The dough pieces roll out on the floured work surface, before being rolled out to form a pizza of the perfect diameter, ready to be topped. “Every year in Bordeaux, the level is very high,” warns Jean-Jacques Despaux, organizer of the France Pizza Tour. The Association of French Pizzerias (APF) stopped off at Bordeaux-Lac this Tuesday, December 3, in partnership with Les Halles Métro France, for the qualifying events of the 19e edition of the French pizza championship.
To try to secure a place among the ten finalists and join the national competition, around thirty pizza makers from the region were evaluated based on strict criteria. “These are gourmet pizzas that require real culinary research,” explains the organizer.
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In fourteen minutes flat, Christophe creates an exceptional pizza. He shapes the dough, arranges the ingredients, puts his creation in the oven. For this test, the pizza maker from Taillan-Médoc opted for a carrot mousseline base, garnished with fior di latte mozzarella, a squeeze of beef cheek and chestnut confit. The final touch; nasturtium flowers for the peppery note. “The most difficult thing is cooking,” he confides, used to the wood oven compared to an electric oven. The jury, made up of professionals, carefully examines the pizza, right down to the bottom of the dough to check the cooking skills. “It’s a little overcooked,” remarks one of the members, before moving on to tasting.
“They liked the recipe, that’s the main thing,” reacts the candidate at the end of the test. This competition, experienced as a real “challenge”, is also an opportunity to gain recognition. Winner of a stage in Bordeaux in 2013, he remembers: “It’s a real boost. I gained fame, and my turnover increased by 30% at the time! » This time, victory is not there for the pizza maker from Taillan-Médoc.
The ten candidates qualified at the end of this Bordeaux event will compete on April 2 and 3 in Paris, against around a hundred candidates, to try to win the title of best pizza maker in France.
