BY DAVID JOACHIM | PHOTOS BY OLAF STARORYPINSKI
KNEELING IN THE UMBRIAN SOIL, Marguerite Viola wiped the sweat from her brow. She tugged on a rock, pulled it from the dirt, and heaved it into a cart full of similar rocks. Marguerite and her partner, Andrew Foreman, had come to Italy to learn traditional organic farming methods. Was this the way? Digging up rocks?
The couple soon learned that they were protecting the feet of the farm’s sheep. Smooth soil keeps the sheep healthy so they can keep grazing and producing milk, the high-fat, high-protein essence of traditional Umbrian cheeses like soft, tangy Caciotta and sharp, aged Pecorino di Norcia. After de-rocking the soil and helping to make sheep-milk cheeses, Marguerite and Andrew gained newfound respect for the animals and the land that produce some of Italy’s most celebrated foods.
From there, the couple moved on to Casa Lanzarotti, a six-acre certified organic farm and former grain mill in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, an agricultural region of Italy renowned for its Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, balsamic vinegar from Modena, and Bolognese sauce from Bologna. There, Marguerite and Andrew prepared the vegetable beds for planting and harvested tomatoes from the hoop house. They helped manage livestock by moving pigs and cattle between paddocks. And of course, they milled local wheat into flour for homemade pasta and pizza. And le and for loaves of fresh-baked bread to be sold at the farmers market in nearby Parma. They curdled cow’s milk into fresh ricotta cheese; picked fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs; and helped prepare daily meals.
Every week, Casa Lanzarotti’s owners, Iris Wittwer and Gianluca Thorimbert, would fire up the farm’s huge wood-burning oven. They’d push the fiery logs to one side and, while the oven was blazing hot, Andrew and Marguerite made pizza. They gathered toppings like canned tomato sauce in glass jars from the pantry, cured soppressata and other salami hanging in the cellar, and mozzarella cheese, Pecorino cheese, vegetables, and herbs from the refrigerator.
After the pizzas were baked and eaten, and the oven had cooled to about 500°F, it was time for something else. They baked sourdough bread made from freshly milled wheat, including local Italian wheat varieties descended from ancient grains like emmer and farro. When the oven cooled further to about 400°F, the pair would roast meats and vegetables harvested at the farm. As the oven cooled to about 350°F, they baked desserts made with fruits plucked just hours before.
From Italy to the Lehigh Valley: The Birth of Switchback
Marguerite and Andrew had come to Italy to learn to be organic farmers. But when they left in 2011, they had fallen in love with wood-oven cooking—especially wood-fired pizza. The ritual and rhythm of growing, harvesting, preparing, and serving locally grown food cooked in a wood-fired oven ignited their passions.
Back in the Lehigh Valley, they pursued their dreams of opening a pizza shop. Marguerite furthered her agricultural skills as a farming apprentice at the Seed Farm in Emmaus, and Andrew spent a year perfecting his naturally leavened, cold-fermented pizza dough. The couple bought a mobile pizza oven trailer and opened Switchback Pizza, named for the winding Pacific Crest Trail where they first met and for the Switchback railway in Jim Thorpe, where they were growing vegetables for their pizzas. For the next four years, they visited the Lehigh Valley’s many farmers markets from Easton and Emmaus to Macungie and Saucon Valley, serving wood-fired pizza made with local ingredients.
In 2015, the couple opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Emmaus. Here, they carry on the farming and cooking traditions they fell in love with in Italy. This looks like buying food from Lehigh Valley farm friends, preparing it, and serving it to the local community. From pizzas and breads to salads and desserts, Switchback’s menu features local ingredients. You’ll find certified organic produce from Salvaterra’s Gardens in Alburtis; hydroponic mixed greens and herbs from Butter Valley Harvest in Barto; specialty mushrooms from Primordia Mushroom Farm in Lenhartsville; tomatoes from Pieri Farm in Coopersburg; sausage from Stryker Farm in Saylorsburg; and pepperoni from Hayte’s Meat Market in Kunkeltown.
Most importantly, the doughs for Switchback’s pizzas, breads, and desserts are made with wheat, rye, and oats grown at Red Cat Farm in Germansville. They also source spelt from Small Valley Milling in Halifax. About 30 percent of the flour at Switchback comes from Lehigh Valley farms.
