operation, using poor ingredients of the tradition of Alto Casertano, rediscovering their tastes and offering them to his customers.
What people say of him:
Rita Quaglia
gamberorosso.it
[…] a magical,tasteful pizza, which tasteslike good and simply things.
“A dream come true” Franco Pepe tells us, thrilled and excited as a kid.The dream isto start hissolo project,leaving hisfamily activity and finally opening his own establishment, where research, reception and art of pizza blend harmoniously.
Not a technological device, no electricity, only hands and passion. The result is a magical,delicious pizza that tasteslike simple and good things.Asthe pizza “a libretto”(that ca be folded in fourlike a booklet) with tomato,and a delicious sauce made of garlic,and basil,that is folded overitself and eaten with the hands,regardless of posh chefs. Franco is also very affectionate to the steelstove, here used to deliver pizza orto keep the various tastings for his guests warm.
Luciano Pignataro
lucianopignataro.it
Franco Pepe,the professor of the pizza.
Franco Pepe, the professor of the pizza. Tormented, ascetic, always with his thought to the dough. Never he takes a second to relax.
The relationship with the product of this famous pizzaiolo of Caiazzo, Caserta, is maniacal. It is the only one, so to speak, who still kneads the dough by hand, that’s why his restaurant is opened only in the evening. […]
What people say of him:
Michael Krikorian
krikorianwrites.com
The particular pizza there that ascendsis called “Ilsole nel piatto” , also known,to me alone, as
“The Dream of Caiazzo”.
I wrote about Pepe in Grani, (Pepe in Grains) briefly here a few weeks ago, (https://michael-rikorian.squarespace.com/
blog/2013/8/16/pizza-titans-meet) after Nancy Silverton and I went there August, 13. But, damn. the pizzas I ate there hauntmy memory. Nancy doesn’t help at all. The other day she told me “If I had ate a pizza from Franco Pepe before I opened my pizzeria, I would have never opened my pizzeria”
Enrico Caracciolo
viaggiatori.com
Pepe in Grani is much more than a pizzeria. It is a project that seesthe pizza as the centre, the reference point of a human and culinary laboratory.
It’s easy to say pizza but that of Franco Pepe reaches a very high level for so many tangible reasons and for someone who, we can’t know, lives in the genius of the pizzaiolo from Caiazzo. You don’t have to be an expert to recognize that the pizzas coming out from the wooden oven of Pepe in Grani are a category apart.While I was in the pizzeria, as soon as he started to enjoy his margherita, my table neighbour’s exclaimed: “This pizza has the consistency of a cloud”!
No better definition was guessed.
Donatella Bernabò Silorata Repubblica
What people say of him:
A pizzaiolo and a lot of culinary critics were necessary to take travellers back to Caiazzo […]
A special address that has become a travel destination. Guests arrive from Florence, Rome, Bologna. they arrive here to taste this simple and true pizza that is a hymn to the territory.
Caiazzo is the beautiful and still unspoiled province of Caserta: the concrete has not disfigured the green hills covered with olive trees which give a top quality olive oil; in the and where red and white grapes of Pallagrello grow in vineyards.
Jonathan Gold
foodandwine
It’s Probably the Best Pizza in theWorld
Pepe even offers tasting menus that include Margherita pizza; pizza with scamorza and onions from the nearby village of Alife; pizzas topped with the incomparable local chickpeas, with capers and sweet anchovies, with figs and strong cheese, or with potatoes and mountain herbs. You can find similar toppings on other local pies, but not necessarily of this quality or this provenance. In Pepe’s pizzas lie all the flavors of Campania.
What people say of him:
Caiazzo (CE) Italy
t. +39 0823.862718
facebook.com/francopepecaiazzo
franco@pepeingrani.it
pepeingrani.it
