Tips To Know To Make A Successful Homemade Pizza

Whether it is authentically Italian or much more creative, pizza is simple, everyone loves it! All our tips to make it a success in a relaxed way.

Yet typically Italian, pizza is one of the most popular dishes in the world, and one of the positive symbols of “globalization”. Born in Naples in the 16th century, it is part of the great pasta family, filled with ingredients and baked in the oven, such as pies, pissaladières niçoises, or flammekueche alsaciennes. It was the Italian emigration of the 19th and 20th centuries to the United States, Argentina, Northern Europe and Australia that made pizza popular. Its success is undeniable and is due first and foremost to the simplicity of the basic recipe (paste + tomato paste + cheese), which can be adapted to all latitudes, and can be adapted to infinity (in fact, you can put the ingredients you want in it!).

1.The dough is prepared in the morning to enjoy the pizza in the evening

At the base of the pizza is the dough. A simple dough made only of water, flour, olive oil, salt and a pinch of sugar.

As the rising time is long, we advise you to prepare this dough in the morning (before leaving for the office), to let it rise during the day, to use it in the evening.

2. A recipe for dough so simple that you will kiffer

For 2 pizzas, start by mixing 2 g of baker’s yeast with 5 cl of water and 25 g of flour. This is called petit leaven, which is fermented for about 45 minutes at room temperature (20°C to 25°C). Using the food processor, 175 g of flour, 1 tsp. of fine salt, 1 pinch of sugar and 1 tsp. of olive oil are mixed. Add the sourdough and pour 6 cl of cold water. Everything is kneaded, always in the robot (using the appropriate hook), until the dough is very soft. We will then divide the dough into two pieces, roll them into balls, place them in two large bowls, cover them with cling film and let them triple in volume.

3. The secret of the real pros to choosing the right ingredients

The secret of a good pizza dough is first and foremost the choice of flour. This must be rich in gluten, which is what will allow the dough to rise correctly and will give it softness and elasticity. T45 flour or oatmeal is therefore preferred. Tap water should also be avoided if it is too hard, and replaced by spring water or mineral water. Finally, we will choose a very fragrant olive oil that will give taste to the dough.

4. And to go faster, what do we do

Save time by using ready-to-use dough or replace pizza dough with bread dough, which can be purchased from the baker (in this case, it may sometimes be necessary to order it).

5.Tap the dough pieces

The pizza dough is lowered by hand on a floured work surface. First, pat the dough pieces with your fingertips to chase away air, then stretch them with the palm of the bread from the centre, without forcing them little by little, to make the diameter of the disc as large as possible. But even if it is not traditional, you can also use a rolling pin.

6.Always at hand

To always have pizza dough ready to use at home and to be able to improvise a dinner easily, it is ideal to prepare a larger quantity of dough before freezing part of it. To do this, you will simply wrap the dough pieces to be frozen in cling film.

7.Hot in front: the oven temperature

The hotter the oven, the better. For information, the temperature in pizza ovens often exceeds 400°C. At home, of course, reaching such a temperature is impossible, but you can still preheat your oven to the maximum (270°C., 300°C., if possible), because the pizza dough needs a thermal shock to cook properly.

8.And what do you put on the pizza?

Once spread, the pizza dough must be placed on a hot plate (always a question of thermal shock) covered with parchment paper. It is therefore important to remember to slide the baking trays into the oven during preheating. That’s when we can start to garnish it.

9.Tomato, mozzarella: and what else?

To garnish your pizza, the basic ingredients you need are tomatoes (in the form of puree, flavoured coulis >>, more elaborate sauce >> or crushed meat), and buffalo milk mozzarella preferably, which lovers recommend draining for a long time, for at least 1h30, before use, to eliminate water to the maximum. To this base, you can add aromatic herbs, raw ham or other types of sausages (coppa, chorizo, etc.), mushrooms, vegetables (peppers, courgettes, etc.), minced meat, bacon, etc.

10. Successful cooking

A successful pizza is a crispy dough and a cheese that stays soft, without over-colouring. The best place to bake a pizza is at the bottom of the oven. As for the baking time (which depends on the temperature of the oven and the oven itself), it can vary between 8 min and 15 min. Ideally, you should be next to your pizza to check that everything is going well.