The Best Pizza Making Class In Rome

For us, pizza has always been something left to the professionals. Hungry on a Saturday night? Let’s go out for pizza! People visiting the house on short notice? Let’s get on the phone and order a pie!

Somehow, we didn’t realize that making a pizza at home could be accessible and fun at the same time. The instructors at our Devour pizza making class in Rome showed us this and more. They accomplished this feat while teaching us every step from mixing the flour all way to shaping, topping and cooking our pies.

Our pizzas weren’t perfect. (Daryl’s pizza was shaped more like an acorn than a circle. Or was it a guitar pick?) But there’s no denying that they were tasty. And the best part? We did this while interacting with fellow food-focused travelers at our own pizza party.

Devour’s Rome pizza class happens in the heart of action – literally. The state-of-the-art kitchen is situated in the historic Trastevere neighborhood. And, while its location is a bit of a secret, a look through the school’s big, bright windows quickly reveals its purpose.

Those who enter its doors encounter two large prep and teaching areas, a center-island focused kitchen and, finally, a large rectangular dining area where participants enjoy their delicious finished masterpieces while ‘living it up’ with a glass of wine (or beer – Italy’s preferred pizza beverage) in hand.

We were immediately impressed by the Devour space which seamlessly blends cooking, prep work and congeniality. Once inside the school, we met Roberto Drago, who heads Devour’s kitchen facilities in Rome, along with his vivacious assistant Federica Puddu.

Roberto has a great gig which he approaches with both passion and joy. Unlike the drudgery present in most professional kitchens, this school is a communal place where cooking is meant to be fun and food is shared among Italian food enthusiasts from around the world.

Minutes after arriving at ‘pizza school’, we rolled up our sleeves and went right to work.

Who are we kidding?!!

We kicked off our class with an aperitivo session fueled by Select and Aperol Spritzes expertly mixed by Federica.

The ice was broken as we sipped those drinks and nibbled on salumi, olives and freshly prepared pizza bianca topped with roasted cherry tomatoes.

Before we knew it, we were ready for the ‘work’ ahead.

Once we were fed and hydrated, Chef Roberto schooled us on the many styles and types of pizza in Italy and beyond. The chef possesses a deep understanding of pizza and its many traditions. With that grounded knowledge comes a respect for modern pizza craft around the world.

In this class, we would be making pizza romana. The classic Roman pizza style is crisp and economical. Roman pies, unlike those in the puffy style of Neapolitan pizza, can be made at high temperature in a standard home oven. To make the job a little easier and more fun, the Devour chefs assembled an array of toppings that included mozzarella di bufala, olives, proscuitto, salami, peppers and roasted tomatoes.

We’ve been through too many cooking classes where many things are pre-made. So, we wouldn’t have been surprised if the dough had come out of the fridge and the pizzas were shaped and baked for us.

This class was different. We started from square one – with flour, water and yeast.

We mixed the yeast with water, combined it with special type ‘0’ flour and mixed it with the best machine we know – our hands. Mindi had her doubts as she pressed and shaped the wet dough vigorously. Finally the flour and water synthesized into a cohesive ball. We marveled at our handiwork and anticipated the pizza to come.

Once our dough was shaped, we were ready to make pizza. Well, not entirely.

In a work of planning genius, since proper pizza dough requires a 24-hour rise, our dough would go to the next day’s class. Chef Roberto had yesterday’s dough ready to shape our pizzas.

Finally, after our dough-ucation, another important step was necessary before we could transform the dough into pizza. This important step was to divide the dough into 180-gram portions. Per Chef Roberto, this step is nonnegotiable since all romana pies start with 180 grams of dough.

Once our dough was separated and portioned, it was time to move to the next, and most fun, step – pizza assembly!

As we learned in the kitchen, shaping pizza isn’t as easy as it looks. Instead, it takes a lot of practice to achieve the correct shape and thickness. And, let’s face it, some beginning pizzaiolos are better than others. With fun and patience, the chefs guided us through this step and then it was time to top our pies.

Daryl is an artist but sometimes he’s a bit overambitious. Such was the case with his pizza toppings – a melange of mozzerella di buffala, salami, olives, roasted cherry tomatoes and basil.

Sure enough, Daryl’s pie had so many toppings that he couldn’t liberate his pizza from the pizza peel and onto the oven surface. At least that’s what Chef Roberto thought. (Daryl attributes it to a lack of semolina flour on his peel.)

Whatever the case, Daryl’s pie, while majorly oblong, scored big flavor points. The key here is that, even with the imperfections, his pie still tasted great. It should be noted that Mindi’s pie emerged round and beautiful.

So what did emerge from the pizza oven? Absolutely delicious pies that were full of flavor.

Roberto’s recipe gave us a great base with which to work. This pizza dough was a crunchy, savory platform for our toppings. Sure, the pizzas didn’t look perfect but we’d eat happily them any night of the week. In fact, we plan to recreate the pizza recipe in our home kitchen.

We munched on our delicious pies, wine in hand, with new friends from Europe and America. Our pies not only tasted great but they also forged excellent conversation with our fellow amateur pizza chefs.

We would have been satisfied to end the class at this point but, as is often the case when it comes to food in Rome, gelato happened.

Gelato is a popular dessert in Italy since it tastes great and isn’t so filling. In other words, peach gelato was an ideal, sweet ending for our pizza making class in Rome.

Roberto and Federica made this happen by whipping up a batch of fresh gelato for us using seasonal fruit, sugar and water during the class. The resulting gelato tasted fresh and delicious.

Our class started at 8:30 pm and lasted for two hours and thirty minutes. We not only learned how to bake pizza during this time, but we also enjoyed a convivial dinner with our class participants.

We arrived at the meeting point at Piazza Trilussa 15 minutes before the class’s official start time. This gave us time to find our hosts without feeling rushed.

At the time of our pizza class, the participant limit was 15. Our class was full but didn’t feel crowded.

This class can can be modified to accommodate people with certain diets including vegetarians and pescatarians. It can also be modified for those who don’t eat dairy or drink alcohol.

You can and should address any dietary limitations prior to booking the class.

Our class included all training, tools and ingredients necessary to create pizza from scratch. More important, it included enough food and drinks to make us full and happy.

At the time of our Rome Pizza Making Class, the class cost 69€ for adults and 59€ for children between five and twelve years old. These prices are subject to change at any time.

Devour also offers an excellent pasta-making class if the pizza-making class doesn’t fit into your schedule. We took that class too and give it a big thumbs up.

Another option is to dig into Rome’s food culture during a food tour. We experienced the following three excellent Devour tours which you may want to check out:

• Taste Rome Like a Local: Jewish Ghetto & Historic Center Food Tour
• Tastes & Traditions of Rome: Testaccio Food and Market Tour
• Trastevere at Sunset: Rome Food & Wine Tour

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