What does Masa Madre mean?
It means “Mother Dough” this is what sourdough is called in Spanish. The original owners Naomi and Steve lived in Spain for a long time, hence the name.
Do you take bookings?
We take bookings for groups of 6 or more. Give us a call to reserve your table. Please note that out seating is outdoors, so can be weather dependent.
Are you licensed?
We are not. However you are welcome to BYO beer or wine for $2.50 per person. We do not have dedicated wine glasses available due to limited storage space but we do have glass tumblers to use for wine, which is common practice in Europe for casual dining.
Do you do gluten free pizzas?
Unfortunately, due to the small space and amount of flour around we cannot offer a gluten free option that is safe for coeliacs. Some people with gluten intolerances (not coeliac) do find the sourdough base easier to tolerate, but it varies from person to person. Salads and sides can often be made gluten free, but there is still a small risk of cross contamination because of the amount of flour we have in the shop.
What vegan pizzas do you do?
All vegan pizzas are marked VE on the menu- zucchini, mushroom, hot hippie, smoky eggplant can all be veganized. Both garlic pizzas are vegan and most salads/veg can be modified. Please let us know when ordering if you would like the vegan versions of pizzas.
Why Sourdough?
We believe that using a natural sourdough starter rather than commercial yeast gives our dough a better flavour. It also makes the dough easier to digest as the long fermentation process starts to break down some of the gluten in the dough. Our dough is made using a starter that contains nothing more than flour, water and naturally occurring yeasts and bacteria present on the wheat grain. The gases produced by these organisms are responsible for the dough rising. Our dough contains nothing more than flour, water and salt. Our starter is named Seymour and he gets fed with flour and water twice daily.
How long is the dough fermented for?
24-48 hours. This gives optimum flavour and improves digestibility.
Is your oven gas or wood-fired? 100% wood-fired.
We use a mixture of ironbark and yellowbox woods.
What type of flour do you use?
We use Lauke flour from South Australia. Many pizzas shops use imported Italian flour, however we feel there is no need for this as there are excellent flours available more locally that produce excellent results. We also like to use Australian products to top our pizzas as much as possible.
Did you build the oven?
Yes, that's why it's a bit lumpy! We built it from a kit from a Sydney company and the owners mum did the tiling for us. What is the difference between white and red garlic pizza? The white has an olive oil and garlic base, the red has a tomato base as well as olive oil and garlic.
What is the base on the white pizzas?
It depends on the pizza, the Zucchini and Corn and smoked bacon are a creamy base, the Four Cheese is just cheese.
Can you do a cheese and tomato pizza for kids?
Yes we can do a margherita and leave the basil off, but we cannot do a small pizza as all our dough is weighed out and balled up the night before.
How big are the pizzas?
Roughly 11 to 12 inches.
How big are the garlic pizzas?
They are the same amount of dough as the others but we stretch them less so they are smaller and puffier.
Do you make the paletas?
Yes, we do! What are the paletas made of? They vary, some are milk and cream based, others are fruit or coconut based (vegan options)