Master invites chefs to learn art of pizza

The Maltese love a good slice of pizza but are not willing to learn how to make it the proper Italian way, says a Sicilian pizzaiolo who has set up a school in Malta to pass on the tricks of the trade.

Having grown up in Sicily before moving to Malta 10 years ago, pizza maker Angelo Paolini was constantly surrounded by relatives punching flour into pizza dough before throwing it up in air.

“Every member of my family made pizza, my father, my grandfather, even my brother. They selected the best ingredients and put a lot of effort into making every single pizza the best possible one yet,” said Mr Paolini, who has been making pizzas for over 43 years.

Now, the pizzaiolo wants to pass on his knowledge to young Maltese chefs, guiding them on how to make the right dough, which ingredients to choose and what oven they should be baking the pizzas in.

With his brother Giuseppe, Mr Paolini set up the Italia Malta Pizza Association, a school specialising in the teaching of pizza-making, which he runs from his restaurant in Sliema.

Yet while Italians flock to Mr Paolini’s restaurant eager to pick up some of his skills – and he is willing to teach them all he knows – the pizzaiolo is more...