Making your own pizza from scratch is a fun way to spend time together! Below, you will find the recipe for the perfect pizza dough, so you might want to make a bigger batch at once!
Italians have some funny customs; drinking cappuccino only at breakfast, you cannot cut spaghetti with a knife, pizza is only paired with beer or sparkling water. I try to obey the Italian ways, but I make an exception with this one since I don’t like beer. I’ll rather enjoy my pizza with a glass of red wine, Chianti is a nice light wine that goes well with pizza! 🙂
Once your pizza dough is ready, shape it by using your hands. Start pressing from the middle towards the edges, until the dough is about 3 mm thick. The shape of the pizza is not that important, seldom you get a perfectly round result. The dough shouldn’t have any holes in it because otherwise, the sauce will burn onto the oven tray.
Place your toppings in separate bowls, so everyone can choose their own for their pizza.
We use quality ingredients, such as:
Tomato sauce
Artichoke hearts
Olives (remove the stones)
Bufala mozzarella (mozzarella made of buffalo milk – drain well before adding on the pizza)
Pesto
Asparagus
Onions (cut thin slices)
Pressed garlic (put it under the other toppings, as it burns easily in the oven)
Prosciutto Crudo (air-dried ham – always put this on a pizza that has been in the oven, it turns very salty in the oven)
Pine nuts
Basilica
Gorgonzola piccante (you can also find a sweeter tasting option at the store, dolce)
Parmesan
Everyone can choose a few toppings of their liking, pizza can be simple, and we don’t use pineapple in our household!
I place the empty oven tray to heat up in the oven, make sure the pizza base has plenty of flour so it glides easily onto the hot tray, and bake the pizza for 10-12 minutes.
You will want to keep an eye on the pizza, once the edges/crust are a beautiful color, your pizza is ready.
TIP! You do not want to put too much tomato sauce so the pizza won’t become soggy.
You can also try baking the pizza in the oven for 2 minutes without the toppings, and then add the toppings and place it back in the oven for 10 minutes. The more ways you try it, the more likely you are to find the best way for you!
To add a little spiciness, pour some high-quality chili oil on top of your pizza!
Pizza base & Tomato sauce
Pizza base:
6 dl of tepid water
1 dl quality olive oil
10-15 g of fresh yeast or 3 g of dry yeast
1 tbsp of sugar
1 kg of “00” flour (Mulino Marino organic flour is the best in my opinion)
1 tbsp of salt
Mix the water, olive oil, yeast, and sugar in a food processor for a few minutes.
Add the flour and salt, kneed with a dough hook for about 15 minutes, until the dough is elastic.
If the dough feels a bit too hard, add a little bit of water.
Place the dough in the fridge overnight, and split into eight 200 g pieces the next day.
You can let the pieces sit at room temperature for a few hours and let it rise.
Tomato sauce:
1 kg of peeled canned tomatoes, whole, or crushed
1 tbsp of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of quality olive oil
3 garlic cloves
A handful of basil leaves
Black pepper
Chili powder
Place all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until it has a fine texture.
If you get too much sauce, place it in the fridge, and use within a week, as pasta sauce for example.
Buon appetito!
Cristina
