I think the one thing we could potentially get everyone to agree on, is that pizza is great. Generally, pizza doesn't need much to be great either - cold leftovers? Grand. Fresh out of the oven? Amazing. My opinion is that the one thing that truly pushes a pizza over the top though, is the dough. Making it from scratch is so satisfying, and is definitely worth the time.
Some topping ideas to consider...
Pizza 1: tomato sauce, low moisture mozzarella, fresh basil
Pizza 2: shiitake mushrooms, fresh ricotta, fresh rucola, on an olive oil and garlic base
Pizza 3: tomato sauce, fresh prosciutto, fresh ricotta, fresh rucola
Pizza 4: tomato sauce, pepperoni, low moisture mozzarella
Pizza 5: tomato sauce, caramelised onions, artichoke hearts, fresh goats cheese
Whenever an ingredient says it's fresh, it was placed on top after the pizza was taken out of the oven. Finishing pizzas off with a drizzle of olive oil is always recommended. Low moisture mozzarella is extremely important. Whilst fresh mozzarella or mozzarella di bufala are great, they'd ideally need to be added to the pizzas after baking, rather than having them melt on top, this is because they expel tonnes of water.
The below recipe will make 5 8-10 inch pizzas.
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
3 cups lukewarm water
14gr yeast
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1kg strong bread flour
20gr salt
2 tbsp olive oil
Semolina
Tomato sauce
500gr tomato passata
6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
Few leaves fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Method
1. Making the dough. In a large bowl, pour your lukewarm warm. Add the yeast and sugar - mix until more or less combined and allow to sit for around 10-15 minutes or until foamy. This ensures your yeast is active.
2. Add in the bread flour, salt, and olive oil, and mix until you've formed a wet shaggy dough. This dough shouldn't be too tight. Flour your surface and knead for a good 15 minutes - this is essential for gluten development. It is ready to rest when it passes the window pane test (stretch a small amount of dough and hold it up to light until you can see through, if it tears, keep kneading). Cover in cling film and allow to rest until at least doubled in size - mine tripled in size (around 2-3 hours).
3. Once the dough has doubled/tripled, knock it back and remove from the bowl. Portion into 5 more or less equal balls of dough - I personally weighed mine out. Place in separate bowls and cover - allow to sit until doubled in size again (around 1-2 hours). The longer the dough sits, the more flavour develops.
4. Making the sauce. Chop the garlic cloves finely. Drizzle some oil in a small saucepan and add the tomato passata and tomato paste. Turn the heat down and add the basil leaves. Allow to simmer on low heat until reduced. The more it reduces, the less water you'll have on your dough, so it won't go soggy.
6. Making the pizzas. This is somewhat of an unconventional way to make pizza - but somewhat mimics the high temperature needed to make a true Neopolitan pizza (not saying this is Neopolitan in any shape, way, or form). Preheat your oven to the highest setting possible - mine goes up to around 250 degrees celsius. Grab a large frying pan and set it to high heat.
7. Whilst the frying pan is heating up, start to stretch one of your dough balls. You can either do this on a floured surface, using your fingers to stretch it out, or allow gravity to do the work whilst you pull at it in thin air. I went for the latter method, but in hindsight, stretch it out on a surface would've lead to a thinner crust, and a bigger pizza. But to each his own!
8. Once you're happy with your pizza base, sprinkle some semolina in the heated frying pan. Place the dough in the frying pan - this will give it a nice char at the bottom. Add the sauce (if using sauce) on top, leaving a bit of a crust. Add on any toppings you want cooked (such as the pepperoni, in my case) and cook in the frying pan until it easily moves about - this means it has formed a crust. Transfer to a tray, add the mozzarella, and place into the hot oven - cook for a further 10-20 minutes, or until the crust has puffed up nicely. If you'd like some char, you may want to consider broiling the pizza.
9. Repeat with the rest of the pizza dough and toppings, and serve hot. Placing them straight in the oven is also an option, but since most conventional ovens don't have an extremely high heat setting, starting your pizza off in the frying pan allows them to get that intense shot of heat.
Recreating this recipe? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!
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