Sometimes when I look back at the almost 4 years that I have devoted to this blog, I am aghast that I STILL haven’t posted about certain beloved winning recipes. In am attempt to vilify my angst, this post is dedicated to making pizza at home, from scratch. Further on, my next few recipes are going to be on the lines of: spiced up apple crisps and bean burgers.
Back to my margarita. Hailing the colours of the Italian flag, this mean staple is a favourite worldwide. There are few things as satisfying as a good quality authentic 12″ thin crust neapolitan style pizza margarita. I’ve made this pizza at home a number of times already, including for sunday night lazy TV dinners as well as while entertaining. I found that the longer I left the dough to rise, the better the pizza base turned out, and if you actually leave it for 24 hours, the amount of yeast added is the least, which I much prefer. But of course, there is a quick fire way of making a mean pizza within 6-8 hours as well.
Makes approximately 3-4 10″ thin crust pizzas, adapted from here
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour, plus more needed when rolling out the dough
- 1/8 tsp instant yeast (or 1/2 tsp if making 6-8 hours prior to serving)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 tsp fleur de sel (or any salt)
- 1 cup of your favourite pizza sauce
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
Method:
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, yeast, water and salt. If very dry (and absolutely necessary), add a few tablespoons of water. The dough will be stodgy and craggy, but don’t worry. Cover with film and leave to rise in a non-draughty corner of your kitchen.
- The dough should have almost doubled. When ready to eat, preheat the oven to the highest setting possible. I had a few perforated pizza trays on hand, but any baking tray should work. Grease the tray with a bit of olive oil.
- On a floured counter, shape the dough as you please, being generous with additional sprinklings of flour. Add the sauce, cheese and toppings of choice, and bake till the edges are crisped and the cheese is bubbling, about 15 minutes.
- Repeat, preferably every Friday for the foreseeable future.
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Feedback:
- Once you are comfortable with the dough, you can do half and half with whole wheat and all purpose flour. If you substitute completely, the dough will be tough and non-pizza sympathetic.
- My favourite pizza sauce uses red onions, a bit of garlic, plum tomatoes and tons of basil and oregano.
- You can freestyle and make flatbread versions like the pictures, or roll out round thin bases, both work wonderfully well. Try getting your hands on perforated pizza pans, they give a flightily crisper finish.
