Pizza dough

If I say pizza and what do you think?

I hope you think of Italy, because it comes from here and more precisely Naples. No pineapple, no salami, no strange, exotic  toppings.

The one I prefer is the simplest of all, a pizza margherita: tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. Sometimes the better pleasure in life are most simple.

But today we concentrate on how to make a good pizza dough at home. Then, in the privacy of your homes, I won’t advocate on how you top your own pizza ;) .

Basic Recipe

500 g flour, a mix of 0 (or manitoba) and 00

12,5 g fresh yeast, o 3,5 g dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

280-300 ml warm water

1 heaped teaspoon of salt

1 spoon of extra virgin olive oil + more for baking

For 2 30 cm circular pizzas

  1. In a large bowl mix crumbled yeast (if fresh), sugar and water. Be careful with water temperature: it must not be hot, but just warm. Otherwise it will kill the yeast.
  2. When it begin to bubble, add the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Begin to mix to amalgamate all the ingredients. When you have a bowl, transfer everything on a floured working surface and begin to knead. Keep kneading for at least 10-15 minutes, until your dough is silky and not sticky any more.
  4. Lay your dough in a large bowl, cover with a wet tea towel and let it rise for at least 2 hours or when it double its volume.
  5. When is risen, punch it, knead it briefly and let it rise for a second time, for at least 1 hour. (if you have no such time, let it rise the first time the night before in the fridge, then let it rise for a second time during the day, always in the fridge, and then at night it’s ready to be cooked once it’s a room temperature).
  6. Oil 2 baking tins (better glass or no stick), divide your dough in half and roll it out on the tins with you hands, with circular movements. The dough doesn’t have to fill completely the tin, as raising again it will expand. Let it rise for at least 30 minutes.
  7. Preheat your oven at 220° C or full rack.
  8. Once the oven is hot, top your pizza the way you prefer and cook it for at least 15.20 minutes, or until slightly golden.

Now that you have your pizza dough, how will you top it?

Stuffed focaccia

Focaccia farcita

Lately I’m experimenting a lot with sourdough and I have to say, besides the obvious improvement with bread, it is with pizza and focaccia that a piece of sourdough do its best!
For the focaccia

200 g of sourdough

300 g of flour

200 g of durm wheat flour

250 ml of water

Salt

Knead all the ingredients until you have a silky dough. Let it rise for 4 to 6 hours.

The stuffing this time was the “empty the fridge” kind: quartered cherry tomatoes, diced red pepper, capers, finely sliced spring onions.

Turn on the oven at the maximum.

Divide the dough in two. Roll out one half on a oiled oven sheet, spread over it the stuffing, then cover it with the rolled out other half. Spray all the surface with oil and bake it until golden, 15-20 minutes.

Focaccia farcita

Daring Bakers: pizza

Daring bakers Pizza

Or better, the best pizza dough I’ve ever made! :)

As you know, I’m Italian, and for some types of food I’m so snob! One of them is pizza, no wonder! Pizza was invented in my country, and any pizza I ate out of the border of Italy were practicly disgusting! Aka, I’m a food snob (but I don’t think I’m telling you anything new!)

But this pizza dough is really one of the best I’ve ever tried!

Maybe it’s because it rests overnight in the fridge, so it can develop a good texture…

Maybe it’s because it made with high gluten flour…

Maybe it’s because it’s knead for a long time…

Maybe it’s because there is a good amount of water…

Maybe are all this features together…

At the end you get a very thin pizza, like the pizzerie here in Milan…

One was topped with tomato sauce (quickly pre cooked with garlic and olive oil), Italian sausages (100% pork meat) and mozzarella, added only the last 3 minutes.

Daring Bakers Pizza

The other was always with the same tomato sauce, ricotta and arugula, added once out of the oven.

Daring Bakers Pizza

I have other pieces, and I think I’m going to freeze them for the future! :)

Check out all the other Daring Bakers!

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