Pizza dough in 8 steps - a basic recipe with photos

Content

How to make the best pizza dough
Another tip for pizza fans

The correct pizza dough is made from just 4 ingredients: water, yeast, flour, and salt. But, playing with the type and volume of flour, as well as the ratio of water and flour, you can get completely different results. We present you a reliable, canonical and at the same time very simple recipe for making pizza dough. Following it, you will be able to cook about 0.5 kg of dough, from which you will get 1 big pizza or 2 medium ones with a diameter of 25 cm.

Of course, there can be any pizza toppings! For example, the dough according to our recipe is suitable for making classic Margherita as in the photo below or everyone's favorite pizza with pepperoni.

If suddenly an Italian friend comes to visit you, he will surely approve such homemade pizza. Verified!
If suddenly an Italian friend comes to visit you, he will surely approve such homemade pizza. Verified!

Note: The dough kneading process is quick and takes about 10 minutes. Next you can:

Immediately start cooking pizza;
If you have time, let the dough stand for about an hour and a half to get the perfect pizza;
Leave the dough in the fridge to cook the pizza in the next 3 days;
Freeze the dough for the future.

How to make the best pizza dough

Ingredients for 1 large pizza or two small:

Warm water (not hot) - ¾ cup (180 ml);
Dry active yeast - 1 tsp;
Flour - 2 cups, that is 320 g (you can slightly more if necessary) + flour for the powder of the table and baking tray;
Salt - 1.5 tsp.

Dishes and tools:

Medium bowl and power of your hands or stationary mixer with a hook attachment for dough;
Scapula;
Plastic film or other coating for the bowl;
Baking tray, pizza mold or special baking stone for pizza;
Baking paper.

Recipe:

Step 1. Dissolve the yeast in water. Pour water into a medium bowl, if you plan to knead the dough by hand, or into the bowl of a stationary mixer, if there is one. Next, pour the yeast into the water and leave them for about 5 minutes until completely dissolved.

Step 2. Add flour and salt. Add flour and salt to the bowl, then roughly stir with a spatula.

Step 3. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes. If you have a mixer with a hook nozzle, then knead the dough at an average speed of about 5 minutes. If there is no mixer, knead the dough with your own hands on the countertop also about 5-8 minutes.

Hint: If the dough sticks to the bowl or to your hands like gum, add 1 tablespoon of flour and knead the dough again. If you cannot achieve the desired consistency, continue to add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough becomes only slightly sticky and more convenient to use. However, remember to add too much flour is not desirable.

Step 4. Hurray, the dough is almost done! Then there are several options for its use.

Option 1. If you are in a hurry, skip the dough (or shorten it to 30 minutes) and cook the pizza right now.
Option 2. If there is time for proofing dough: clean the already used bowl, oil it, then put the dough in it again.Next, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and let the dough rise and double in size (this will take about 1-1.5 hours).
Option 3. If you want to make the dough now, and the pizza - later. If you are planning to cook pizza in the next 3 days, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and refrigerate. If you have time, let the dough rise for about 30 minutes before putting it in the fridge. You can also make pizza dough for the future and freeze it, for example, in case of receiving unexpected guests.

Step 5. Heat the oven and baking tray. As we have said, the hotter the oven, the better, so you should start reheating 30 minutes before sending the pizza to the cupboard (or even earlier). The temperature must be set as high as possible (at least 250 ° C). Also, having turned on the oven, do not forget to put the baking tray / baking stone on the lower shelf of the chamber. The hot surface on which the pizza will be baked will speed up its preparation, allowing the dough to bake evenly.

If you kept the dough in the refrigerator, remove it and leave to cool for a while while the oven is heating, or better for 2 hours (at room temperature).

Step 6. Cooking pizza. Split the dough in half (if you make 2 small pizzas), sprinkle with flour or cover the table with baking paper, then roll one of the dough halves into a circle about 25 cm in diameter as shown in the photo below. The pizza base should be thin.

Next, grease the base with sauce (1/4 cup is enough), lay out the cheese and other stuffing on it.

Step 7. We bake pizza in the oven. Carefully remove the preheated baking stone or baking tray from the oven and turn it over (this is not necessary, but it is more convenient to shift the pizza to the baking tray). Spread baking paper on the back of the baking sheet or on the stone and, finally, carefully place the pizza. Next, put the pizza in a well-heated oven (on the shelf in the lower third of the chamber). Bake the pizza until the cheese melts and the crust turns golden and slightly charred around the edges. It will take from 5 to 8 minutes if you cook pizza on a baking stone or 10-20 minutes if you cook on a regular baking sheet.

The baking time depends on the temperature of the oven, on how thick or thinly you rolled out the base and how many toppings you used. It is best to use not too much filling, then the dough will have a crispy golden crust on top, and inside it is perfectly baked. The more additives, the longer the pizza is prepared, the dough can get damp and soft.

Step 8. Serve the first pizza to the table. Put the cooked pizza on a cutting board. Allow it to cool slightly before cutting. In the meantime, you can make a second pizza from the remaining half of the dough.

Another tip for pizza fans

To homemade pizza turned out as close as possible to the one that is prepared in a pizzeria, it is best to bake it on baking stone. It is needed in order to create the effect of a hearth oven in a conventional oven. Indeed, in restaurants, pizza is baked in professional ovens heated to 600 degrees in just 2 minutes! Baking stone, heating in the oven at 250 ° C (this is the standard maximum of ordinary ovens), reaches a temperature of 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes and then maintains this temperature, allowing the dough to bake evenly and quickly (5-8 minutes).