Bella Pizza at Molino on Pico
Since opening Molino, the restaurant has taken off like fire.
In 1973, when my family left Casablanca for the United States, my aunt Clara and uncle Menasse moved to Barcelona, then joined his extended family in Paris.In 1983, they decided to move to Los Angeles, with the hope of giving their kids a better chance of making Jewish friends and marrying Jewish people. My brothers and I were overjoyed to be reunited with our cousins, who were more like brothers and sisters to us.
Soon after, as a student at Santa Monica College, Felix met Patricia, a beautiful French-speaking girl from Zaire. The crazy coincidence is that Patricia’s family, like Neil’s, were Sephardic Jews from the island of Rhodes and they were distantly related.
The real beauty of the situation is that we all raised our children together. Now that they are young adults, the next generation remain very close.
Recently, Sharon and I interviewed Moshe, Felix and Patricia’s son about his new kosher pizza restaurant Molino. He told us that his mom is a fabulous cook and that growing up, he loved spending time in the kitchen with her. During Covid, he started a catering business. He bought a home pizza oven and began experimenting with pizza dough. There was a lot of trial and error. He learned that many factors, including the weather, can affect the quality of the dough.
Moshe Fhima, owner of Molino
At Molino, he prepares the pizza dough two days in advance. For Tuesday’s pizza orders, he starts the dry yeast rise and prepares the dough on Sunday, letting it rise until Monday. On Monday he adds more flour and water and forms the balls, leaving them to ferment and rise in the refrigerator until Tuesday.
Moshe advises the home cook, who wants to bake amazing pizza to let the dough ferment. If the instructions say to let rise for one or two hours, leave it in the fridge to rise overnight. He recommends using half the yeast that recipes call for because this makes the dough light on the stomach and easier to digest. Salt is very important. So is hydration—the dough should be sticky.
He also advocates using a pizza oven stone or a pizza baking steel to ensure a really crispy crust (this can also be used to bake breads, including sourdough). He says to set the oven to 550°F and preheat for at least 45 minutes.
His Molino pizza sauce is very simple and is made with San Marzano canned tomatoes, roughly crushed (sauce should have some texture). Adding salt and olive oil rounds out the flavor. Moshe strives to source the highest quality ingredients. For pizza, a good mozzarella is key. It was difficult to source good Chalav Israel mozzarella, but he found a mozzarella called Fior di Latte (milk flower in Italian). Made in Italy from fresh cows milk, he orders it from Abaita, one of the best dairy restaurants in New York.
Travel in Europe and eating at incredible kosher restaurants inspired Moshe. His ambition for Molino is to replicate those joyful, flavorful dining experiences.
Since opening Molino, the restaurant has taken off like fire. The amazing Italian dishes they serve truly rival the offerings of the best kosher restaurants in Rome. I mean, how cool that you don’t have to fly to Europe to indulge in a light, crispy, kosher contemporary Neapolitan pizza!?
—Rachel
Almost two decades ago, we celebrated my son Ariel’s bar mitzvah in Jerusalem. He wrapped tefillin and had an aliya to the Torah at the Western Wall. Then we celebrated with an exquisitely catered luncheon in the Ottoman era buildings of the Sephardic Educational Center in the Jewish quarter of the Old City.
On our way back to Los Angeles, we stopped in Paris for some relaxation, sight seeing and fine kosher dining. On our first night, Ariel insisted that we eat at a dairy restaurant just off the Champs Elysee. I know that we ate pastas and salads, but it was the thin crust pizza with fresh mozzarella that really stood out. It was truly the best pizza I had ever eaten.
A few months ago, Ariel informed me, with great excitement, that his good friend Moshe Fhima was opening a pizza joint. He told me, not just any pizza. Really gourmet pizza!
Well, I recently tried Molino pizza and it took me right back to that amazing pizza in Paris!
Molino’s pizza has a crust that is thin and crispy and chewy. The tomato sauce has a rich, deep, tangy flavor which contrasts beautifully with the fresh milky and smooth mozzarella cheese.
Buon appetito!
—Sharon
Pizza Dough Recipe
This is not Molino’s pizza recipe, but it’s perfect for making pizza at home.
This recipe requires an 18- to 24-hour rise in the fridge. You will need bread flour and purified water, active dry yeast, kosher salt, sugar and olive oil.
Don’t forget to use San Marzano canned tomatoes for the sauce and fresh herbs for topping, along with mozzarella cheese.
9 grams active dry yeast
690 grams 00 flour or bread flour, plus ½ cup flour for shaping
20 grams kosher salt
15 grams sugar
9 grams active dry yeast
455 milliliters filtered water, lukewarm
15 grams olive oil, plus extra for brushing crust
Place the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add the water and olive oil to the dry ingredients. Mix on low until the dough comes together, forming a ball and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and knead for 5 minutes.
Remove the dough to a lightly floured countertop and smooth into a ball. Lightly oil a mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours.
Place rested dough on the countertop. Punch down the dough into a rectangle, then tightly roll into a 12- to 15-inch log. Split the dough into 3 equal parts. Flatten each third into a disk, then shape into a smooth ball by folding the edges in toward the center several times and rolling it on a slightly moistened counter.
Cover each ball with a clean cloth and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
To bake, place a pizza stone on the lower rack and preheat the oven to 500°F (or 550°F if possible) for 45 minutes.
Sprinkle flour on a peel (pizza spatula) and place the dough in the middle. Pound the dough into a disk, then pick it up and pull it to create the outer lip. Stretch the dough by placing the dough on a board and continuously turning and pulling. Make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the peel.
Brush the lip with olive oil, then dress the pizza with tomato sauce.
Top with fresh herbs, like oregano and basil and a good mozzarella.
Slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone.
Watch dough for the first 3 to 4 minutes. Pop any big bubbles that start ballooning with a knife.
Bake for 7 minutes or until the top is bubbly and the underside is nicely brown.
Remove pizza to a cutting board. Let rest for a few minutes before slicing.
Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. The Sephardic Spice Girls project has grown from their collaboration on events for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem. Follow them
on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food