“When we tell people the bread and frozen pizza are made with local wheat, their eyes widen and they say, ‘I didn’t even know wheat grew in the Lehigh Valley,’” says Andrew. The wheat they source from Red Cat Farm is called Redeemer. It’s a hard red winter wheat, bred from various Ukrainian strains and that grows well in Lehigh Valley soil. Marguerite and Andrew buy whole Redeemer wheat berries and grind them into fresh flour in a Komo tabletop mill.
People often think flour lasts forever, but as with other foods, fresh is best. Even just 20 percent of fresh-milled flour makes a noticeable difference. It adds an earthy, nutty, and buttery flavor to pizza and bread. In addition to fresh-milled local Redeemer wheat, Switchback’s frozen Neapolitan-style pizza also includes bread flour from the Vermont milling company King Arthur. (And sometimes, a little Caputo flour from Italy.) On Saturdays, they also offer square Detroit-style pizzas, which are made with locally milled spelt flour. (They shared the recipe with us).
“It’s a labor of love, buying local,” says Marguerite. “But that’s why we’re here. We originally wanted to be farmers. The reason we make food at all is to share something we think is worthwhile.”
In 2021, Marguerite and Andrew expanded into making cider with apples from Scholl Orchards in Bethlehem. Switchback serves housemade hard cider under their own Red Balloon brand at the pizza shop. Other local beverages include Yergey’s craft beer, Easton Wine Project Merlot, and Kutztown Soda Works root beer and red cream soda. Even the oak logs for their Viviano wood-burning pizza oven come from a supplier in Germansville. This attention to detail and dedication to high-quality local ingredients has earned Switchback a reputation as some of the best artisan pizza in the Lehigh Valley.
“It’s a lot of extra driving for us to use local products,” says Andrew, “but it’s worth it.”
From their time in Italy, Marguerite and Andrew learned the most important aspect of organic farming. It’s a whole system. It starts from the soil to the food to the people who grow, harvest, prepare, serve, and eat that food. After more than 10 years in the Lehigh Valley food system, they also know that the system works best when it remains local or regional, weaving together farms, markets, restaurants, customers, and guests in a self-sustaining mosaic of delicious, nourishing things to eat. When you buy pizza, bread, or other food from Switchback, you are helping to support a whole network of local food producers.
Switchback Detroit-Style Pizza
Ingredients
For the crust
- 4 cups (480 g) bread flour such as King Arthur
- 1 cup (120 g) local whole-grain flour (Switchback uses spelt, but choose your grain and have fun)
- 2 cups (456 g)room-temperature water (about 60-70ºF)
- ½ teaspoon teaspoon (2 g) instant yeast
- 1½ teaspoons teaspoons (6 g) granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons tablespoons (18 g) olive oil plus some for the pans
- 1½ teaspoons tablespoons (13 g) kosher salt Diamond Crystal preferred
Toppings
- 2 cups shredded cheese preferably a mix of mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar
- ½ to 1 cup of your favorite tomato sauce at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Instructions
- The night before pizza night, mix the dough for the crust. Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook or, if kneading by hand, a mixing bowl. Knead on low speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl and make sure all the flour is wet. Then knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. The dough will be loose, which is fine. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight, 10to 12 hours.The next morning, oil two 10-inch square baking pans, covering the inside bottom and sides. Cut the dough into two pieces, and place each piece in a prepared pan, pressing out the dough almost to the edges. (If you only have one pan, return one piece of dough to the fridge and bake it in the same pan when the first crust is done.) Cover the pan, and refrigerate until dinnertime, 10 to 12 hours.Preheat the oven to 500ºF with convection if you have it. If you have a baking stone or baking steel, place it in the oven to preheat as well. Preheat for at least 1 hour.Uncover and press out the dough all the way to the edges of the pan. Bake until the crust is firm but not brown, about 9 minutes. Remove and let cool in the pan. When cool, you can use the crust immediately or freeze it in a zipper-lock bag for up to 1month.To top and bake the pizza, preheat the oven as described above. Spread the cheese over the cooled parbaked crust, spreading it all the way to the edges. Bake again at500ºF until the cheese is bubbly, 10 to 12 minutes. Use a large spatula to remove the pizza to a cutting board. Cut into 6 or 8 pieces, and then spoon on the sauce in wide strips. Top with the Romano and serve.
