Pizza EN

 

Since I started cooking, I made my own pizza, but it never turned out as good as the bought one, even though my ingredients were very good!

Over time I realized my mistakes and corrected them. Now I am very happy with my pizza and I can say that it is much easier to make a quality pizza than I thought.

The mistakes I made at the beginning were:

1) low temperature 180 - 200°C. The pizza needs high temperature to bake the dough quickly and melt the cheese. It should fall into a hot skillet or better yet a baking stone which I recommend because it bakes it  the best way and makes the dough crispy.

2) way too big pizza: I wanted to make a large pizza for the whole family to eat, so I used to put a lot of dough on a tray and a lot of toppings on top. As a result, the dough was not baked enough and the cheeses burned.

3) too much sauce and the wrong sauce. Too much sauce makes the dough too wet, does not allow it to cook, and it is not pleasant. Also the tomato sauce for the pizza should be dry and with a small amount of oil.

4) a lot of cheese and in general a lot of ingredients. Too much cheese is not pleasant! 125gr of mozzarella on a medium pizza is enough. For me a good margarita pizza or at most with a few pieces of pepperoni is the perfect flavor!!

5) wrong dough. I was making a bread dough rolled with the rolling pin. The pizza dough should be very soft and be managed by hand. Soft, it must stick to our hands, other wise it won't get fluffy.

The perfect margarita pizza recipe:

1 piece of pizza dough

125g fresh mozzarella

2 tablespoons tomato sauce

And of course if we want we add the ingredient we like the most.

Pizza sauce:

For about 7 pizzas

Ingredients:

500gr grated fresh or canned tomatoes

1 tablespoon of concentrated tomato

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of oregano

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil add the tomato and all the other ingredients.

Boil for a few minutes until it thickens almost like concentrated tomato.

You can freeze the sauce you wil not use in small amounts for a long time.

Dough for 5 medium pizzas:

Ingredients:

1 kg of pizza flour (type 00) may need some more

1 sachet of instant dry yeast 8-9gr

20gr sugar

15gr of salt

60ml olive oil

610ml of water at room temperature

In a large bowl, mix the solid ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, yeast) ensuring that the salt and yeast do not come into contact for a long time because the salt destroys the yeast

Add the water and knead for 6-7'. Add the oil and continue kneading for another 3'. If it sticks too much, add a small amount of flour (1-2 tablespoons). Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge (immediately). We have to leave the dough there for at least 24 hours to 5 days.

After at least 24 hours and about 2 hours before baking the pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 5 pieces of about 345gr each.

If we don't use it all, we can separate it in portion and store it in the freezer for months. When we need it, we will defrost it for a few hours and use it normally as follows.

Form balls and put them in a deep tray sprinkled with flour. Leave enough distance between them because they will rise. Sprinkle with flour and cover with cling film. Let them rise for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250°C or to the maximum of your oven with the baking stone inside or a tray for 30'.

Flatten the dough with your hands, taking care to break the least number of bubbles that have been created during rising on a baking tray that is convenient for you to transfer the pizza to the oven. If necessary, lightly flour so it doesn't stick. A circle of about 30-35 cm should be made.

Spread 2 tablespoons of sauce over it.

Break 125gr of mozzarella with your hands.

Transfer your pizza to the hot stone or tray and bake for about 10-12' or some minutes more if you are baking it on a tray.

Enjoy  the most delicious pizza you've ever made!